“Drop gritty, contemporary New York and European choreographers into the fast-paced, freeway world of Los Angeles, sprinkle with energetic young talent, and you get the super-fast, super-sexy, super-expressive intensity of BODYTRAFFIC.” – Dance View Times.

The DanceHouse season continues May 5 and 6 with the visit of BODYTRAFFIC from the US in a mixed program of delights! This mixed program includes some of their most celebrated performances — from the rhythmic aggression of Baye & Asa’s The One to Stay With, to the whimsy and humour of Matthew Neenan’s A Million Voices, the dreamlike quality in Alejandro Cerrudo’s PACOPEPEPLUTO, and SNAP, Micaela Taylor’s layered take on social pressure and urban diversity. BODYTRAFFIC has achieved the rare feat of being chameleon-like and utterly, completely, themselves. Through performance, education, and outreach, BODYTRAFFIC has shared its love of dance throughout the world.  At the Vancouver Playhouse, 8pm. Tix

Tonight and tomorrow, April 22 and 23, you still have time to catch some of the amazing offerings of the 15th Annual Coastal Dance Festival (CDF), bringing Indigenous artists together to share and support one another in a celebration of lived artistic practices. Guest national and international artists have connected the festival with a global community of Indigenous dance, and this year the Festival will be live! Friday night at 6:30, join the Artist Sharing of SÁMI AND HAIDA SONG REVITALIZATION (FREE), followed by the evening performance with, among others, Dancers of Damelahamid and Spakwus Slolem. Tickets for the evening performance are available here. Saturday is a day filled with Festival Stage performances (by donation) and at 4:30 pm a Artist Sharing of Indigenous Digital Art, Fashion and Design (Free). There is so much to see and do during the four-day Festival, so go here to check out the full schedule. All events take place at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster (right across the street from the Skytrain)

Kirsten Wicklund, is a Canadian independent creator currently based in Antwerp, Belgium where she dances as a Demi-Soloist at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and a past dancer with Ballet BC for 8 years, has begun research on a new work that will explore human instinctual nature and the physicality that arises when the body response system is in various survival mode states. Join her on Thursday April 28 at 3 pm to witness an extremely fresh and raw working rehearsal of ideas developed during the first four days of research. At the Scotiabank Dance Centre, 3 pm. The event is FREE and but space is limited, so please register here

On Friday, April 29, we wish you a Happy International Dance Day! And the Dance Centre is celebrating with a day of free events, both live and online. Highlights include Shot of Scotch Vancouver, students from Gladstone Secondary School’s dance program, VDCM Dance Collective, Liat & Friends, and an immersive audio/dance walk by Alana Gerecke. Short dance films by a diverse group of artists including AMOK PROJECT, Jhoely Triana Flamenco, Kinesis Dance somatheatro and Sarah U will stream online. Go here for all the details as to this celebratory day!

If you want one more to celebrate the art of dance, on April 29 and April 30, Co.ERASGA’s Studio Salon Series returns, featuring works in progress by four local artists, Kelly McInnes and Eric Cheung (April 29) and Sophia Gamboa and Marco Esccer (April 30). These events are free to the public in an effort to create more communication between artists and the community while their works are still in development. After short excerpts are shown, the featured artists engage in conversation with the audience around the topics presented in the work, creation, and development. This event will be live at What Lab on both evenings at 5pm and in-person audience capacity is limited to 30 people, masks must be worn inside the studio, and proof of vaccination required. For more info.

Also on Saturday, April 30, Dancing to Remember is a curated evening of performances and presentations to raise awareness of MMIWG2S, honour lost loved ones, comfort survivors, as well as mark the 10th Anniversary of Butterflies in Spirit. In addition to Butterflies in Spirit this event features special commissions and performances by Aeriosa, Git Hayetsk Mask Dancers, JB the First Lady, Kin Balam, M’Girl, Sierra Tasi Baker, Spakwus Slulem (Eagle Song Dancers), Tsatsu Stalqayu (Coastal Wolf Pack), and more! Founded in 2011, Butterflies in Spirit (BiS) mission is to raise awareness of violence against women and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,  Girls and Two Spirit people across Canada. The group consists of family members of MMIWG2S. BiS signature performances combine Hip Hop, Contemporary Dance and Traditional First Nations dance forms. They have performed across Canada and in the United States, Mexico, and Colombia. “Dancing to Remember” shares a retrospective of past BiS works as well as premieres new songs and dances featuring aerial dance elements. At the Vancouver Playhouse, 6pm Tix

The Friday Round-Up, a place for the Vancouver community of dancers and dance lovers to come together and share what is going on in the local dance community. In this new world in which we find ourselves, it is now more important than ever to find ways to connect and share all the many new and innovative ways in which we create, communicate and relate in the world of dance. So if you have something you would like to share with the Friday Round-Up, please send it to debora@dancehouse.ca. We look forward to hearing from you!