IBPOC talent in the spotlight as Re-Centering/Margins Creative Residency 2024 wraps with showcase October 10 and 12
Six emerging dance artists from Vancouver and Surrey share performances after months of movement and writing mentorship
Ysadora Dias. Photo by Caio Silva
Punit Singh.
Dance West Network presents the final showcase of Re-Centering/Margins Creative Residency 2024 at the Surrey Arts Centre on October 10 at 7:30 pm and at MORROW on October 12 at 3 pm and 7 pm
NOW IN ITS fifth annual edition, the Re-Centering/Margins Creative Residency is a visionary opportunity that provides emerging local IBPOC dance artists with mentoring support and performance opportunities at a pivotal time in their careers.
This year’s residency launched in March with six dance artists: Isabella, Ysadora Dias, Punit Singh, Tegvaran Sooch, Shahir Qrishnaswamy, and Perelandra Waddle. They are paired with seven established mentors: Natalie Tin Yin Gan, Tin Gamboa, Jeanette Kotowich, Ana Sosa, Eric Cheung, Alexandra “Spicey” Landé, and Arash Khakpour (whose new work with The Biting School, Empty-Handed, just opened the Firehall Arts Centre’s 2024-25 season).
The artists’ time together is officially coming to a close this month with a final showcase of dance movement. On October 10 at 7:30 pm, Surrey-based artists Isabella, Singh, and Sooch will perform at the Surrey Arts Centre. On October 12 at 7 pm, Vancouver-based artists Dias, Qrishnaswamy, and Waddle will take to the stage at MORROW, the cultural hub run by Odd Meridian Arts; an additional matinee show will also take place that same day at 3 pm with Dias, Qrishnaswamy, Singh, Sooch, and Waddle.
Perelandra Waddle. Photo by Berlin Westwood
Shahir Qrishnaswamy. Photo by Lu Lam
Dias, who is of Brazilian descent, performed most recently in Co.ERASGA’s environmentally grounded program What on EARTH, which featured the premiere of three new works. Stir noted in our review of the program last month that there was an “ingrained sense of community between the dancers”, which ranged from a “a stellar group section with off-the-wall energy” to a moment where “Dias’s whole body seems to reverberate” as the performers all dropped to the floor.
For Re-Centering/Margins, Dias received mentorship from Filipina dance artist Gamboa, who presented her dance film KARISKIS at this year’s Matriarchs Uprising Festival in February.
The months-long residency program hosted by Dance West Network also features a written component of essay booklets about the dancers’ studio processes, written with the support of emerging IBPOC writers. 
Isabella.
Tegvaran Sooch.
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