The Dance Centre presents the Global Dance Connections series
Daina Ashbee
We learned a lot at our own funeral
February 6-8, 2025
Scotiabank Dance Centre
The Dance Centre acknowledges that it is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. It is an honour and a privilege for us to be guests in their lands. We are grateful.
As in a funeral rite, the community is central. Through her eye contact, her voice, her somatic presence, the performer connects with the spectators who become part of the ritual.
What can be learned from a rehearsed death?
What is unknown to humans evokes fear. Nothing is constant. Yet change is grieved.
For some of us the journey of life is painful; we would prefer death over life.
As in a battle with the self — the performer challenges the force of gravity, resists against the ground, fights to overcome the precarious balance, becomes a sculpture wearing multiple masks. This force transforms as it distills and processes the notion of death, circled by community, in this tormenting battle.
While the community encompasses the dancer, the piece develops through the repetition of gestures, which the audience is invited to transform.
The potency of breath and voice brings the room into a state of trance until the performer’s body is immersed in darkness and it becomes just a presence, a ghost, the memory of a previous life still touchable by those who witnessed it. Only the echo of the body, of its strength and its fragility, remains.
Can we perceive this body’s spirit? What can be learned from sub-coming the present moment into the unknown future?
-Daina Ashbee
WE LEARNED A LOT AT OUR OWN FUNERAL
Artistic Direction & Choreography: Daina Ashbee
Performer: Imara Bosco
Rehearsal assistant: Gabriel Nieto
Lighting Design: Vito Walter
Technical Direction: Louis-Charles Lousignan
Production: Daina Ashbee
Administrative support: Francesca Fung, New Works
World premiere: July 3, 2024 Montpellier Danse, France
Co-Production Funders: Montpellier Danse (France), Usine-C (Montreal), Festival Saint-Sauveur, Crimson Coast Dance Society (Nanaimo), The Dance Centre (Vancouver)
Funded additionally by the Candance Network and Canada Council for the Arts
Residencies: Montpellier Danse
THE DANCE CENTRE
Established in 1986 as a resource centre for dance in British Columbia, The Dance Centre is a multifaceted organization offering a range of activities which is unparalleled in Canadian dance.
It presents performances and events, building audiences and nurturing public awareness; invests in programs, resources and support for hundreds of dance professionals working in all genres; operates Scotiabank Dance Centre, a cultural hub and one of Canada’s flagship dance facilities which welcomes tens of thousands of visitors annually; and works to promote BC dance.
Through programs, outreach and education, The Dance Centre is committed to sustaining a strong and vibrant community through dance.
Staff
Executive Director Mirna Zagar; Associate Programming Director Raquel Alvaro; Associate Producer Linda Blankstein; Membership Coordinator Kaia Shukin; Director of Marketing Heather Bray; Outreach Coordinator Yurie Kaneko; Digital Marketing Coordinator Lindsay Curtis; Development Manager Catherine Butler; Technical Director (Interim) Jeremiah Hughes; Comptroller Elyn Dobbs; Dance Central Editor Shanny Rann
Board of Directors
Yvonne Chartrand, Mique’l Dangeli, Mirjana Galovich, Linda Gordon (Chair), Selim Hasan, Anndraya Luui, Sujit Vaidya, Wen Wei Wang, Mark Weston
Scotiabank Dance Centre/The Dance Centre is an IATSE 118 Union house.
THANK YOU
The Dance Centre is grateful for the generous support of The Choreographer’s Circle, Anndraya Luui and the BC Arts Renaissance Fund.
The Corporate Leader’s Circle
Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP – Ingrid M. Tsui, Partner;
The Holiday Inn and Suites Vancouver Downtown – Angela van den Byllaardt, Sales Manager;
Davidson & Company – Erez Bahar;
Jarislowsky, Fraser Limited – Beau Howes
The Choreographer’s Circle
Impresario: Charles and Eve Chang Foundation, Anndraya Luui
Choreographer: Anonymous, Anonymous, Beau Howes and Genieve Burley, Tony Giacinti (in memory of Lola MacLaughlin), Stephen Jarislowsky, Anne Hildebrandt
Artistic Director: Linda Blankstein, Marnie Carter, Moh Faris, David Matte, Jackson McKiee, Yosef Wosk OBC
Principal Dancer: Ken Alexander, David Cousins, James Felter, Mike and Kathy Gallagher, Judith Garay, Ken Gracie and Philip Waddell, McGrane – Pearson Endowment Fund, Jean Orr, Patrick Shea, Don and Jane Shumka, Janet and Ron Stern
Dance Artist: Anonymous, Anonymous, Santa Aloi, Rosario Ancer, Mary and Herb Auerbach, Gary R. Bell, Andrew and Andrea Benzel, Noel Best and Barbara Shuman, Matthew Breech and Shino Watanabe, Richard Cavell and Peter Dickinson, Kirk Chantraine, Amanda Collinge, Norm and Dorothy Cross, Patti Cross, Count and Countess Enrico and Aline Dobrzensky, Tom Donaldson, Jason Dubois and Clayton Baraniuk, Nicola Follows, Peter Harmon, Linda Johnston, Emily Klukas, Gail Lotenberg, Peter Maloff, Amy Millar, Jean Millar, Andrea Reid, Kathy Scalzo, Kemo Schedlosky and Mark Gatha, Betty Scheltgen, Kaelin Sheaden, Ingrid Tsui and Matthew Heemskerk, Annelie and Dan Vistica, Denis Walz, Michael Welters, Jason Wrobleski, Max Wyman and Susan Mertens, Mirna Zagar
The Artist’s Circle
Sylvia Anderson, Linda Aristizabal, Brent Belsher, Denis Blais and Paras Terezakis, Val Brandt, Carol Carr, Beth Carter, Yvonne Chartrand, Deborah Dragon, Lorna Froidevaux, Linda Gordon, Lynn B. Johnston, Lorita Leung – The Lorita Leung Dance Association, Barry McKinnon, Dubravko Pajalic, Dr. Mary Robertson, Anthony Roper, Frank Salisbury, Selma Savage, Janice Wells
The operations of The Dance Centre are supported by the Government of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of British Columbia, the BC Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver.
Media sponsors: Stir, The Georgia Straight
The VDC Dance Centre Society is a registered charity no. BN 11925 8754 RR0001