Des Art Dehors/Arts Outside

DADAO 26-27 Applications are now available and close May 28 2026. 

Artists announced by late June

For more info dancewest.net 

Mainstage

Applications will open May 12 and close July 17 2026.

Artists announced by mid-September. 

For more info dancewest.net 

PERFORMANCE EVENTS: May 2026

MEET THE ARTISTS, May 2nd 2026 Re-centering/Margins Residency in Surrey  

2026 Re-centering/Margins Residency in Surrey features performances by: Madeleine Cruz and Mia Pelayo, Puneet Singh with musician Hriday Buddhev followed by a post-performance conversation including residency artist Betcy Mathew, plus Vidya Kotamraju and Alvin Tolentino.

Clayton Community Centre, 7155 187A Street, Surrey.

May 2 2026 7:30pm - 9pm  FREE

For details and to reserve seats in advance, click HERE

This residency is supported in part by a City of Surrey Cultural Grant.

Save the date: The residency will culminate in a shared event of performances on October 10, 2026

The Clayton Community Centre, operated by the City of Surrey, is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Katzie (q̓ic̓əy̓), Kwantlen (q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓), and Semiahmoo (sǝmyámǝ) Nations.

DADAO Artist Showing, May 9

Saturday May 9, 11am - 12:30pm

You are invited to a public showing at Alliance Francaise Vancouver of five dance performances from artists in the Des Arts Dehors / Arts Outside (DADAO)

Dance performances by DADAO artists: Linden Yin Choi, Palak Dhiman, Sarah Kennedy, Punit, and Rachel Helten - soma anima arts. 

Alliance Française Vancouver 6161 Cambie Street Vancouver https://www.alliancefrancaise.ca/en/culture/calendar/

FESTIVAL ACCES ASIE & STUDIO MARIKO TANABE

Juolin Lee, Simran Sachar, and Sevrin Emnacen-Boyd will travel to Montreal to present their work on May 26 2026 through Festival Accès Asie, Maison de la Culture-Janine Sutto. 

For details, click here: https://accesasie.com/evenement/mouvements-croises/

Online ticket sales for this event will begin on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at 1:00 PM

The artists will also have a residency at Studio Mariko Tanabe with an informal showing of excerpts on May 23.

 CDC Katie Wertz

Wet'suwet'en Territory, Smithers

TEMPO Dance and Visual Art workshop, Feb 2026:

Camino y Despedida -

A Creative Process on Migration and Hope

During a tour of their work Camino y Despedida, TEMPO Dance and Visual Art, Co-Artistic Director Marco Esscer with support from Ysadora Dias facilitated a free community dance workshop that engaged with questions, nuance and creative expression around the themes of Hope and Migration. Participants were led in somatic practice and improvised movement prompts that encouraged interaction with one another, voice, suitcases and the space.

My experience with Camino y Despedida and the workshop held by Marco was one of a kind.  I reconnected and reconciled with my past as an immigrant from Colombia S.A. All the memories that were buried to endure the huge changes coming to North America from culture, to food and more were enlivened by this experience. I’m for ever grateful to have been a part of this wonderful workshop - workshop participant

Presented in partnership with Bulkley Valley Concert Association, Myriad Dance Projects and TEMPO Visual Art and Dance: Danza on unceded Gidimt'en Clan Territory of the Wet'suwet'en Nation.

CDC Holly Bright

Snuneymuxw homelands, Nanaimo

Body Talk HiP HoP PoW WoW 2026 -

Spring Break workshops and performance

presented by Crimson Coast Dance

From Holly: We are blessed, and occasionally challenged, by the extraordinary experiences that take place each year in the Body Talk HiP HoP PoW WoW Program. From the person who doesn’t dance the first day who becomes the central character in the choreography by the last – to the sacred teachings offered through First Nation Leaders.

This year we received teachings on Hip Hop Dance, Cedar Weaving, Prayer Songs, and the Big Drum – the Pow Wow drum.

With the uplifting realization that the First Nation communities that we generally work with were offering their own Spring Break versions - we were a small cohort, yet still we soared.

Photo: participants playing the Big Drum facilitated by Rupert Richardson

KAPWA House Jam 

In early 2026, Josh Oncol and James Cabrera offered a series of workshops in house dance for IBPOC and queer youth and community members impacted by the Lapu Lapu Day Festival tragedy. Created through a partnership between Dance West Network, John Oliver Secondary School, led by community artists Josh Ongcol, James Cabrera, and Mar Cortez, this program offered an eight week + program offering youth training with local artists in Breaking, Hip Hop, Vogue, and Waacking to explore how movement, music, and performance as tools for increased wellbeing, creativity and confidence. Mental health support given to students by Mango Mental Health.

The program centered on youth mentorship through street dance culture. Rooted in Filipino values of kapwa (shared self) and bayanihan (collective care), this project creates space for expression, connection, and collective healing. Guest Artists include: Jojo Zalina, Katria McKinnon, Jamal Ali, Daylin Willis, Sevrin Emnacen and Jamal Ali.

Attended by family, friends and supporters, the work culminated in a Kapwa House Jam / Energy Never Dies: Community Sharing and Celebration on March 20 at 333Energy Studio.

Dance West Network supported the artists and youth program through project administration. Funded by United Way BC Kapwa Strong Fund. Learn more about the KAPWA project here

ARTISTS ON THE MOVE

includes artists from our various programs

who have upcoming events 

Dr Sruthi Purushothaman, Mainstage artist 

“Dance West Network is really helping emerging artists like me to navigate through the Canadian art space.”

New Works, three short performances, August 2026.

Langley Arts Council, March 2026.

Sarah Kennedy, DADAO artist 

Community Cultural Development grant with the City of Port Coquitlam.

Vidya Kotamraju, Mainstage Artist 

RCA  April 29

For more details

Matriarchs Uprising: Indigenous Women Dancing Stories of Transformation will be featured in Kelowna on June 15 & 16 2026, presented by Inner Fish Performance. This program includes:

A mixed bill of contemporary Indigenous dance works from Vancouver’s O.Dela Arts with solos by Olivia C. Davies, Sophie Dow, and Samantha Sutherland.

Two community dance workshops led by the artists.

A Talking Truths Circle Conversation with Indigenous artists, Syilx Nation Knowledge Keepers, and local arts leaders.

This event is presented in collaboration with O.Dela Arts Society—through a connection initiated by Dance West Network and dancer/choreographer Claudia Moore - and supported by the BC Arts Council.

Stay tuned at Inner Fish Performance for more details and ticket information - coming soon!

BOOK

Conversations and Essays on Dance in British Columbia: A Dance West Network Anthology is available for purchase.

Locally in Vancouver, reach out to jane@dancewest.net.

For online orders, click HERE 

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 Josh Ongcol Simran Sachar, (bios here) titled Dancing into Power.

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

ARTICULATE Magazine

In collaboration with Articulate magazine, Dance West Network published an article "Career Tips for Rural and Remote (Dance) Artists," which resulted from an online conversation with Sophie Dow and included contributions from Jullianna Oke.

To read the article, click HERE 

ODD MERIDIAN ARTS

ahmm | Asian Heritage Month at Morrow

April 26 – May 24

Morrow (910 Richards Street, Vancouver)

Full festival schedule and tickets can be found here.

THE DANCE CENTRE

677 Davie St, Vancouver

April 29 is  International Dance Day, and The Dance Centre presents a program of events celebrating the art form we all love, including an outdoor Vogue workshop with Vancouver Ballroom Arts, a one-of-a-kind Choreography Walk directed by Justine A. Chambers, and studio showings by Modus Operandi and soma anima arts. For more information

Modus Operandi, Show 2026

Join the students of Modus Operandi for MO Show 2026, featuring new works by Adam Khazhmuradov, Anne Plamondon, and David Raymond.

Thurs April 30 | 7:30pm

Fri May 1 | Matinee 12pm & Evening 7:30pm

Sat May 2 | 7:30pm

Get tickets here

Global Dance Connections series presents

Corporeal Imago

Drift (world premiere)

Drift conjures a mysterious world where the human form recedes into a scarred and shifting landscape. Choreographed by Artistic Directors Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes in collaboration with the five performers. Info, trailer, tickets: https://thedancecentre.ca/event/corporeal-imago-2026/

NEW WORKS

ANNEX (823 Seymour St, Vancouver)

May 1 & 2 | 8pm

Exhale

Belle Spirale Dance Projects

Co-produced by Wen Wei Dance

Experience a powerful evening of world premieres with Belle Spirale Dance Projects, featuring a new work by acclaimed choreographer Wen Wei Wang, and a poignant solo for Ariana Barr

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING DANCE WEST NETWORK

Individual donations happily accepted, click HERE