Current/Dance Community

Purchase Tickets Here

Please join us!

Dancing to Remember, co-produced by Aeriosa Dance Society and Butterflies In Spirit, is an evening of performances and presentations created to raise awareness of MMIWG2S, honor lost loved ones, and mark the 10th Anniversary of Butterflies in Spirit.

Featured works include the premiere of Dancing To Remember, a suite of commissions created and performed by Butterflies In Spirit and Aeriosa Dance Society in loving memory of Elder Dancer Dr. Lillian Rose Howard, and a ceremony prepared by Git Hayetsk Dancers in loving memory of Elder Dancer Woody Morrison.

Guest Artists: JB the First Lady | Kin Balam | M'Girl | Spakwus Slulem (Eagle Song Dancers) | Sierra Tasi-Baker | Tsatsu Stalqayu (Coastal Wolf Pack) | Alondra Bueno | Judith Colibrí | Ana Cornejo Luna | Luminesque Dance | Madelaine McCallum and more!

Newsworthy

Artists in Residence at Shadbolt Center for the Arts

Heartfelt thanks to the City of Burnaby and Shadbolt Centre for the Arts for their amazing Deer Lake Artist Residencies which is hosting Butterflies in Spirit and guest artists Alondra Bueno, Ana Cornejo Luna (Guadalajara), and Judith Colibri (Mexico City). The dancers have been rehearsing with choreographers Madeline McCallum and Sierra Tasi Baker creating new work and remounting repertoire for Dancing to Remember at the Vancouver Playhouse on April 30th.

It has been inspiring to witness the powerful transmission of energy among this diverse collective of Indigenous artists during their creative process. Each dancer carries themselves with grace and pride as they bring their cultural dance practices and traditions together in the studio. Through the compelling vision and deft weaving of Butterflies in Spirit artistic director Lorelei Williams, these passionate dancers are also creative activists emanating solidarity in their fierce commitments to drive much-needed social change.

Deer Lake Artist Residencies provide unique opportunities for emerging and established artists from various disciplines, cultures, and locations to create and produce new work. Multiple disciplines are represented in the residency program – visual artists, theatre artists, musicians, land-based practitioners, poets, authors and more.

Photo (by Ezequiel Padilla) of Lorelei Williams - centre - and Mexican dance group Hip-Lakech from a video shoot to raise awareness of MMIWG2S in Mexico and Canada.

To learn more about the Artist in Residence program at the
Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, follow links below

Alondra Bueno

Alondra Bueno began her professional training in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico then later joined the circus arts school in Geneva, Switzerland and also trained circus in France, Sweden and Denmark. When she finished her studies, Alondra created two solo works called "Mis tres muertes" and "Flashback" mixing dance, physical theatre, and various circus disciplines. Her solos have been performed in different festivals. Currently Alondra is part of the folkloric dance ballet group "Sonidos y movimientos de México” and she is also an independent circus artist who teaches in three circus studios in Guadalajara.

Ana Fernanda Cornejo Luna

Ana Fernanda Cornejo Luna, a psychology graduate with a master's degree in Cultural Management, is a dancer focused on Bellydance and Mexika Tenochka Chichimeka dances, and participates in festivals, competitions, and multiple events. With a Peruvian father and Mexican mother, she has worked with the Wixárika culture in multicultural projects. She seeks to make people aware of the importance of Indigenous cultures of the world, preserving the traditions, customs, and cosmovision of the people, decolonizing towards the reconnection with roots.

Judith Colibri

Judith Colibri is a dancer, choreographer, and educational psychologist. She lives in Mexico City. In her professional life, she consistently ventures into the field of dance as well as theatre. Judith has danced and choreographed for different national and international festivals, such as the Dance Without Borders Festival in Tamaulipas, the Angelopolitan Festival in Puebla, the National Theatre Show, the Extremadura Festival in Nuevo León, the Raul Flores Canelo International Festival, the Festival International Book Fair of Tamaulipas and Saltillo, the International Book Fair in the Zócalo of Mexico City, and the International Book Fair in Havana Cuba (2020).

She participated as a guest creator in the Women of the Northeast Colloquium in 2021, with the work “Nos Verán” (They Will See Us) about the situation of violence against women in Mexico City.

She won second prize in the 3rd National Choreography Contest of the Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla, FAD 2014. Judith currently directs Colectivo Fragmentos, a collective with which she has performed numerous choreographies with social and environmental themes.

Featured Friends in Flight

Chandra Krown visited Despina Goula

From left to right: Thanasis, Despina & Evgenia from
Aerial Acrobatics and Dance Studio in Athens, Greece

I would like to introduce our newsletter readers to Vertical Dance Artist Despina Goula, a dancer based in Athens, Greece. Despina was one of four artists who traveled from the United Kingdom to Vancouver in 2015 to train and dance with Aeriosa and Spakwus Slulem (Eagle Song Dancers) in their collaborative performance Trees Are Portals in Stanley Park.

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to get into the studio with Despina to explore movement, creativity, and collaboration.

The aerial space was generously provided by Evgenia Galeraki & Σχολή Εναέριων Ακροβατικών και Χορού/School of Aerial Acrobatics and Dance studio in Athens, Greece.

This video is the culmination of our nourishing and spontaneous creative exchange.

Created and danced by Despina Goula & Aeriosa company artist Chandra Krown

in April 2022 during their first meeting in Athens, Greece

Despina Goula

Despina is a multi-disciplined dance artist and practitioner, as well as a qualified yoga instructor based in Athens and North Wales. Since 2010 she has practiced Vertical Dance with her teacher and mentor Kate Lawrence, performing since 2012 in a dynamic body of aerial works with the company Vertical Dance Kate Lawrence. Performing suspended off the ground, using climbing equipment to create powerful, elegant, and resonant performances, spanning across the United Kingdom and internationally, Despina has trained with vertical dance artists Wanda Moretti (Il Posto), Lindsey Butcher (Gravity & Levity) and Julia Taffe (Aeriosa).

As an established freelance facilitator and practitioner, Despina aids in schools and community projects all across North Wales. She has worked with companies, such as Dawns I Bawb, Little Light, and Conwy Expressive Arts. Throughout each of her mentoring opportunities she has developed strong links with local communities and delivered to all ages and abilities.

In 2018 Despina was awarded the Arts Council of Wales funding for her research and development project. This first solo vertical dance project explores the experience of rootlessness through an interactive installation environment. Its theme touches on the reality of migrant movement and dislocation, which Despina witnessed first hand during her volunteering as a dance and yoga instructor with refugee projects in Athens, Greece.

To learn more about Despina, visit the links below