B.C. Movement Arts Society launches North Island Contemporary Dance Series March 5 with OURO Collective

Ne Sans Opera and Dance and Human Fields amid the innovative artists hitting West Coast communities through to September 27

SPONSORED POST BY BC Movement Arts Society

OURO Collective’s Phantoms. Photo by Abhishek Joshi

The BC Movement Arts Society (BCMAS), based in Sointula on Malcolm Island, B.C., located within the unceded Kwakwaka’wakw territories of the ‘Namgis, Kwakiutl, and Mamalilikala Nations, is launching its 2nd annual North Island Contemporary Dance Series on March 5, which will run until September 30.

Bringing urban and rural together, BCMAS is one of the few professional dance organizations based in, and serving, remote communities in Canada. This year’s series features acclaimed dance artists from Canada, USA, Germany, Poland, and Israel.

Presenting these talented and innovative artists in the North Island communities—Sointula, Port Hardy, ‘Namgis Nation/Alert Bay and Campbell Rive (and a special presentation in Bella Bella)—enables residents and the surrounding North Island population to experience exceptional professional dance in their own community without having to travel long distances to urban centres where contemporary dance is traditionally presented.

BCMAS was established in 2015 and is led by co-founder and former professional dancer Mary-Louise Albert, who was the artistic managing director of the Vancouver-based international Chutzpah! Festival and Norman Rothstein Theatre from 2004 to 2019.

“Rural and remote coastal communities are often deprived of live performances, in particular in B.C. given the range of geographic constraints,” says Albert. “Bringing professional dance to these communities stimulates artistic interest and activity, and community pride.”

Kicking off the 2023 dance series is the OURO Collective from March 5 to 11 with a mixed program. The group’s unique and compelling style fuses hip-hop, waacking, breaking, popping, and contemporary dance as their foundation. Their mixed program explores how changes in the urban landscape affect personal memory and cultural amnesia, and how an erased past affects future generations.

Five other events are on the lineup for this season: T'sasała Cultural Group’s ‘Namgis Nation sharing in Bella Bella, from April 13 to 15; Grass is Green by San Francisco based Una Productions from April 25 to May 2; Idan Cohen’s contemporary pieces Solo for Orpheus and Hourglass under his company Ne. Sans Opera and Dance, May 24 to 28; Place to Be by Berlin-based collective Human Fields from July 14 to 19; and Kaeja d’Dance’s LifeDUETS from September 27 to 30.

Tickets for the OURO Collective’s upcoming performance can be purchased through the BCMAS. For more information, please visit our website or call 1-604-970-3206.

Post sponsored by the BC Movement Arts Society.