Barb Clausen Profile and Artwork

Barb Clausen devoted almost 50 years to a career in dance arts administration in Vancouver, BC retiring to Victoria, BC in 2018. Born and raised in Berkeley, California, she studied modern dance in high school which introduced her to an art form that she would build a professional life around as she entered the workforce. Her studies at UC Santa Barbara and Berkeley focused on visual arts (painting). With her husband Bruce, she emigrated to Canada in 1968 where she worked with Karen Jameison, (an early pioneer in contemporary dance) as the west coast was awakening to concert dance and a new creative industry was emerging. In the ensuing years Barb would become founding Executive Director at The Dance Centre, founder of an important cluster management/dance presentation organization (New Works) and a founding associate of Vancouver’s Dance House, an annual presentation series of Canadian and international dance productions at The Vancouver Playhouse and SFU Woodward’s. In her retirement, Barb returned to painting: first with a small series of self-portraits that contemplated her future as a retiree and then with the creation of five “icons” of the Vancouver dance scene. In these two podcasts recorded with Stephen White (former Executive Producer of Dance Victoria) Barb reflects on her life in dance and speaks about each of the five icons she created.

Read Barb’s article in Dance International Life Moves: Retiring? Not so much (June 2022)