Theatre-based Works

Our works are available for touring.

Photographed by Chandra Krown

Salmon Cycle

Premiered at Dancing to Remember (2022)

‘Salmon Cycle’ was Julia Taffe’s choreographic contribution to the ‘Dancing to Remember’ event at the Vancouver Playhouse on April 30, 2022. A counter-weight trio that mesmerized and amazed audiences with a gravity defying exploration of the spiritually important and culturally relevant life cycle of salmon species inhabiting the Salish Sea.

Visual Projection Collaboration with Chimerik Collective

Photographed by Sheng Ho and courtesy of Chimerik似不像

Co-production

Crossing Mountains & Seas (2019)

Crossing Mountains & Seas is a journey through an imagined role-playing video game that crosses over modern-day Canada into the magical world of prehistoric Asia, as described in the ancient book Shan Hai Jin. This interdisciplinary production fuses aerial and contemporary dance with interactive multimedia projections. The Orchid Ensemble plays a contemporary musical score with Chinese traditions and avant-garde improvisation. Co-created by composer Lan Tung, multi-media artist Sammy Chien and choreographers Chengxin Wei and Julia Taffe. Dance performances by Aeriosa company artists Cara Siu, Alex Tam and Thoenn Glover.

Photographed by Tim Matheson

Second Nature (2018)

Second Nature is inspired by bamboo, a grass that grows quickly skyward and dances in the air, reflecting human adaptability. Six athletic dancers evoke fantastical images through the transforming use, quality, and architectural nature of bamboo. Figurines lean and slip through a shadowy hanging forest, teetering giants loom, a human ball is tossed, and airborne floating dips the viewer into wonderland dimensions. The musical score by award-winning composer Jordan Nobles and the lighting design by James Proudfoot and Jono Kim enhances the dreamlike flow of the show.

Photographed by Tim Matheson

Ancestralizing the Present (2017)

’Ancestralizing the Present’ explores the ways in which First Nations’ protocol informs collaborative works created in partnership by Indigenous and non-Indigenous dance artists. “Ancestralizing” describes the ways Indigenous artists draw upon ancient ways of being, knowing, and relationships to territories, to create work that activates the present so that it becomes the future. As future ancestors, they create new works that become the ancient songs and dances of generations to come.

Featuring:
Spakwus Slulem (Eagle Song Dancers)
Git Hayetsk (People of the Copper Shield)
Aeriosa Dance Society
Curator: Dr Mique’l Dangeli, PhD

Event information:
Saturday June 10, 2017 | 1-7pm
Scotiabank Dance Centre
Free admission

Photographed by Tim Matheson

Being (2011)

Being is about identity, connection and metamorphosis. The work imagines itself as a performance taking place in the same location, thousands of years into the future. The trip begins on earth ~ in the theatre, with dancers on the ground moving in Dali-esque formations under a large white silk. Ethereal projections are cast onto the fabric as it pulsates and warps. Dancers move towards the sky with connected floating formations that knot and unwind in kaleidoscope patterns. During intermission, the audience moves outdoors for a perspective-altering view of glowing dancers cascading, penduluming and soaring through the night sky. The original score by Canadian composer Jordan Nobles carries the audience through moods spanning from mysterious contemplation to sultry joy.