Pop-Up Dances, world premieres, and more as New Works announces 30th anniversary season
Roster includes Dancing Through the Decades workshops and premieres by Vancouver’s The Biting School and The Falling Company
The Biting School’s Zahak, the Serpent King premieres in November.
Alex Wells, appearing at Pop Up Dances around Granville Island.
VANCOUVER’S NEW WORKS is getting set to celebrate its 30th anniversary season with a range of site-specific performances, three world premieres, an art exhibition, and more.
The 2023-24 season kicks off with Pop Up Dances on September 24 and 25 around Granville Island. Ten local dance artists will perform site-specific works. The 30 performances take place over Culture Days, in partnership with CMHC Granville Island. Look for outdoor shows in forms from Indigenous Hoop Dance to tap and contemporary dance, with artists Salome Nieto, the Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret, Carla Alcántara, Chengxin Wei, Company 605, Babyface Brass, Alex Wells, Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, and Kelly McInnes.
In October, New Works partners with the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre with Dancing Through the Decades. October 21 features a day of free dance workshops by the likes of V’ni Dansi, Co.ERASGA’s Alvin Tolentino (with Rainbow Refugee), and OURO Collective’s Cristina Bucci (with Dance West Network).
Opening the same day at the Scotiabank Dance Centre, Ripple Effects: 30 Years of New Works is a photography show featuring 30 instrumental voices who have impacted New Works over the last three decades. Running from October 21 to November 18 and presented with The Dance Centre, the show also has a parallel digital exhibition, hosted by Dance Collection Danse.
New Works’ four-show presentation series includes three world premieres. Starting in November, Vancouver’s The Biting School debuts Zahak, the Serpent King on the Annex stage. Running November 30 to December 2, the piece by director-siblings Aryo and Arash Khakpour is inspired by the Persian myth of Zahak, and blends physical theatre, dance, projection, and more.
In the new year, New Works partners with the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival to present Canadian artist Naishi Wang and the U.K.’s Jean Abreu with their duet Deciphers (January 26 to 28). The show explores cultural links, post-colonial histories, and the migrant experience.
April 4 and 5, watch for the world premiere of OSMOSi: 422 Unprocessable Entity by interdisciplinary artist Nancy Lee. Presented with Vancouver New Music, Lee explores the religion of “workism” and the precarity of gig-economy labour through movement, sound, costume, and lighting.
The Falling Company’s Family Room.
Rounding out the season, New Works partners with The Dance Centre to present the world premiere of Family Room by The Falling Company on April 19 and 20, following its residency support in 2022.
To mark 30 years, New Works is offering a limited number of Season Ticket Packs, which include one ticket to each of the four shows in the presentation series at a 30-percent discount, on sale now until December 2.
Meanwhile, New Works’ community-centred Share Dance program enters its 9th season of bringing free dance classes to youth and underserved communities across the Lower Mainland—now expanding to rural communities across BC.
Elsewhere, the XR Program, now called NWXR, returns as a biennial initiative focused on supporting audiences and artists creating and engaging in dance in alternate-reality spaces. In Practice, presented in partnership with The Dance Centre, returns with six workshops featuring dance teachers and leaders gathering in critical conversation and professional development. The Cohort Program also returns in the new year, offering up personalized and peer-based learning to dance artists exploring the next steps in their creative careers.
In early 2023 New Works launched an initiative to rebuild its independent-artist and small-dance-company support programs. This year it mentors OURO Collective, Ne.Sans Opera & Dance, and Gaurav Bhatti. Ongoing strategic management and administrative support partnerships include Out Innerspace and Action At A Distance. Additionally, B.C. dance artists have access to information from the New Works team through the New Works Help Desk—a free service where staff answer questions, chat about ideas and strategies, and help to connect artists to specialized resources and community partners.
More information is at www.newworks.ca.
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