Industry Event Oct 8 2026

Online Event for Festival & Gallery Directors

We are offering an online conversation on Thurs Oct 8, 2pm-3:30pm for industry professionals to learn more about dance artists creating work for outdoor or alternative spaces that might connect with your festival and/or gallery.  

To register for this Industry Event, please click HERE 

Speakers include dance artists:

Carla Alcantara

Olivia C. Davies

Sophie Dow

Arno Kamolika

Ana Sosa

Jennifer McLeish Lewis

 presenter/festival director and dance artist: Shelby Richardson

Culminating Residency Showings

Re-centering-Margins Residency - Surrey 2026

The 2026 residency artists - Betcy Matthew, Mia Pelayo and Madeleine Cruz, Puneet Singh - share their culminating performance work on Sat Oct 10 2026, 7:30pm at the Clayton Community Centre 7155 187A Street, Surrey. Evening facilitator, Palak Dhiman.

For reservations, click HERE

Funded in part with the support of a City of Surrey Cultural Grant and hcma architecture + design

Matriarchs Uprising Festival on Ts’msyen La̱xyuup homelands, Prince Rupert BC

Nov 12- 14, 2026

This Festival gathering on Ts’msyen La̱xyuup homelands is produced by Dance West Network in collaboration with the Matriarchs Uprising Festival, the Lester Centre, and Change Maker’s Education Society in Prince Rupert, BC.

Details to be announced shortly!

Funded in part by Canadian Heritage MARP Events

2026-27 MAINSTAGE

Mainstage Artist Profiles are LIVE!

please click HERE

DADAO ARTISTS

For more program details, click HERE

Carla Alcantara - mentor Lisa Gelly

D'Leen Betts - mentor Naomi Brand

Yin/Linden Tse Yin Choi - mentor Natalie TY Gan

Rachel Helten - soma anima arts - mentor TBA

Arno Kamolika and Akshaya Surve - mentors Sujit Vaidya and Alvin Erasga Tolentino

Sarah Kennedy - mentor Kelly McInnes

Jennifer McLeish-Lewis - mentor Nicolas Filion

Kevin “Shazam” Li - mentors Kate Franklin and Rina Pellerin

Ezgi Turker and collaborators - mentors Kevin Jesuino plus Brenda Kent Colina aka Bee and Starr Muranko

Québec group

Gabrielle Bertrand-Lehouillier

Aurore Liang artiste et ses collaborateurs

Project Alterdogs/Claire Pearl and Léonie Bélanger

mentored by Audrey Gaussiran

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CDC Updates 

Dance West Network provides a small budget, training and planning assistance to support CDCs Community Dance Connectors (local “dance champions”) and realize their community engaged dance projects. The Community Dance Connectors also have opportunities to brainstorm together, share ideas and resources.

To learn more, please review the CDC Summary of Activities 2025-26!

Wonderful news! Claudia Moore, CDC Okanagan Nation Territory (Kelowna) and performer, mentor and Founding Artistic Director of Moonhorse Dance Theatre, has been be inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame! What an honour for Claudia to be part of such an esteemed group of artists - here is the link to the announcement. Congratulations Claudia!

Digital Project: In June, the CDCs met with Angela Poundmaker - Gromova (Poundmaker Cree Nation) in an online circle conversation to share more about her work in communities to cultivate nurturing spaces as inspiration for their work in their home communities. Check out the podcast with Angela and Samantha Sutherland here, titled Dance as a Place of Nurture

NEW BOOKLET AVAILABLE

REFLECTIONS FROM COAST SALISH TERRITORIES

This booklet features these esteemed artists and cultural leaders:

LINDSAY KATSITSAKATSTE DELARONDE, MARGARET GRENIER, HAA’YUUPS and ANDREW PETER/QWUN QWINUHW

Curated by TSATSSAYA WHITE. Edited by EMILY DUNDAS OKE

To order ($12), click HERE Details: 6×9, 80 pages

~ ~ ~

In support of Truth and Reconciliation Day, if you would like a FREE COPY of the booklet, please email jane@dancewest.net by October 7 to receive the booklet as a PDF via email. 

2025-26 HIGHLIGHTS

To read Dance West Network’s 2025-26 program highlights, please click HERE

STAFF & BOARD UPDATES

THANK YOU

Jullianna Oke for your hard work and dedication.

WELCOME

Palak Dhiman - Artist Liaison, DADAO Des Arts Dehors/Arts Outside program

Sarah Stockburger - Manager, General Administration
Tiffany Au - Designer, Communications

CONGRATULATIONS

Audrey Gaussiran, Consultant DADAO, on le Prix du CALQ – Artiste de l’année à Laval.

TASHA FAYE EVANS

Global Dance Connections at the Dance Centre

Cedar Woman is a prayer in a long line of prayers. It is sx̌ʷəx̌ʷəy̓em̓, a Coast Salish story of ancestral resilience and hope, honouring our relationship with these lands and a legacy of matriarchs spanning all the way back to a cedar tree. Through song, dance, and ceremony, Tasha Faye Evans and her ensemble call upon Cedar Woman, one of our first grandmothers who faced The Great Flood with fierce love.

Thursday-Friday October 1-2 | 8pm

Saturday October 3 | 2pm

Listen to Tasha on the newest episode of The Dance Centre Podcast.

LOURDES LUNA

Master Class: Body, Presence,and Spontaneity

October 1, 2026
10:00 – 11:45 AM

For more info and to register: TEMPO DANCE AND VISUAL ART
The Dance Centre, 677 Davie St, Vancouver

A contemporary dance masterclass with Lourdes Luna | Mexican Choreographer, Artistic Director of Créssida Danza Contemporánea, exploring how physical precision and spontaneity coexist — developing a stage presence that responds organically without losing clarity or intention. Through technique, improvisation, floor work, and partnering, participants are invited to work as creators, generating movement material from their own bodily voice.

Who should attend: Dancers, performers, actors, choreographers, teachers, and performing artists looking to expand their creative and interpretive tools.

Cost: $35 full / limited sliding scale spots at $20–$30 (for those needing financial assistance — full-cost registration encouraged where possible)

Generously supported by The Dance Centre 

Join STAND Festival 2026 WORKSHOPS

Join us for a series of exciting workshops as part of STAND Festival 2026!

October 26–29 & November 13, 2026
Presentation House Theatre – Gallery (Third Floor)
6:30–8:30 PM

More information and registration:
https://www.standfestival.com/workshops2026

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING DANCE WEST NETWORK

We are grateful for your donations. To contribute, please click HERE