Welcome to December!

You have until Saturday, December 2, to join The Biting School for the world premiere of Zahak, the Serpent King. So the story goes… Zahak was a prince who made a pact with the devil and killed his own father. The devil kissed him on the shoulders and there grew two snakes. The two snakes gave him so much pain and fear; but every time he cut them off, they would grow again. He is told there’s only one way he can calm them down, and that is to kill two young men every day and feed their brains to the snakes. Inspired by this Persian myth, directors Aryo and Arash Khakpour invite audiences into a mesmerizing world of physical theatre, dance, surrealist imagery, slippery snakes and transformation. Zahak, the Serpent King is presented by New Works. At the Annex, 8 pm. Tix

On Sunday, December 3 join New Works at NW In Practice with Donna Redlick & Tin Gamboa | Shifting Paradigms. What might we experience if we allowed ourselves to shift the paradigm within dance practice? Explore ‘opening up’ to new ways of perceiving in order to expand our perspectives on what dance practice can be. A collective practice delivered through a simultaneous sound score and movement score. Tapping into listening, sensing, moving, and sounding as individuals and as a collective. NW In Practice is a professional development series for dance teachers and leaders to gather and engage in critical conversation around the practice of teaching dance. This season, the series will focus on addressing and supporting needs in community-driven spaces through a diversity of topics and angles. At Scotiabank Dance Centre, 3:45 – 6:45 pm. For more information and to register

On Monday, December 6, join the Dance Centre for a studio showing of 12 MINUTES MAX. 12 Minutes Max aims to foster experimentation and the development of new dance works, along with critical feedback and community dialogue. Kluane Peabody and Elizabeth Armitage, Perelandra Waddle and Jennifer McLeish-Lewis will share and discuss their work in an informal studio showing. At the Scotiabank Dance Centre, 6 pm Free!

December 6, 8, 9, 13, 15 and 16, EDAM presents its Choreographic Series, with works by Peter Bingham, Billy Marchenski and Daisy Thompson. At the EDAM Theatre, 303 East 8th Avenue, 8 pm.Tix

Call for Participants – Dance Artists Living with Chronic Illness. Future Leisure is seeking applicants for a cohort of ten Vancouver-based dance artists living with chronic health conditions that are a barrier to a fulfilling and sustainable career in dance. Through three months of online meetings, participants will be invited to share their stories, strategies and challenges through a peer support structure. Program facilitators will respond to the topics and desires that come up in these conversations and bring in experts, guest speakers, and workshop leaders to address areas in the participants’ lives and artistic practices that they have identified as lacking in information or resources. In the final weeks of the program, participants will be asked to work toward a document or similar that could provide the dance community with a framework of how to better support and engage with artists working through chronic illness. Our hope is that this framework will allow choreographers, presenters and collaborators to better support dance artists dealing with chronic illness, and feel confident that they can engage them in projects that will allow for accommodations while adhering to timelines, budgets and agreed-upon outcomes. This will also help to alleviate the burden of articulating specific medical conditions/physical challenges for the artists, as these difficult conversations can be made unnecessary when there is enough information available to the community at large. Applications open Dec 8th. Participants will be selected on a first-come first-serve basis, prioritizing artists with a current movement practice and health conditions that could be considered ‘invisible’ illnesses. Selected participants receive a $1000 honorarium. Application link