Dance Days video contest 2021

* Voted Audience favourite *

Vitor Freitas’ video is about a moment in life. Sometimes you feel sad, sometimes you feel happy. He is inspired by people and the desire to keep moving forward; never stop believing in your dreams.

Meshake Lusolo is from the Demographic Republic of Congo, Africa and he now lives in Victoria. His work is inspired by the chaos he has experienced in his life when living in the Congo: insecurities and problems that people experience there with problems with government, exploitation, and a state of hopelessness. Meshake feels people around the world have a very limited, stereotypical view of the Congo and that there is nothing there to see. He wants others to think differently about life there, and that, for instance, tourism can thrive there.

Shion Skye Carter is an independent dance artist in Vancouver, BC. For her Dance Days film, she shows an excerpt of a work she is creating called “Residuals.” The work brings together movement with the practice of Japanese calligraphy as a way to explore her personal and ancestral histories. Just as the layers of her identity unfurl and curl through the portal of performance, the calligraphy paper unfurls and curls in the film.

“Impermanence” by Genevieve Johnson uses images in nature to find new ways of moving to create poetry in motion. Her work is rooted in Butoh, a type of dance that she has studied in Japan. This work explores the impermanent and porous nature of life, the environment, and the human body through concepts of change, movement, decay and renewal. We are connected with nature; we are nature made up of the same atoms. Why do we put ourselves above it?

Daria Mikhaylyuk is a dance artist from Vancouver, BC. She wants to make meaningful art and hopes that you enjoy this film, although you are not obligated to.

Nick Benz is from Vancouver, BC. He wants to create his own work and push the limits of his creativity. He wants to make art, have fun and get paid. This COVID-safe project met these personal goals. He says the great thing about dance is that you can interpret his work however you want.

Kelly Schaecher and her 8-year-old daughter Sasha Taylor choreographed this piece together during the first COVID-19 lockdown as a creative project. She hopes this piece inspires you to think about what you can do together with your family during the long winter ahead.

Dee-Dee Martinez is seven months pregnant. This work is a fusion between belly dance and flow arts and uses silk fairy wing flags. It is a dance between soft and hard and finding the balance between the two. Being seven months pregnant, Dee-Dee wants to bring inspiration to other women to feel comfortable in their own bodies while finding balance between being on the go and slowing down.

Helen Dang and Karina Chumachenko are from Vancouver, BC. Their work, Kakofonia, is inspired by the good and evil side of human nature. They combine walking and popping to show the power of femininity, and to reveal that there is no good without bad; there is no light without dark.

Angela Frattaroli is the head coach at Island Rhythmic Gymnastics and choreographer of this dance piece on the three dancers. This work was created about the pain and isolation that we feel collectively during the COVID-19 pandemic – the intense difficulty of living side by side with our neighbours but unable to connect except for only a short time and from a distance. The work was created to help us remember that we are not alone. We can still come together, even if the connection is short lived and from a distance, and this can make a world of difference.