The Dance Centre Podcast

Welcome back to The Dance Centre Podcast. This month Claire talks to dance artist, choreographer and Artistic Director of The Falling Company, Marissa Wong. Join them as they discuss Marissa’s career journey and how it led her to The Falling Company, the importance of facilitating inclusive and sustainable art spaces, time management and the personal inspiration behind her new piece, Family Room.

Welcome back to The Dance Centre Podcast. This month Claire talks to Dr. Alina Sotskova, Founder and Artistic Co-Director of Voirelia Dance Hub. Join them as they discuss Alina’s dance career as well as her work in clinical psychology and how she balances the two. Alina also shares her journey to contemporary dance, why she started Voireila Dance Hub and how literature inspires her work including the piece De/Formed Revival which you can see on February 29 as part of our Discover Dance! series at Scotiabank Dance Centre.

Welcome back to The Dance Centre Podcast. This month Claire talks to dance artist Sarah Hin Ching U about her dance career, moving from ballroom dance to contemporary, breaking and street dance, working as neurodivergent artist and her upcoming residency in Montreal as part of the Quebec BC Residency Exchange with Circuit-Est Centre Chorégraphique.

Welcome back to The Dance Centre Podcast. Today Claire talks to interdisciplinary artist Nellie Gossen talk about Nellie’s work with fashion including the previous iterations of her piece, Returns as well as her experience with dance both in Vancouver and Germany.

Welcome back to The Dance Centre Podcast. Today Claire talks to dance artist, choreographer, and founder of Co.ERASGA, Alvin Tolentino. Join them as they discuss Alvin’s beginnings as an independent dance artist, the creation process and how that has changed over his long career, his collaboration with dance and interdisciplinary artists and the cultural shift happening in the dance world today.

Welcome back to The Dance Centre Podcast. In today’s episode Claire talks to dance artist, choreographer and founder of Stand Up Dance, Meagan O’Shea, about why and how she does a ”slow tour” model, the importance of community and creative engagement, the improvisation and ensemble work that led to their show Anatomalia and the generosity of saying no.

Welcome back to The Dance Centre Podcast. This month Claire talks to Kathak artist Finana Kawane and Bharata Natyam dancer Shilpa Shankar about their histories and careers with their dance genres, how they came to Canada and found The Dance Centre, and how they view their dance forms in a contemporary time.

Welcome back to The Dance Centre Podcast. In the first episode of the 2023-2024 season, Claire talks to Isaac Gasangwa, founder and director of Afrobeats Van, about his relationship with dance, the differences between African and Western dance, and the inspiration behind his upcoming show, The African Dream.

Welcome back to another episode of The Dance Centre Podcast. This month Claire talks to Sammy Chien and Caroline MacCaull, Co-Artistic Directors of Chimerik, an award-winning interdisciplinary collective, about finding a happy balance with technology in their work, mentorship, mediumship and creating a healthy community within their collective.

This month on the Dance Centre Podcast Claire talks to dance artist and choreographer Lee Su-Feh about her long career in dance, her work in voicework and her ”long, slow dance” Touch Me, Hold Me, Let Me Go.

This month on The Dance Centre Podcast Claire talks to Julia Taffe, Artistic Director of Aeriosa Dance Society about how she came to vertical dance, the challenges and differences in choreographing and performing vertical dance and Aeriosa’s collaborations with Butterflies in Spirit and Croatian choreographer Marija Šćekić.

This month on The Dance Centre Podcast Claire talks to dance artist, teacher and choreographer Ralph Escamillan about his life in dance, how he balances all his various career paths and the inspiration behind his new work, PIÑA which premieres May 4-6 at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts.

This month on The Dance Centre Podcast Claire talks to Davi Rodrigues, Artistic Director of Lamondance, about his life as a dance artist and choreographer, how he came to Vancouver, Lamondance’s role in the community and his relationship with students as a teacher and a mentor.

This month on The Dance Centre Podcast, Claire talks to Margaret Grenier, Executive and Artistic Director for the Dancers of Damelahamid. Join them as they discuss the lifting of the potlach ban, Margaret’s life in dance, the history of Dancers of Damelahmaid and their work with other Indigenous people across Canada and the world.

This month on the Dance Centre Podcast, Claire talks to DanceLab artist Tomoyo Yamada about her experiences (and the differences) dancing in Japan, Ohio and Vancouver, plus her MFA, her interdisciplinary work and how that led to working more in the theatre, and a preview of what she is working on during her DanceLab this year with The Dance Centre.   https://www.tomoyoyamada.com/

This month on The Dance Centre podcast Claire is joined by dance artists and choreographers Arash Khakpour and Emmalena Fredriksson who talk about their careers in dance, language and the journey their piece, You Touch Me, has taken over the past six years, evolving from a duet to an ensemble piece that can be seen at Scotiabank Dance Centre December 8-10, 2022.

In this month’s episode of the Dance Centre Podcast, Claire talks to co-founders of Corporeal Imago (Ci), Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes, about their history with Cirque du Soleil, failure, where their company is now and their new piece, Throe, which premieres at Scotiabank Dance Centre November 17-19, 2022.

In this episode of The Dance Centre Podcast Claire talks to dance artist and choreographer Shion Skye Carter about the beginnings of her career, her interdisciplinary duo Olive Theory, the importance of mentorship and her piece Residuals (住み・墨), which is coming to Scotiabank Dance Centre November 4-5, 2022.

In this episode of The Dance Centre Podcast, Claire is joined by returning guest Justine A. Chambers and Berlin based Canadian dance artist and choreographer Laurie Young who together, discuss the beginnings of their careers, the challenges they’ve faced as women of colour and as mothers, and their co-production, One hundred more, coming to Scotiabank Dance Centre October 13 and 14, 2022.

In our first episode of the 2022-2023 season, Claire French talks to multi-disciplinary iskwêw, independent dance artist, and choreographer Jeanette Kotowich about how she found herself as a professional dance artist, her journey with dance, the evolution of her first group work, Kwê, and her new piece, Kisiskâciwan, coming to Scotiabank Dance Centre September 30 and October 1, 2022.

In this episode of The Dance Centre Podcast, host Claire French talks with dance artist and choreographer Kirsten Wicklund about highlights of her storied career including her time with Ballet BC, her current position at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and her experience on So You Think You Can Dance Canada.

In this episode of The Dance Centre Podcast, Claire talks to Yvonne Chartrand, Artistic Director of V’ni Dansi, about creating their new piece, Mitchin di Mitchif (Mitchif Medicines), in collaboration with Santa Fe’s Dancing Earth, combining traditional and contemporary choreography and the journey she took to get this work to the stage.

In this episode of The Dance Centre Podcast, Claire French talks to dance artist and scholar Alana Gerecke about her history with dance and how it relates to her current studies with expanded choreography and site specific work.

In this episode of The Dance Centre Podcast, Claire French talks to Ziyian Kwan, Artistic Director of Dumb Instrument Dance, about her career, her journey to opening up Morrow, a cultural space and dance studio, her role in the community and how she creates.

Claire French talks to Naomi Brand and Harmanie Rose from All Bodies Dance Project about their careers in dance, the inspiration behind the all inclusive dance company, how they adapted during the pandemic and the world of inclusive dance.

In the fifth episode of The Dance Centre Podcast, Claire French talks to choreographer Daina Ashbee about her journey from a dance artist to a choreographer, her new piece J’ai pleuré avec les chiens (Time, Creation, Destruction), and how she ended up premiering a new group work during the pandemic.

In the fourth episode of The Dance Centre Podcast, Claire French talks to Olivia C. Davies about her dance career and journey, the history and inspiration behind the Matriarchs Uprising Festival, plus details about the 2022 edition, happening February 13-19, 2022. Learn more: https://thedancecentre.ca/event/matriarchs-uprising/

In the third episode of The Dance Centre Podcast, Claire French talks to Justine A Chambers about her work, the Vancouver dance community, the importance of spaces for dance, and the installation she and Natalie Purschwitz recently created for our lobby.

Claire French talks to Dance In Vancouver co-curators Angela Conquet (Melbourne) and Starr Muranko (Vancouver).

In our inaugural episode, Claire talks to Bharatanatym dance artist Arno Kamolika about her life in India, her careers (both dance and architecture) and what the word contemporary means to her.

Check out the trailer for the new monthly podcast The Dance Centre podcast!