Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival features a new way to appreciate the trees: dance with them
Desiree Dunbar’s Soundwalk Dance is an exception to the beloved annual event’s virtual 20201 format
Dezza Dance founder Desiree Dunbar took members of Elan Dance to perform in Jericho Park last summer, giving rise to the idea of Soundwalk Dance for the 2021 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival.
The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, presented by Coromandel Properties Recreation, takes place throughout the cherry blossom season online, with the exception of Soundwalk Dance, for free.
PICTURE YOURSELF STANDING by one of Vancouver’s resplendent cherry blossom trees in full bloom. Now envision being surrounded by so much awe-inspiring pink and listening to a gentle voice saying things like: Notice the shape of the branches. Trace the branches with your vision. Lift your arm up imagine you’re tracing the branch with your fingertips. Notice the colours. Close your eyes and take a deep breath: what are you noticing? What are the sounds around you? Open your eyes and imagine blossoms falling down all around your body. How does that make you feel?
These are the kinds of ideas that spring forth in Soundwalk Dance. Created by Dezza Dance founder Desiree Dunbar, a veteran of the local dance scene, it’s a new way to experience these stunning trees as part of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. Now in its 15th year and founded by artistic creative director Linda Poole, the fest celebrates spring through the billions of blossoms that erupt in spring and encourages people to appreciate and nurture the 54 varieties of cherry trees that adorn neighbourhoods all over the city.
While the fest’s signature programming is taking place online this year, Soundwalk Dance is an accessible way to engage with the blooms safely, whether on your own or within your bubble, outside.
It’s an extension of Dezza Dance’s Elan Dance, a performance group of intergenerational dancers. Dunbar’s company had a residency with the West Point Grey Community Centre & Association and began doing site-specific performances at Aberthau Mansion, among other places. When the pandemic hit, the women went outdoors, dancing at Jericho Park. Upon connecting with Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival founder Linda Poole, the idea of sharing the freedom and joy that come from expressing yourself through movement in nature—during one of the city’s most glorious times of year amid a pandemic—came to be. No dance experience required.
People can participate on their own time anywhere there’s a cherry tree. (Check out the festival’s Cherry Blossom Viewing Map, which covers all 23 Vancouver neighbourhoods). You put in your earbuds and listen via your mobile device as the Elan dancers guide you on an “embodied journey”, complete with prompts and music. Whether you’re on your own or with your bubble mates, it’s up to you how much you want to move amid the blooms.
Like Poole, Dunbar feels that now more than ever, amid the current reality of social isolation, we could all benefit from getting closer to cherry blossoms.
“I also teach meditation, and part of that experience is teaching people how to connect to a grounding energy, especially during uncertain times and this groundlessness feeling we’ve been having,” says Dunbar, Soundwalk Dance lead artist and artistic producer. “Being in nature revives us and gives us energy. The blossoms provide so much inspiration and lightness.
“If you close your eyes and think about a cherry blossom, you feel a certain way,” she says. “If you’re looking at it or standing by a tree or sitting by a tree, it’s hugely beneficial. I want people to go inwards for the mindfulness and catalyze their own creativity. With these empowering directions, people can enliven their senses with what they’re experiencing. They can dance with the trees.”
Those with mobility issues can take part in Soundwalk Dance, listening to the audio wherever and however it’s comfortable with a tree or trees in sight.
Hastings Sunrise in bloom. Photo by Stephanie Seto.
Soundwalk Dance (presented by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association) is just one highlight of the 2021 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival.
In partnership with Peacemaker Filmworks, chief drone pilot Patrick Weir will capture the trees exploding into colour with a new short cinematic work, In Full Bloom, which will be available for viewing as of April 25. His goal is to bring the fragile beauty of the blossoms into everyone’s lives, especially those who are housebound or more vulnerable.
The new virtual BC Blossom Photo Watch, presented by TD, is a chance for people to submit their cherry blossom images and see them become part of the online Mosaic Photo Collage in real time.
Supported by the Dorothy and David Lam Foundation, BLOOM! Is a new educational video for elementary-school students that dives into Sakura culture, botany, and haiku.
Haiku is a cornerstone of the fest. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. presents the 2020 Haiku Invitational’s winning poems in six categories, while submissions are being accepted for the 2021 contest. For last year’s competition, 747 poets from all over the world submitted 1,364 haiku. Genevieve Wynand won the 2020 Vancouver category with her poem:
cherry blossoms fall—
the gentle quake
of baby kicks
Sakura at Home is a virtual fundraiser on April 25, with local restaurants and chefs creating an exclusive seasonal take-out menu. The event will also feature special programming and the world premiere of In Full Bloom. (Tickets are now available.)
Inspired by Japan’s traditional Sakura fests, the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival is a way of expressing gratitude for the 43,000 cherry trees here that originated as gifts from that nation, Poole says. In creating the charitable not‐for‐profit organization, she also hoped that the festival would encourage people to pause from their busy lives in wonder; by enjoying the trees, they might be more likely to take care of them.
“When I first started this, I wanted to bring cherry trees to people’s attention because people were just taking them for granted—walking right by them,” Poole says. “Their beauty is really uplifting, and we need it. People are looking for something right now to get through the pandemic. Hopefully they’ll find it with us in the blossoms.”
For full festival program details, visit vcbf.ca.
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