June 22 & 23, DanceHouse shares its last presentation of the season with winter guests (Norway) in Story, story, die (this show was previously scheduled for Feb 25 & 26, 2022.) winter guests is an international touring company performing works by Alan Lucien Øyen from Bergen, Norway. They tell stories of the contemporary world with words, video, music and movement. The works are based on real life experiences, including original text, transcribed recordings and improvisations. The company often inserts its own reality into the subject matter of the piece – resulting in rich and eccentric performances in a constantly shifting format. winter guests presents their avant-garde theatre and dance in both independent venues and in the context of opera stages.  Stay tuned here over the next couple of weeks for more info about the company and Story, story, die, but in the meantime, check out this teaser video! At the Vancouver Playhouse, 8 pm. Tix

Friday-Sunday May 20-22, JOE INK, in partnership with SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs, presents the world premiere of DANCE:CRAFT, an exploration of two dancers interacting with numerous craft objects in a reconfigured theatre setting. DANCE:CRAFT began as a research-based dance/art project, a cross discipline performance work engaging Joe Laughlin and dancers’ in a dialogue with 5 prominent British Columbia Craft Artists, facilitated and curated by the Craft Council of British Columbia. The intention is a synthesis, blurring the lines between construction and performance and the body as object. Each of the 5 craft elements; glass (Hope Forstenzer), metal (Stefanie Dueck), wood (Patrick Christie), fibre (Deborah Dumka) and ceramics (Debra E Sloan) are represented and re-interpreted by celebrated choreographer Joe Laughlin and acclaimed dance artists Heather Dotto and Joey Matt. It is cross disciplinary, collaborative and cumulative and uses a responsive approach to fusing all of the elements. In addition to the performances an exhibition of 5 Virtual Reality films will take the viewer into the atelier of the artists.

“I have been thinking about the earth, the environment, the elements, evolution, geography, migration and humans. The tactile sensation of handmade objects juxtaposed with the ephemeral quality of the dancing body triggers a memory experience. Being immersed in an environment and watching the body respond to texture and colour is what anchors us in time and space. We are looking for connections between communities and the natural world, geography and the human family.” Joe Laughlin At Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, SFU Woodwards, 7 pm Tix

On Friday and Saturday, May 20 and 21, don’t miss unmoored, a work by Peggy Baker and Sarah Chase. “In 2003 I turned to the extraordinary dance artist Sarah Chase to make a work for me. Sarah creates in a genre she describes as dancestories, and preliminary to working together she set me the task of writing two stories for every year of my life. When the time came to go into the studio together, I told Sarah that there was one aspect of my life that I hadn’t written about and could not share in the public sphere. Sarah agreed to my caveat, and we went on to create a piece titled The Disappearance of Right and Left. In March of 2017, I sat down at a desk, in a small room, in a huge house in Bogliasco, Italy to remember and write the stories I had not been ready to share. Over the next months, Sarah and I worked together to distill my writing as a dancestory titled unmoored. The episodes I recount in unmoored describe events during the 20-year arc of my marriage to the musician, composer, and disability rights activist, Ahmed Hassan.”  Peggy Baker. Check out a teaser here. At EDAM, 8 pm. Tix

Wednesday – Saturday May 25-28, Lesley Telford/Inverso Productions presents Gem-Like and Spooky Action. Einstein’s ‘Spooky Action’ refers to particles that are so closely linked they share the same existence. Similarly, Inverso Production’s Spooky Action brings together thought-provoking dance and engaging narrative to probe the mysterious ways we act on and intersect each other’s lives. Beautifully choreographed and gracefully executed, this modern dance performance exploits the ebb and flow of energy from one dancer to another in intricate, mysterious ways. At the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, 8 pm. Tix

On Friday and Saturday, May 27 and 28, Salome Nieto presents Impermanent Flower. Integrating Butoh with elements of storytelling and illustration, Impermanent Flower is a performance piece that explores ideas of happiness, impermanence, and beauty. It is inspired by a prominent image in Butoh -the wilting flower; the beauty of the flower is not on its blossom but in the process of dying. Presented by New Works. At the Roundhouse Community Centre, 7 pm. Tix

Dumb Instrument Dance is excited to produce this 2nd Edition of Spells For Chinatown in partnership with co-producer Powell Street Festival and a roster of talented dance and sound artists in improvised installations that send healing prayers and good vibrations into the world. Spells for Chinatown is an annual celebration of Asian Heritage Month at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden in historic Chinatown on the unceded, ancestral and occupied territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. On May 19, performers E. Kage, Lisa Gelley, Ralph Escamillan, Ziyian Kwan and Juolin Lee invite you to join them in a multi-sensory experience – to move about and enjoy the garden, to join in a dance, to meditate – to do whatever you want in conjuring a little outdoor magic. Throughout, you are welcome to meander in the Garden, where multiple areas will be animated through incantations of movement and music.The event takes place rain or shine. There are covered areas in the garden as well as open sky. There is a limited capacity of 40 guests for each time slot. Doors open at 4:45pm. Performers improvise from 5pm – 5:45pm and the garden is open to guests until 6pm. To register

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!