MAINSTAGE MARATHON

Industry Online Pitch Session

Thurs Jan 15 2026, 9am-12:30pm

For details & reservations, click HERE

BOOK LAUNCH, Jan 30 2026

Conversations and Essays on Dance in British Columbia: A Dance West Network Anthology

in celebration of Dance West Network’s 20th anniversary, 2026

Contributors to this 500 + page book include, among many others: Natalie Tin Yin Gan, Emily Dundas Oke, Tsatassaya White, Tin Gamboa, Simran Sachar, Aryo Khakpour, Carmen Alvis, Robyn Grant-Moran, and MORE.

To register: https://forms.gle/S8QpJUHrwZuQbtU89

~ Please stop by and say hello ~

RAFFLE

TO WIN a copy of the new book, Conversations and Essays on Dance in British Columbia: A Dance West Network Anthology ($45 value), we invite you (20 years old and above) to donate $5, $10, $25, $100.

We will draw the winning name out of a hat at the Jan 30 launch.

To make a donation, click HERE

TOPOGRAPHY OF DANCE IN CANADA with SOPHIE DOW

Responding to reflections from rural/remote dance artists in BC, we are again offering this online conversation specifically for dance artists working outside Vancouver. Feb 10, 11am-12:30pm

In this workshop/conversation, dance artists will learn how to align their work with resources that are available to support them and will have an increased understanding of what steps to take to move forward and get their careers even more in motion.

For more info and to register, click HERE

Re-Centering/Margins - SURREY RESIDENCY 2026

Selected Artists:

Madeleine Cruz and Mia Pelayo, Betcy Mathew, Puneet Singh 

Culminating Showing, May 2, 2026 Clayton Community Centre

For more info, click HERE

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

We are excited to announce that DADAO Artists will be showing their works at Alliance Française Vancouver on Saturday, May 9th!

Please stay tuned for more information about time and confirmed artist lineup. For more info on this program, click HERE

 Rev Rev Burlesque! Jan 28-Feb 1 2026

CDC: Emily Carlson, Secwepemc (Secwepemcul’ewc), Ktunaxa, Sinixt Territory (Revelstoke)

Artist Nick Miami Benz in Revelstoke, accompanied by videographer Vitantonio Spinelli.The response to Nick’s upcoming visit has been overwhelming - tickets for the show RevRev Burlesque sold out in less than 24 hours! Nick will perform, offer a workshop, and meet with local community artists.

CDC Emily Carlson has done an incredible job producing this event, pulling together a host of community organizations to welcome and connect with Nick: Queer Shred, Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre/Poetry in the Gallery, Arts Revelstoke, The Studio: Dance and Wellness,

The work is supported by funders: Cascadia Credit Union, Tourism Revelstoke and community partner Arts Revelstoke.

Thank you Emily for your work to bring these organizations together to make this all happen!

Ralph Escamillan, Textiles Jan 10 & 11 2006

CDC: Anneke Rosch, Sinixt Nation and the Yaqan Nukiy (Ktunaxa), Nelson

FakeKnot’s artistic director, Ralph Escamillan, offered a wonderful textile workshop to the Nelson community, sharing his creative process for his recent work, Croquis. 

Central to this work is the materiality and structure of a garment constructed entirely out of paper, which is created new each time the work is performed.

In this workshop, Ralph took participants on a crafting journey—sharing his unique process for building the paper dress. Participants learned how to pleat, cord, and knot paper to create their own garment, while also exploring how, when worn, it can inform movement. 

Dance West Network offers seven recorded conversations featuring 14 local and primarily IBPOC artists who share their reflections and stories on the role dance plays in their lives, and how dance can impact all our lives.

Each newsletter we will share with you the podcast of one of these conversations for you to listen to, and to share if you wish.

This month we are highlighting the conversation between Nick Miami Benz and Eric Cheung (bios here) titled Dance Meets Technology, a Day in the Life

If you would like to see the full conversation with performance excerpts in video form, as well as a beautiful tool-kit - great if you are working with youth as a dance teacher or mentor - please contact: debora@dancewest.net.

As part of our work at Dance West Network, we have invited neighbouring dance festivals and event platforms in Alberta and the Yukon as well as Indigenous Festivals to introduce and highlight a few artists in their programming:

Alberta & The Yukon, click HERE

Edmonton, click HERE

THANK YOU SUE PEKONEN

All of us at Dance West Network thank Sue Pekonen for her time, thoughtfulness and guidance as she steered us through the governance waters as Chair.

WELCOME ABOARD NATALIA MARTINEAU

We’re thrilled to announce that Dance West Network has a new board member, Natalia Martineau! Thank you for stepping into this role to support our work and next steps. For more info, Natalia Martineau

PuSH FESTIVAL

NEW FOR 2026:

PuSh Industry Series Local Artist Pass

Registration closes January 16, 2026

Event: Tuesday, January 27, 2026 | 9:30am–5:00pm | $35

pushfestival.ca/industry

Register for the 2026 PuSh Industry Series

DISCOUNT CODES:

Remember that time we met in the future? Jan 28-29

• 20% off with discount code REMEMBER20

SKIN Feb 4-6
• 35% off with discount code SKIN35

FREE: Dramaturgy Dialogues Jan 30

MAGIC MIXING

CanAsian Dance (CAD) is excited to launch the second year of Magic Mixing. For more info, CanAsian Dance

Six Asian Diaspora artists with diverse practices will be paired and gather in Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver for one-week to exchange, explore, and create collaboratively.

Artists may choose to participate as a local or out-of-town artist in each city they apply to. CAD will provide each artist a fee of $1,367, with travel, accommodation, and per diem covered for out-of-town artists. The creative exchange culminates with an informal public sharing and conversation, shaped by the artists with support from CAD’s Artistic Lead.

We welcome artists at all stages of their careers who are open, curious, and engaged in their practice. Artists working in traditional forms and lineages, contemporary and experimental approaches, street dance forms, and everything in between are encouraged to apply.

For more info, and application: click HERE

Application Deadline: January 18, 2026, 11:59 PM EST

All applicants will be notified of the results by March 2026.

NEW WORKS

Workshop with Chantal & Choo

Sunday, January 18

Chantal and Choo will guide participants through the inspiration for their work Seed Sanctuary in the 2026 Interplay Festival.They will share how they came together and the process of working across the disciplines of dance and tech design.

Info and Registration

THE DANCE CENTRE

Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St, Vancouver

Plastic Orchid Factory/James Gnam

Catching Up to the Future of Our Past

January 30, 2026 | 8pm & January 31, 2026 | 4pm

Two people move through midlife, tracing what was and what could be, and exploring time as something elastic - stretching between memory and possibility. Inside a Mary Quant–inspired, retro-futurist bubble, the duet plays with the weight and lightness of time passing.

Info and tickets

~ ~ ~

Justine A. Chambers

The Brutal Joy

February 5 & 6, 2026 | 8pm

The Brutal Joy unfurls Black line dancing and sartorial expression as intellectual discourse, reverie, and devotion to Black-living. A dazzling scored improvisation for dance, lighting, and sound, the work draws from the Electric Slide and Black dandyism as embodied knowledge sources for self-actualization in the present through a dance of future possibilities. Info and tickets

PACIFIC CONTACT 2026

Applications are available, deadline: March 6 2026

for more info: Pacific Contact 2026

Artists and artistic companies interested in touring in BC in 2027-2028 or 2028-2029 are invited to apply to showcase at Pacific Contact 2026, happening October 1-3 in Nanaimo.

For more info and application, click HERE

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING DANCE WEST NETWORK

Individual donations happily accepted, click HERE