Internationally acclaimed choreographer Daina Ashbee’s work returns to Vancouver

J'ai pleuré avec les chiens (Time, Creation, Destruction) runs March 9 to 12 at Scotiabank Dance Centre

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Daina Ashbee’s J'ai pleuré avec les chiens (Time, Creation, Destruction). Photo by Stephanie Paillet

J'ai pleuré avec les chiens (Time, Creation, Destruction) runs March 9 to 12 at Scotiabank Dance Centre

It’s a chance to see the work of Daina Ashbee, one of Canada’s most daring and original young choreographic voices.

J'ai pleuré avec les chiens (Time, Creation, Destruction) is described as “a ritual celebration dedicated to the body”. In a minimalist landscape, the ensemble of five extraordinarily committed performers fluctuates between possibilities: from animal to human, mundane to spiritual, pain and sorrow to ecstasy. The dancers portray the elation of harmony and equilibrium, and a resurgence of the power to act in a community. 

Ashbee is known for radical and unflinching dance works that examine the body through a powerful feminist and Indigenous worldview. The dancers in J'ai pleuré avec les chiens are nude throughout, as is often the case in Ashbee’s works.

Born in Nanaimo, BC and of Métis and Dutch heritage, Ashbee—still barely into her 30s—has toured all over the world, earning plaudits and awards such as the 2019 Bessie (New York Dance and Performance Award) for Outstanding Breakout Choreographer. Last summer, the Festival Montpellier Danse in France presented a retrospective of her works, almost unheard of for such a young artist, and she has also been presented at the prestigious Venice Biennale.

J'ai pleuré avec les chiens is presented as part of The Dance Centre’s Global Dance Connections series, in partnership with Vancouver International Dance Festival.

Information and tickets can be found at the link here.

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