DRIFT: PROGRAM

Choreography: Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes with performing artists
Performing artists: Andréane Leclerc, Arash Khakpour, Davi Rodrigues, Nicole Rose Bond, Vanessa Goodman
Associate performer: Ysadora Dias
Music: Jo Hirabayashi
Lighting: Jeremiah Hughes with Itai Erdal and Chengyan Boon

Drift has been created through the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council and The Dance Centre Artist-in-Residence Program.

Choreography:

Gabrielle Martin is a choreographer, performer, and artistic director creating interdisciplinary works at the intersection of contemporary dance, aerial arts, and visual theatre. Her practice investigates the tension between will and fate, centering the body in its struggle for agency. Drawing on over 1,400 international performances with Cirque du Soleil and Cavalia, her work calls toward an embodied defiance—where risk, suspension, dependence, and resistance become choreographic languages through which to examine vulnerability, interdependence, and the contemporary tragic. She holds degrees from Concordia University, the Centre National des Arts du Cirque, and Rome Business School, and is the co-founder of Corporeal Imago.

Jeremiah Hughes is a choreographer, performer, and co-founder of Corporeal Imago whose interdisciplinary practice bridges contemporary dance, acrobatics, and physical theatre. Originally trained in competitive dance at the Canadian Dance Company and later at Randolph College for the Performing Arts, he has performed internationally with artists including Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars, and in major productions by Cirque du Soleil and Franco Dragone Entertainment Group. Driven by a passion for visual composition and theatrical storytelling, he approaches the stage as a sacred site of collective encounter—building visceral performance worlds where movement, image, and emotional intensity operate beyond language.

Music Composition:

Jo Kiyoshi Hirabayashi 平林 (he/him/they) is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and musician, born and raised on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations – otherwise known as Vancouver. Now based in Toronto, Jo is best known for his project Jopassed—a dynamic and restless songwriting project—as well as his production, videography and composition work for artists coast to coast. Following Jo’s Sub Pop debut, 2026’s Away delivers a song-forward methodology that molds stress into a smooth, fun indie rock record, hitting a sweet spot between saccharine and melancholic.

Performing Artists:

Performer, choreographer, and educator, Andréane Leclerc has developed a somatic practice inspired by contortion to create transdisciplinary works based on cooperation, listening, and relational ecology. Her company, Nadère arts vivants, presents contortion and dramaturgy pieces and workshops on contemporary interdisciplinary stages, both in Quebec and internationally. Andréane also works as a dramaturgy and movement consultant and performer for various international projects.

Arash Khakpour (آرش خاکپور) is a dancer, choreographer, facilitator and cultivator from Tehran, based on Coast Salish Territory (colonially known as Vancouver). Arash has 18 years of practice in movement and performance and has been a company member and part of the EDAM ensemble since 2017 under the direction of Peter Bingham. He explores the nuances of prejudices in the body as a way of inviting the unconscious to the conscious, and as a doorway to embrace unknown emotions. He sees dance as a relational process of physical, emotional, and spiritual discovery, and as a vehicle for social change.

Brazilian-born Canadian Davi Rodrigues is the Artistic Director of Lamondance and an acclaimed choreographer, educator, and writer with over 30 years of experience. A recipient of the 2025 Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award, Davi has created 35 full-length contemporary works celebrated for their visceral emotionality. His human-centric mentorship, informed by his status as a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator, prioritizes psychological safety, vulnerability, and individual empowerment. Beyond the stage, Davi is a prolific dark fantasy author, notably of the novel Black Feather. His multifaceted career remains dedicated to artistic excellence, accessible dance education, and equity. Davi is excited to be a dance artist with Corporeal Imago.

Nicole Rose Bond began her formal dance training at York University, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Dance cum laude in 2005. Nicole has felt privileged to perform within and across Canada and internationally with companies such as Danny Grossman Dance Company, Toronto Dance Theatre, and Peggy Baker Dance Projects, and esteemed choreographers including Patricia Beatty, David Earle and James Kudelka. Nicole teaches Graham technique at Arts Umbrella, Modus Operandi and Simon Fraser University, as well as choreographing regularly for both dance and theatre. Nicole is grateful that her vocation encompasses doing what she loves and is humbled by the beautiful arts community that she calls home.

Vanessa Goodman acknowledges that she lives, works, and creates on the stolen ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, including the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. She is Artistic Director of Action at a Distance Dance Society and holds a BFA from SFU. Her choreographic practice explores meaning beyond aesthetics, using generative movement and sonic embodiment to create immersive performative environments. She has received multiple awards, including The Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award (2013), The Chrystal Dance Prize (2019/2024), and The Isadora Award (2025). Her work has toured internationally across Canada, the USA, Europe and South America.

Associate Performer:

Ysadora Dias is a dance artist based in so-called Vancouver, whose cultural heritage deeply informs her movement and creative practice. She has collaborated with numerous artists across the city and performed with companies including Co. Erasga, Raven Spirit Dance, Inverso Productions, and Action at a Distance. Ysa has also toured with MascallDance throughout Canada and New Zealand. In 2024, she participated in Dance West Network’s Re-Centering Margins Residency and was an artist-in-residence for Co. Erasga’s Salon Series fall 2025.

Lighting Realization:

Chengyan Boon is a technical director and lighting designer and a grateful guest on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations. He is a frequent collaborator with Odd Meridian Arts, Dance//Novella, Shakti Dance, Corporeal Imago, Crossmaneuver, Dancers of Damelahamid, Theatre la Seizieme and previously with the late and badly missed Colleen Lanki at Tomoe Arts. He holds a BFA in Theatre Production and Design from UBC and is a member of IATSE ADC 659. Design portfolio at chengyanboon.com.

An award winning lighting designer, writer and performer, Itai Erdal is the founder of The Elbow Theatre, for whom he co-wrote and performed in A Very Narrow Bridge, This Is Not A Conversation, Hyperlink and Soldiers of Tomorrow. Itai has designed over 350 shows for theatre and dance companies in 46 cities. He won six Jessie Richardson Awards, the ADC’s Jack King Award, a Dora Mavor Moore Award, a Winnipeg Theatre Award, Victoria’s Spotlight Choice Award, a Guthrie Award and the Design Award at the Dublin Fringe Festival. He was shortlisted to the prestigious Siminovitch Prize in 2018 and 2024. www.itaierdal.com, www.theelbow.ca

Staff  
Executive Director Mirna Zagar; Associate Programming Director Raquel Alvaro; Associate Producer Linda Blankstein; Membership Coordinator Kaia Shukin; Director of Marketing Heather Bray; Digital Marketing Coordinator Lindsay Curtis; Outreach Coordinator Yurie Kaneko; Development Manager Catherine Butler; Venue and Services Manager Christopher David Gauthier; Comptroller Elyn Dobbs; Dance Central Editor Shanny Rann

Board of Directors 
Rosario Ancer, Elaine Carol, Yvonne Chartrand, Mique’l Dangeli, Linda Gordon (Vice-Chair), Selim Hasan (Chair), Anndraya Luui, Jordan Thomson, Sujit Vaidya, Wen Wei Wang, Mark Weston (Treasurer)

The Dance Centre is an IATSE 118 Union house. 

The Dance Centre is grateful for the generous support of The Choreographer’s Circle, Anndraya Luui, the BC Arts Renaissance Fund, and all of the following:

THE CORPORATE LEADER’S CIRCLE 
The Holiday Inn and Suites Vancouver Downtown – Angela van den Byllaardt, Sales Manager
Jarislowsky, Fraser Limited – Beau Howes

THE CHOREOGRAPHER’S CIRCLE 

Impresario: Charles and Eve Chang Foundation, London Drugs Foundation, Anndraya Luui, Ocean Park Foundation
Choreographer: Anonymous x2, Marnie Carter, Moh Faris, Tony Giacinti (in memory of Lola MacLaughlin), Stephen Jarislowsky, Jackson McKiee, Yosef Wosk OBC
Artistic Director: Linda Blankstein, Beau Howes, David Matte
Principal Dancer: Anonymous, Ken Alexander, Amanda Collinge, David Cousins, James Felter, Judith Garay, Ken Gracie and Philip Waddell, McGrane – Pearson Endowment Fund, Jean Orr, Dubravko Pajalic, Raymond James Canada Foundation, Patrick Shea, Janet and Ron Stern, R&J Stern Family Foundation
Dance Artist: Anonymous, Santa Aloi, Rosario Ancer, Noel Best and Barbara Shuman, Matthew Breech and Shino Watanabe, Richard Cavell and Peter Dickinson, Kirk Chantraine, Yvonne Chartrand, Robert & Nicola Follows, Lorna Froidevaux, Mike and Kathy Gallagher, Kemo Schedlosky and Mark Gatha, Linda Gordon, Selim Hasan, Linda Johnston, Catherine McAllister, Anthony Roper, Annelie and Dan Vistica, Wen Wei Wang, Jason Wrobleski, Max Wyman and Susan Mertens, Mirna Zagar

THE ARTIST’S CIRCLE
Ingrid & Evan Alderson, Sylvia Anderson, Gary Bell, Linda Brandt, Catherine Butler, Carol Carr, Beth Carter & Bob Baker, Count and Countess Enrico and Aline Dobrzensky, Jason Dubois and Clayton Baraniuk, Erik Graff, Laurel March, Dr. Mary Robertson, Michael Watt

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 Dance Centre | Level 6, 677 Davie Street, Vancouver BC V6B 2G6

T 604 606 6400 info@thedancecentre.ca thedancecentre.ca

The VDC Dance Centre Society is a registered charity no. BN 11925 8754 RR0001