Through SOTTO 51, we research, remember, and celebrate Block 51, 61, and 71, commonly known as Robson Square, the Vancouver Art Gallery, šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square and Provincial Law Courts–an area of the unceded Coast Salish territory that is significant to the street dance community and personally to OURO members.

With SOTTO 51 we are considering how changes in our urban landscape affect personal memory and cultural amnesia, and how an erased past affects future generations. Our research started with the Indigenous history of Robson Square (through consultation from the Aboriginal Programs at Emily Carr University of Art + Design), followed by the history of the colonial site that Robson Square represents to the present day and also looking at what the future holds for the site, with interviews with Barry Johns of the Arthur Erickson Foundation and various dancers and members of the local community.

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