Dance Victoria Announces 15th Annual Dance Days Festival

Each winter, Dance Victoria invites the community to join in the celebration of dance with Dance Days, a 10-day festival of free dance classes, performances, and events in partnership with local dance studios and artists. As a longstanding community collaboration, Dance Days aims to engage the public in diverse and accessible dance forms, and promotes dance appreciation, joyful movement, and connection.

In addition to dance classes taking place across the city, Dance Days will feature a special performance by acclaimed Indigenous company Dancers of Damelahamid. Their newest work, Raven Mother, will fill the McPherson Playhouse on Friday, January 24. On Saturday, January 25, Dance Days Sponsor Tapestry Victoria Harbour invites the community to a free workshop and kick-off event with special guest Simran Sachar from 2-4 pm. Finally, Dance Victoria will open its Quadra Village studios to the public on Sunday, January 26 to experience a curated selection of works-in-progress (Rough Cuts) featuring regional dance artists and choreographers including Belle Spirale Dance Projects, Cristina Bucci, Kemi Craig, and Vitor Freitas. More details about these events can be found below.

Ten days of FREE dance classes
 – It’ll Move You!

During Dance Days, participating studios across the Capital Regional District offer an array of free dance classes in various styles, open to all adults. Last year, 27 studios took part in the festivities, offering more than 90 classes. From flamenco, to heels, contemporary, ballet, hip hop, and more, there is much to choose from and something for everyone. Participants may also attend free workshops, artist talks, and dance performances. Local studios will continue submitting free dance offerings to the Dance Days calendar until January 15. Please visit DanceVictoria.com/Dance-Days-Calendar.

Dancers of Damelahamid
January 24, 2025, 7:30 pm
McPherson Playhouse

Dancers of Damelahamid is an Indigenous dance company founded upon over five decades of extensive work of song and dance revitalization. Co-commissioned by Dance Victoria, Raven Mother is its newly choreographed dance work in honour of late Elder Margaret Harris (1931–2020), who had a significant impact on the revitalization of Indigenous dance along the Northwest Coast. The work illuminates the integral role of women in holding cultural knowledge. In Raven Mother, striking handcrafted traditional masks, movement, song, regalia, sculpture, and design are all interwoven with the embodied narrative. This work is the company’s most ambitious production to date and will be the culmination of generations of artistic and cultural work. Since Raven Mother premiered earlier this fall, Dancers of Damelahamid has been on tour performing the work to sold-out venues nationwide.

Rough Cuts: Director’s Choice
January 26, 2025, 2:00-6:00 pm (with breaks)

Dance Victoria Studios, 111-2750 Quadra Street
Free admission with donation suggested
RSVP Required

Rough Cuts are intimate work-in-progress showings that run between 20 and 35 minutes and are followed by a talkback with the artists. These informal conversations invite the audience to ask questions about the work they have experienced and to give artists valuable feedback. All are welcome to RSVP to the following Rough Cuts starting January 10:

Excerpt of Universus • 2:00 pm
Belle Spirale Dance Projects
Choreographers: Alexis Fletcher & Fernando Hernando Magadan

Worlds are born and worlds collide in this double-bill of new work. Internationally celebrated choreographer Fernando Hernando Magadan (Ballet BC, NDT, BODYTRAFFIC) and Belle Spirale Directors Alexis Fletcher & Sylvain Senez (assemble, All my being is a dark verse, The Dance Deck) reach for questions of cosmic significance: Is connection to earth achievable on a chaotically changing planet? Will human resilience be enough for our uncertain future? Using the body as an emblem of resiliency and togetherness, eight powerful dancers explore how sharing art can awaken the individual’s sense of purpose, imagination, agency, and sense of hope.

Excerpt of Sisu • 3:30 pm
Choreographer: Cristina Bucci

Sisu, a Finnish word that deeply resonates with Cristina Bucci’s personal journey, is the driving force behind her inaugural solo work. This piece, which she both choreographs and performs, powerfully expresses her inner reserves of power, courage, determination, and strength of will. Sisu’s creation began in July 2023 through a residency at BC Movement Arts Society on Malcolm Island. Bucci is the co-founder of the Vancouver-based Ouro Collective.

Autocorrect • 5:00 pm
Choreographers: Vitor Freitas, Lee Ingram & Gracey Wynter. Director: Kemi Craig

Autocorrect is a body of choreographies performed by local dancers Vitor Freitas, Kennadie Friedlander, Luduvine, Elvis Eze and Lee Ingram with improvised and live accompaniment from cellist Jane and singer-songwriter Zoe-Blue Coates. Their choreographies draw from habitual movements submitted by the public during Kemi Craig’s tenure as City of Victoria artist-in-residence. This collection of daily gestures reflects how we adjust, adapt, accommodate, strive for perfection, and navigate the desire for safety. The work highlights the tension between the constant influx of societal norms and expectations, which shift suddenly and rapidly, and the ritualization of correction.

About Dance Victoria

Dance Victoria brings the World’s Best Dance to the Royal Theatre and supports the development of new dance for the international stage from our studios in Quadra Village. Dance Victoria is a non-profit charitable society with the mission to cultivate a connection to dance by presenting and supporting diverse local, national, and international artists, and inspiring all communities through the magic of dance. Our vision is that everyone in Greater Victoria can experience the transformative power of world-class dance. DanceVictoria.com.

Media Materials

High-resolution images with photo credits are available upon request. Please contact [email protected] for media materials.

Media Contact

Anne-Sophie Cournoyer
Marketing Manager
anne-sophie@dancevictoria.com
250-595-1829