February 23 and 24, DanceHouse continues its season with the co-presentation of Vástádus eana – The answer is land with Dancers of Damelahamid. For centuries, the Sámi people ranged in territory that stretched from Norway to Russia, until policies of enforced assimilation stripped them of their traditional culture. Subjected to almost total cultural obliteration, with residential schools, language suppression, and religious conversion, the path back to a place of pride and identity has come through art. Undoing this kind of erasure is Vástádus eana – The answer is land. Taking inspiration from a poem that foregrounds the relationship between the Sámi people and their homeland, choreographer Elle Sofe Sara fashions a critically important message about the foundational attachment arising from community and culture. At its heart is the concept of kinship, embodied in the seven women performers, who act not only as guides, bringing audience members into the theatre, but also create a living form of continuity and reclamation. Dressed in elements of traditional costume and armed with bullhorns, the performers combine ritualized movement with polyphonic Yoiks, traditional mountain songs from composer Frode Fjellheim meant to evoke different flora and fauna. At the Vancouver Playhouse, 8 pm. Tix

On until February 3, you can still catch Diana Lopez Soto in NOMADA. Combining aerial movement, installation art and projection design with contemporary Mexican Indigenous dance, NOMADA is a deeply textured work that reflects the continuously changing balance of the earth. A journey of the Creator through three worlds; Sky World, Underworld, and Earth, that helps maintain harmony of all the earthly and cosmological elements. It is the physical and spiritual act of renewal, affirmation, and restoration. Inspired by personal stories of displacement, rituals of water, cycles of sustainability and the connections of our bodies to land, this performance is a journey rooted in in-depth research and fieldwork. A restorative process and a gateway to connection, the experience honors the stories of Diana Lopez-Soto’s Otomi and Purepecha ancestry, contemporary community, history and relationship to the land and culture of Michoacan, Mexico. Presented by PuSh Festival, check out a video here. At The Annex, 7:30 pm, Saturday 2 pm. Tix

Also February 2 and 3, The PuSh Festival and The Chutzpah! Festival present Les Nouvelles Subsistances in Pli. A circus artist and two visual artists come together over paper. From the blank page to the crumpled draft, paper carries our innermost thoughts and universal truths: a witness to the everyday. What else can it tell us? Seen through the prism of circus and sculpture, a unique conversation unfolds between the suspended body and the paper that has become its rope. Which is more vulnerable, the suspended body or the paper? Between flesh and raw material, the ground and the air, we dive into a landscape that is continually torn down, and rebuilt. Layer by layer, the body and the paper travel together in a fragment of our changing world. At once a captivating beauty and a distressing sound, paper becomes more than a mirror. A projection of our inner worlds, it embodies the poetic expression of life, vulnerable, strong and constantly transforming. Digital streaming also available.

On February 5, the fourth edition of Open Stage features a program of exciting and varied dance works by CollabArt Creations, Francesca Vergara, Jennifer McLeish-Lewis & James-Amzin Nahirnick, Kenzie Skoglund & Sam Meadahl, and Linda Hayes. Open Stage is a program of The Dance Centre, offering the opportunity for dance artists to present short works in an uncurated, shared performance. At the Scotiabank Dance Centre, 7 pm. For more info and tix

February 19 to 26, the 6th edition of Matriarchs Uprising Festival, curated by Olivia C. Davies, features an exciting program of new contemporary Indigenous dance works from Louise Pōtiki Bryant, Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo, Raven Spirit Dance, Sandra Lamouche, Tin Gamboa, Samantha Sutherland, Sophie Dow, Patti Shaughnessy, Kelly Nash, Raven Grenier, Lindsay Delaronde, Erynne Gilpin, Yvonne Chartrand, & more! This year’s theme is Noojimo’idizo – she cures herself. We dance to strengthen our being, to uplift our spirit and celebrate this life. Our world is awakening to the power within us to transform pain and suffering and find our way forward to harmony. In this edition of Matriarchs Uprising, you are invited to witness Noojimo’idizo—she cures herself—of disconnection, dispossession and dis-ease through dance. Held in Vancouver BC on unceded Coast Salish Territory, Matriarchs Uprising is a performance festival that celebrates contemporary Indigenous dance, offering a program of performances, events, and circle conversations led by local and international Indigenous women who are both nurturing and advancing the art of contemporary dance. For more info + tickets

For emerging BIPOC dance artists, Dance West Network is excited to share the CALL FOR ARTISTS for our 23/24 RE-CENTERING/MARGINS CREATIVE RESIDENCY! And this year they are offering two residencies, one in VANCOUVER and one in SURREY! To apply for the VANCOUVER residency and to apply for the SURREY residency For those unfamiliar with the Re-Centering/Margins Creative Residency, it is an annual project which aims to increase opportunities and professional development for emerging IBPOC dance artists to create contemporary works with mentoring support, performance opportunities and documentation. For more information DEADLINE for both residencies is FEB 15, 2024 11:59pm Pacific.

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