January 16–25, 2026
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.
“Dance Days has had a significant impact on my life. I tried a Beginner Jazz class in 2017 while going through a challenging period in my life. I hadn’t had any formal dance training – ever! Who knew that would eventually lead to lasting friendships and performing on the Royal Theatre stage?!
~ Terry Vatrt
I continue to dance because it’s good for my brain, body and spirit.
Dance Days is a remarkable opportunity to enter a welcoming world of fun, music and camaraderie.”
Dance Days Sponsor:
Dance Days Kick-off
Saturday, January 17
Hosted by Dance Days Sponsor Victoria Harbour by Chartwell.
Belle Spirale Dance Projects
UNIVERSUS
Friday, January 16
7:30 pm
McPherson Playhouse
Free Classes
January 16–25
All over town, participating studios are offering an array of free dance classes in various styles open to all adults. This is your chance to try new ways of moving your body from modern dance, to flamenco, to heels, hip hop, ballroom, ballet, and more! There is so much to choose from, and something for everyone. Bring a friend, enjoy this free offering, and start 2026 with a pep in your step.
Rough Cuts @ DV Studios
Sunday, January 25
One of the highlights of Dance Days 2026 is the opportunity to experience Rough Cuts (works-in-progress) by some of Victoria’s leading dance artists and choreographers.
Join us to experience performance excerpts by Dance Victoria Collective in Residence Travelling Bodies Collective and Broken Rhythms Dance Theatre; and dance film by Suddenly Dance Theatre. Each Rough Cut will be followed by a moderated Q&A where artists answer questions, invite audience reflections, and receive valuable audience feedback.
Pre-registration is required for each showing you would like to attend. Pick one, or attend all three! Space is limited. Rough Cut showings are free and accessible to the public, with donations encouraged.
Excerpt of Raízes Telúrica
2:00–3:00 pm, Sunday, January 25
Travelling Bodies Collective
Artists of Travelling Bodies Collective. Photo: Julia Loglisci
Learn more about this residency artist here.
RSVP beginning Jan. 14
Under the artistic direction of Vitor Freitas, Act II of Raízes Telúrica continues to unfold as a collective exploration of migration, grief, care, and resilience, opening space for multiple voices.
Kennadie Friedlander’s Unreduced explores the four elements of nature as they shift between dancers, embodying their distinct qualities and revealing transformation through shared physical experience. Peter Starr’s Our Lament examines shared grief through ritual, repetition, and communal healing, while Vitor Freitas’s Cross Path reflects on human evolution and change, situating the individual body within intersecting destinies shaped by movement, displacement, and collective presence.
Together, these works reveal how individual journeys are held, shaped, and strengthened by the collective body.
“Lately, the studio has been a place of deep listening—listening to bodies, to shared weight, to grief, and to care. I am particularly excited to share this moment of Raízes Telúrica while the work remains in process, allowing vulnerability, collaboration, and emergence to be fully visible. This phase reflects my desire for healing and alignment, giving space for artistic intentions to continue unfolding with resilience and clarity.”— Vitor Freitas, Artistic Director & principal choreographer
Scenes of LUCKY MAYBE
3:30–4:30 pm, Sunday, January 25
By: Suddenly Dance Theatre
Photo: still from LUCKY MAYBE
Learn more about LUCKY MAYBE here.
RSVP beginning Jan. 14
Suddenly Dance Theatre’s LUCKY MAYBE is a serial of 20-minute dance films following Horangi (Tiger) on his transformational journey from the temple to the city. In this featured excerpt from the episode TIGER IN THE CITY, our hero (South Korea’s Hoyeon Kim) faces fatigue, temptation, and hunger until he receives kindness from a stranger (Lynda Raino).
Created and directed by David Ferguson, and fuelled by an original soundtrack by Miles Lowry, LUCKY MAYBE was catalyzed in 2020 by Dance Victoria’s Chrystal Dance Prize—Projects award; and supported by The Canada Council, The BC Arts Council, CRD Arts Development, Arts Council Korea, Dab Dance Project (South Korea), and Seoul Dance Centre.
LUCKY MAYBE was filmed in the City of Seoul, at Wawoojongsa Temple in Yongin, and on Jeju Island, South Korea. In Canada, the artists have filmed at various locations in the CRD.
Excerpt of 1,000 Pieces of π
5:00–6:00 pm, Sunday, January 25
Choreographer: Dyana Sonik-Henderson
Photo: Hélène Cyr
Learn more about 1,000 Pieces of π here.
RSVP beginning Jan. 14
Have you ever experienced math phobia and wanted to dance about it?
Broken Rhythms Dance Company’s 1,000 Pieces of π explores the never-ending, never-repeating number sequence of the irrational number π (pi), most commonly written as 3.14. The entire performance is built from just ten dance movements, each assigned a numerical value.
Using the infinite and non-repeating structure of π as its guiding constraint, the work investigates the mind–body connection, creating a full, rigorous, and deliberately “irrational” dance experience. This is a first-of-its-kind performance that translates mathematical abstraction into physical expression.
“This work has given me a thousand gifts; each time I return to it, I discover something new it is trying to tell me.” — Dyana Sonik-Henderson, Artistic Director & choreographer