Saying Goodbye to My Brother
November 21 | 7:00 pm
November 22 | 3:00 pm
Baumann Centre
When Victoria choreographer Lynda Raino first created Saying Goodbye to My Brother in 1988, the AIDS epidemic was at its height. The duet, originally performed with Raino’s close friend and dance partner Shawn Costello (1961–1989), captured the heartbreak, fear, and stigma surrounding a crisis that devastated the arts community. Nearly four decades later, Raino has remounted the piece as part of STILL WITH US: A Legacy of HIV/AIDS in the Arts, a cross-disciplinary project spearheaded by the Victoria Arts Council (VAC) and anchored by an exhibition in downtown Victoria from October 24 to December 1, 2025. The project marks the 40th anniversary of the former AIDS Vancouver Island–now AVI Community Health Services.
In a first-time co-presentation between VAC and Dance Victoria, the remount features Vancouver dancers and DV Residency Artists Isak and Eowynn Enquist. The idea for this collaboration originated with Stephen White, Dance Victoria’s former Executive Producer. Raino recalls, “I was stunned when Stephen asked if I’d consider revisiting Saying Goodbye to My Brother.” Initially, she wasn’t sure. Would people be interested in a dance piece about AIDS? Was it still relevant? “The arts community was laden with deaths back then, but today, it’s different,” she reflects. “But the more I spoke with people, the more they validated that it’s profoundly important—especially for the younger generation—to get a sense of where we come from. Gay men were the pariahs of the world, and the shame surrounding the disease made it worse.”
Raino’s connection to the work is personal. She met Costello when he approached her about taking classes at her studio, Raino Dance. He was a strong, raw talent with a background in fitness and theatre. “He became the absolute best dance partner,” she remembers. Their friendship grew through performance, and Saying Goodbye to My Brother emerged organically in the studio. The duet tells the story of a brother and sister who, once close in youth, are now divided by an AIDS diagnosis and the sister’s struggle with judgment and grief.
The work was performed only once before Costello’s death in 1989.
In selecting Isak and Eowynn Enquist for the remount, Raino says she wanted dancers who shared a deep physical and emotional connection. “They’re a married couple who are so in tune with each other. This piece demands that kind of intimacy and trust,” she explains. “They’re both strong, expressive performers whose growing interest in acting is fitting for the theatricality this piece demands.”
As Raino prepares to see the piece brought back to life by new dancers and at a new time, her hope is simple: “Saying Goodbye to My Brother is not abstract. People will understand it and, therefore, they will be touched by it.”
Saying Goodbye to My Brother will be performed at The Baumann Centre on Nov. 21 + 22. The programme also includes a welcome drum song from Aunty Collective; an excerpt from i am beauty, a new verbatim opera by librettist Rick Waines and composer Mary Jane Coomber featuring four vocalists and accompaniment, activating the HIV in My Day oral history research project housed at the University of Victoria; and The Viral Monologues, featuring first-person accounts from the frontlines by AVI Health & Community Services affiliates, remounted by Intrepid Theatre.
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