A history of Dance Victoria

Explore Dance Victoria’s performances, events and programs since its inception in 1995

Dance Theatre of Harlem. Photo: Rachel Neville

2022/23 Season

Dance At The Royal Series

  • BalletX: Increasing by Matthew Neenan, Fancy Me by Caili Quan, Honey by Jamar Roberts, EXALT by Jennifer Archibald
  • BODYTRAFFIC: A Million Voices by Matthew Neenan, The One to Stay With by Baye & Asa, SNAP by Micaela Taylor, PACOPEPEPLUTO by Alejandro Cerrudo
  • Dance Theatre of Harlem: Allegro Brillante by George Balanchine, When Love by Helen Pickette, Higher Ground by Robert Garland, Blake Works IV: The Barre Project by William Forsythe
  • Malpaso Dance Company: Lullaby for Insomnia by Daileidys Carrazana, woman with water Mats Ek, Indomitable Waltz by Aszure Barton, Tabula Rasa by Ohad Naharin

Special Performances

  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet with Victoria Symphony: The Nutcracker by Galina Yordanova and Nina Menon
  • Out Innerspace Dance Theatre: Bygones by David Raymond and Tiffany Tregarthen in collaboration with Renée Sigouin, Elya Grant, David Harvey
  • Ballet Edmonton: Music in Motion by Wen Wei Wang
Barbarian Nights by Compagnie Hervé KOUBI

2021/22 Season

Dance At The Royal Series

  • Ballet Memphis in Nutcracker (Digital Presentation)
  • Compagnie Hervé KOUBI Barbarian Nights by Hervé Koubi
  • Ballet BC Reveal + Tell (Mixed Program)
  • Ballet Hispánico Doña Perón by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa

Dance Days Performance @ Mary Winspear Centre (Sidney)

  • John by Helen Walkley
What the day owes to the night by Compagnie Hervé KOUBI. Photo: Nathalie Sternalski

2020/21 Season

Virtual Home Season

  • Compagnie Hervé KOUBI What the day owes to the night by Hervé Koubi
  • Ukrainian Shumka DancersNutcracker by Viktor Lytvynov + John Pichlyk
  • Grupo Corpo Parabelo and Dança Sinfônica by Rodrigo Pederneiras
  • Bereishit Dance Company Balance and Imbalance and BOW_Control by Soon-ho Park
Revisor by Kidd Pivot. Doug Letheren. Photo: Michael Slobodian

2019/20 Season

Dance at the Royal Series

  • Aspen Santa Fe Ballet with Pianist Joyce Yang: Where We Left Off by Nicolo Fonte, Dream Play by Fernando Melo, Half/Cut/Split by Jorma Elo
  • Kidd Pivot Revisor

Special Performances

  • Ukrainian Shumka Dancers with Victoria Symphony: Nutcracker
  • Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo: Le Lac Des Cygnes (Swan Lake, Act II) based on choreography by Lev Ivanovich Ivanov, Go For Barocco by Peter Anastos, Paquita based on choreography by Marius Petipa

Dance Days Rough Cuts @ The Metro Studios

  • John (Excerpt) by Helen Walkley
  • A+A by Alexis Fletcher, Andrew Bartee
  • Red on Red by Visible Bodies Collective (Lindsay Delaronde)
  • Off-Centre (Excerpt) by Sujit Vaidya
  • Clown for Hire by Angela Mousseau and What Remains of Chelsea Jane (Excerpt) by Kelly Hobson

Cancelled due to Coronavirus Pandemic:

  • Ballet BC: Romeo+Juliet by Medhi Walerski
  • Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza: 3.Catorce Dieciséis and Ex-Stasis by Tania Pérez-Salas
Dance Me by Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal (BJM). Photo: Thierry du Bois

2018/19 Season

Dance at the Royal Series

  • Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal Dance Me
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet with Victoria Symphony: The Nutcracker by Galina Yordanova and Nina Menon
  • Ballet West: Sweet and Bitter by África Guzmán, White Swan | Black Swan by Adam Sklute, based on original choreography by Mark Goldweber & Pamela Robinson-Harris, Fox on the Doorstep by Nicolo Fonte
  • Ballet BC: BEGINNING AFTER by Cayetano Soto, To this day by Emily Molnar, Petite Cérémonie by Medhi Walerski
  • Hubbard Street Dance Chicago: A Picture of You Falling and The Other You by Crystal Pite, Lickety-Split Alejandro Cerrudo, PACOPEPEPLUTO by Alejandro Cerrudo, Cloudline by Robyn Mineko Williams

Dance Days Performance @ The McPherson Playhouse

  • MAN by Norway’s Sølvi Edvardsen
Alvin Ailey® American Dance Theater’s Akua Noni Parker, Jacqueline Harris, Jacqueline Green. Photo: Andrew Eccles

2017/18 Season

Dance at the Royal Series

  • Aspen Santa Fe Ballet: 1st Flash by Jorma Elo, Silent Ghost by Alejandro Cerrudo, Huma Rojo by Cayetano Soto
  • Alberta Ballet with Victoria Symphony: The Nutcracker by Edmund Stripe
  • ODC/Dance: What we carry What we keep by Brenda Way, Dead Reckoning by KT Nelson
  • Company Wayne McGregor: Atomos by Wayne McGregor
  • Ballet Hispánico: Linea Recta by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Con Brazos Abiertos by Michelle Manzanales, 3. Catorce Dieciséis by Tania Pérez-Salas
  • Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Untitled America by Kyle Abraham, The Winter in Lisbon by Billy Wilson, Mass by Robert Battle, Ella by Robert Battle

Dance Days Performance @ The McPherson Playhouse

  • Dancers of Damelahamid: Flicker by Margaret Grenier
The Calling by Jessica Lang Dance (JLD). Photo: Takao Komaru

2016/17 Season

Dance at the Royal Series

  • Jessica Lang Dance: Lines Cubed, Among the Stars, Mendelssohn / Incomplete, The Calling (excerpt from Splendid Isolation II), Thousand Yard Stare
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet with Victoria Symphony: Nutcracker by Galina Yordanova and Nina Menon
  • BalletBoyz®: Rabbit by Pontus Lidberg, Fiction by Javier de Frutos
  • Alonzo King LINES Ballet: Sand & Shostakovich
  • Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal: Minus One by Ohad Naharin

Dance Days Performances @ The Metro Studio Theatre

  • dumb instrument Dance The Mars Hotel by Ziyian Kwan & Noam Gagnon

2015/16 Season

Dance at the Royal Series

  • Ballet BC: Awe by Stijn Celis, Solo Echo by Crystal Pite, Twenty Eight Thousand Waves by Cayetano Soto
  • Alberta Ballet with Victoria Symphony: The Nutcracker by Edmund Stripe
  • Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal: Rouge by Rodrigo Pedeneiras (Brazil), Mono Lisa by Itzik Galili (Israel), Kosmos by Andonis Foniadakis (Greece)
  • Kidd Pivot + Electric Company Theatre: Betroffenheit by Crystal Pite & Jonathon Young
  • Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation by Mark Godden and story by Joseph Boyden

Dance Days Performances @ The Metro Studio Theatre

  • Out Innerspace Major Motion Picture by Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond

2014/15 Season

Dance at the Royal Series

  • BalletBoyz®: Serpent by Liam Scarlett, Fallen by Russell Maliphant
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet with Victoria Symphony: The Nutcracker by Galina Yordanova and Nina Menon
  • ODC Dance: Triangulating Euclid by Brenda Way, KT Nelson, and Kate Weare, Waving Not Drowning by Brenda Way
  • Compagnie Käfig: Käfig Brasil by Mourad Merzouki
  • Ballet West: Mercurial Landscapes by Jodie Gates, In the Middle Somewhat Elevated by William Forsythe, The Lottery by Val Caniparoli

Dance Days Performances @ The Metro Studio Theatre

  • Wen Wei Dance with Beijing Modern Dance: Made in China by Wen Wei Wang, Gaoyan Jinzi, Qui Xia He and Sammy Chien
  • The Biting School Performance: The Righteous Floater and The Melon Project by Arash and Aryo Khakpour
  • Theatre SKAM REMIXED with Ballet Victoria: Aerwacol Paul Destrooper

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy by Alberta Ballet

2013/14 Season

Dance at the Royal Series

  • Alberta Ballet: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (The Songs of Sarah McLachlan) by Jean Grand-Maitre
  • Alberta Ballet with Victoria Symphony: The Nutcracker by Edmund Stripe
  • Ballet British Columbia: Walking Mad by Johan Inger, I and I am You by Jorma Elo, 16 + a room by Emily Molnar
  • Ballet Du Grand Théâtre De Genève: Roméo et Juliette by Joëlle Bouvier
  • Alvin Ailey ® American Dance Theater: Mixed Repertoire

Dance Days | Night Moves @ Metro Studio Theatre

  • Out Innerspace: Me So You So Me by Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond
  • 605 Collective: Inheritor Album by Lisa Gelley, Shay Kuebler, and Josh Martin
  • Battery Opera: Everything by Lee Su-Feh, Jung-Ah and Su-Feh by Chung Jung-Ah and Lee Su-Feh

DV logo roundel

2012/13 Season

  • Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal: Harry by Barak Marshall, Zero in On by Cayetano Soto, Night Box by Wen Wei Wang
  • Goh Ballet: The Nutcracker
  • Rubberbandance Group: Gravity of Center by Victoria Quijada
  • Joe Laughlin: 25 Years of Dance
  • Pacific Northwest Ballet: Agon by George Balanchine, Afternoon of a Faun by Jerome Robbins, After the Rain by Christopher Wheeldon, Apollo by George Balanchine
  • Black Grace: Mixed Repertoire

2011/12 Season

  • National Ballet of Canada: The Second Detail, Other Dances, Man in Black, Emergence
  • Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance: Entity
  • Alberta Ballet with Victoria Symphony: The Nutcracker by Edmund Stripe
  • Ballet Nacional de Cuba: Mixed Repertoire
  • Alonzo King LINES Ballet: Resin and Scheherazade
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Svengali

2010/11 Season

  • Pacific Northwest Ballet: Mixed Repertoire
  • Daniel Léveillé Danse: Modesty of Icebergs
  • GOH Ballet with Special Guests: The Nutcracker
  • Les Grands Ballets Canadiens: Four Seasons and Cantata
  • Toronto Dance Theatre: Pteros Tactics
  • Alvin Ailey® American Dance Theater: Special Performance
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Wonderland

2009/10 Season

  • The National Ballet of Canada: Mixed Repertoire
  • Decidedly Jazz DanceWorks: wowandflutter
  • Alberta Ballet with Victoria Symphony: The Nutcracker by Edmund Stripe
  • Alberta Ballet: Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle and the Drum
  • Crystal Pite/Kidd Pivot: Dark Matters
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Moulin Rouge – The Ballet
  • Compagnie Marie Chouinard: Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun and Rite of Spring
  • Wen Wei Dance: Cock-Pit

2008/09 Season

  • Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet: Irregular Pearl
  • Tara Cheyenne Performance: Nick & Juanita: Livin’ in my Dreams
  • Alberta Ballet: The Nutcracker [World Premiere]
  • ProArteDanza: Mixed Repertoire
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Peter Pan
  • Chunky Move: I Want to Dance Better at Parties
  • Hubbard Street Dance: Mixed Repertoire

2007/08 Season

  • National Ballet of Canada: Polyphonia by Christopher Wheeldon, Giselle by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot
  • Yoruba Andabo: Rumba en la Habana
  • Alberta Ballet with Victoria Symphony: Nutcracker by Mikko Nissinen
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty
  • Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal: Mapa by Rodrigo Pedernairas, Les Chambres de Jacques by Aszure Barton
  • Rubberbandance Group: Elastic Perspective by Victor Quijada
  • Compagnie Marie Chouinard: Body Remix by Marie Chouinard

2006/07 Season

  • Ballet British Columbia: A Streetcar Named Desire by John Alleyne
  • Wen Wei Dance: Unbound by Wen Wei Wang
  • Alberta Ballet: The Nutcracker by Mikko Nissinen
  • Ailey® II: Mixed Repertoire (various incl. Alvin Ailey)
  • battery opera: [storm] by Lee Su-Feh, David McIntosh
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Dracula by Mark Godden
  • Decidedly Jazz Danceworks: Magnetic Consequences by Vicki Adams Willis

2005/06 Season

  • National Ballet of Canada: Swan Lake, Full Circles, Romeo and Juliet Before Parting by James Kudelka, Themes and Variations by Balanchine
  • bjm_danse (Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal): Stolen Show by Crystal Pite
  • Alberta Ballet with Victoria Symphony: The Nutcracker by Mikko Nissinen
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: The Messiah by Mauricio Wainrot
  • Kokoro Dance: Sunyata by Jay Hirabayashi and Barbara Bourget
  • Kidd Pivot: Double Story by Crystal Pite and Richard Siegal

2004/05 Season

  • Toronto Dance Theatre: Persephone’s Lunch by Christopher House
  • Alberta Ballet with Victoria Symphony: Nutcracker by Mikko Nissinen
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: A Cinderella Story by Val Caniparoli
  • The Holy Body Tattoo: monumental by Noam Gagnon & Dana Gingras
  • Decidedly Jazz Danceworks: BULLA! Hannah Stilwell & Kimberly Cooper
  • Ballet BC: The Rite of Spring by John Alleyne, 15 Heterosexual Duets by James Kudelka, Nine Sinatra Songs by Twyla Tharp

2003/04 Season

  • National Ballet: Four Seasons by James Kudelka , Napoli Excerpts by August Bournonville, Judgment of Paris by George Balanchine
  • battery opera: Spektator by Lee Su Feh
  • Ballet BC: Carmen by Jean Grand Maitre
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: The Magic Flute by Mark Godden
  • Lynda Raino/Crystal Pite’s A Conversation – A Victoria Dance Series commission by Lynda Raino & Crystal Pite

2002/03 Season

  • Ballet BC: Orpheus by John Alleyne
  • Lola Dance: Volio by Lola McLaughlin
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty by Marius Petipa
  • O Vertigo Danse: Luna by Ginette Laurin
  • Les Grands Ballets Canadiens: Minus One by Ohad Naharin

2001/02 Season

  • National Ballet of Canada: scenes from Romeo & Juliet
  • Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal – mixed program (including Short Works: 23 by Crystal Pite)
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Giselle Peter Wright, after Jules Perrot, Jean Coralli and Marius Petipa
  • Toronto Dance Theatre: Severe Clear by Christopher House

2000/01 Season

  • Le Groupe Apogee – World Premiere choreography by Debra Brown
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Butterfly by David Nixon
  • Ballet BC: The Faerie Queen by John Alleyne

1999/2000 Season

  • Ballet BC: The Goldberg Suite by John Alleyne, Chiaroscuro by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Zero Hour by Barry Ingham
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Beauty and the Beast by David Nixon
  • Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal: Premier Souffle by Gilles Lacroix & Andre Simard, Circle Songs by Shawn Hounsell, entre-deux by Dominique Dumais, clin d’oeil by Jason Shipley-Holmes, No Strings Attached by Mia Michaels

1998/99 Season

  • Les Grands Ballets Canadiens: Apollo. Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux by George Balanchine, Duende by Nacho Duato, Axioma 7 by Ohad Naharin
  • Ballet Jorgen: The Art of Fugue by Crystal Pite, I’ve Got Rhythm by Stephanie Ballard, Two Dances For Jane by Crystal Pite, White Sleep by Mark Godden, Swedish Songs and Land by Bengt Jorgen
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Dracula by Mark Godden
  • Ballet BC: 15 Heterosexual Duets and There, below by James Kudelka, Petites danses pour mammiferes (Transl.: Short Dances for mammals) by Myriam Naisy

Inaugural Season 1997/98 Season

  • Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal – mixed program (including Pendulum by Crystal Pite et al.)
  • Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Ballo Della Regina by George Balanchine, The Leaves are Falling by Antony Tudor, Seventh Symphony by Van Schayk
  • Ballet BC – mixed program (including Conversation Piece by Mark Godden, and Dvorak Serenade by John Clifford)
  • Western Ballet Theatre: Romeo and Juliet