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Josephine Bacon. Photo: Martin Ouellet; Richard Desjardins. Photo: Alain Roberge

International First Peoples’ Festival: Honouring the Great Peace

By Nathalie de Han on 1 June 2026 Classical Music, Dance, Indigenous, Literature, Montreal, Multimedia, Musical Theatre, Theatre

This summer, the International First Peoples’ Festival (IFPF) will mark the 325th anniversary of the signings of the Great Peace of Montreal, which brought an end to a century of warfare between the Iroquois, the French, and their Indigenous allies. It is essential to remember that before 1701, Montreal was a walled settlement with an uncertain future. The Great Peace transformed it into a major hub for trade and commerce in the fur trade, with the cooperation of the First Nations, who were still in full control of their territories at the time. Not only was this a founding event for…

Artists of Ballet BC in FOR GLASS. Photo: Millissa Martin

Review | For Philip Glass and Ballet BC, from Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber

By Kaija Pepper on 11 May 2026 Concert Reviews, Dance, Vancouver, West

The stage was bustling, with 16 Ballet BC company artists and four emerging artists dancing their hearts out to the warmth of live music played, from a downstage corner, by the Microcosmos Quartet. The occasion was Ballet BC’s May 7-9 end-of-season show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, a premiere of Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber’s For Glass. Philip Glass, of course, the American minimalist composer renowned for his masterly use of pulsing rhythms and hypnotic repetitions. For Glass was in two parts, with an enormously exciting act one, enigmatically titled “Performance becomes practice,” driven by the often tender momentum…

Photo courtesy of Dance Victoria

Newswire | Dance Victoria Announces 30th Anniversary Season

By Newswire on 30 April 2026 Dance, Musical Theatre, Theatre, Vocal, West

VICTORIA, B.C. – Dance Victoria celebrates its landmark 30th anniversary with a line-up of powerhouse dance companies from Greece, Germany, New York, and Vancouver. Marking three decades of bringing the World’s Best Dance to the Royal Theatre, the 2026/27 season is a bold reflection of the energy and artistic innovation that have made Victoria a destination for international dance. “It has been a joy to curate Dance Victoria’s 30th anniversary season,” shares Executive Director Gillian Jones. “Truly, it has felt like there’s no limit in terms of the companies we can attract to Victoria, and the range of artistic voices our audiences will enthusiastically welcome. I hope this…

Newswire | Ottawa Chamberfest Announces 2026 Summer Festival

By Newswire on 23 April 2026 Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Dance, Multimedia, Newswire, Opera, Ottawa, Theatre

Ottawa, ON – Ottawa Chamberfest announces its 2026 Summer Festival, running July 23 to August 2, featuring a wide-ranging program of international and Canadian artists, bold new music, major chamber collaborations, and free community events across 11 days in the Nation’s Capital. Set against Ottawa’s bicentennial year, the 2026 edition reflects a city celebrating 200 years of history, growth, and cultural expression. At its core, the festival invites audiences to step away from the everyday and experience music as it happens: live, shared, and authentic. Chamberfest’s wide-ranging lineup of international and Canadian artists presents programs that span from baroque opera…

CLVB '33. Photo: Abigaile Edwards. Courtesy of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Newswire | Banff Centre Announces 2026 Summer Arts Festival Lineup

By Newswire on 21 April 2026 Chamber Music, Classical Music, Dance, Literature, Multimedia, Music Competition, Newswire, Orchestral, Strings, West

BANFF, AB, April 21, 2026 – Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is excited to bring together world-renowned musicians, artists, and writers, as well as passionate audiences for the 2026 Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival (BCSAF). Running throughout May to September, the 2026 festival invites audiences to experience a season of artistic discovery of over 100 free and ticketed events. Tickets are now available for the 2026 Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival at banffcentre.ca/summer-arts-fest. What started as a single week of events in 1950, Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival is now the signature summer arts event in Banff, Alberta. As a…

Stephanie Lake Company performs Manifesto. Photo: Roy VanDerVegt

Review | Stephanie Lake’s Happiness Manifesto for Dance and Drum

By Kaija Pepper on 20 April 2026 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Dance, Vancouver, West

The concept is straightforward. Bring together nine dancers and nine drummers, and put them all on stage to do what they clearly love: making dance and making music. And it’s enough: Manifesto, by Australia’s Stephanie Lake Company, is a friendly hour-long showcase for 18 performers that made a lively finale to the DanceHouse season at the Vancouver Playhouse April 16-18. The warm, engaging space in which choreographer Stephanie Lake and composer Robin Fox set their music and dance is key. Bosco Shaw’s lighting is for the most part bright and optimistic, letting us really see the individual performers. Not just…

L-R: Christian Sanders; Andriana Chuchman. Photo: Chia Messina; Suzanna Rigden. Photo: Brent Calis Photography

Newswire | Pacific Opera Victoria Presents Orpheus & Eurydice

By Newswire on 8 April 2026 Dance, Newswire, Opera, Vocal, West

Victoria, BC – Opening on April 22 at Victoria’s Royal Theatre, Pacific Opera Victoria, in partnership with Ballet Victoria, presents Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus & Eurydice, a timeless retelling of one of mythology’s most haunting romances for four performances April 22, 24, and 28, at 7:30 pm, and April 26 at 2:30 pm. Based on the famous Greek myth of the musician Orpheus who conquers the spirits of hell using the power of music to bring his love back from the underworld, this production will take Victoria opera lovers into the world of French baroque music and dance. With music that is both ethereal and…

Newswire | Ballet Edmonton presents Soft Currents

By Newswire on 10 March 2026 Dance, Newswire, West

Edmonton, AB — This March, Ballet Edmonton transforms the Art Gallery of Alberta into a living choreography with Soft Currents, an immersive contemporary performance that moves through the gallery’s architectural spaces. Inspired by the shifting formations of starlings moving together in shared rhythm and direction, Soft Currents explores how a group listens, adapts, and moves with collective awareness, in real time. Created as a task-based work with original sound, the performance is built on a structured, collaboratively developed score for an ensemble of dancers. Each artist tunes into their own physical sensations while remaining deeply responsive to the group. The…

Maria Yakovleva & Gergő Ármin Balázsi in Hungarian State Ballet's Onegin. Photo: Valter Berecz / Hungarian State Opera

Review | Cranko’s Onegin Thrills at Hungarian State Ballet

By Gianmarco Segato on 6 March 2026 Concert Reviews, Dance, Scena Arts

John Cranko’s Onegin has played an important role in the recent history of the Hungarian State Ballet. Its current artistic director, Tamás Solymosi, danced the title role in the ballet’s 2002 company premiere. He has been key to keeping the work in its repertoire, including overseeing a new 2012 production by Thomas Mika. On March 3, Cranko’s masterpiece pulled all of its emotional punches in an extremely well-cast revival. While on the surface Cranko’s choreography draws almost entirely on traditional ballet vocabulary, its modernism stems from the manner in which each step and gesture are intrinsically married to character and…

RWB Company in T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods (2024). Photo: Daniel Crump

Review | RWB Tours T’əl, an Indigenous Story by Indigenous Creators

By Kaija Pepper on 12 February 2026 Concert Reviews, Dance, Indigenous, Scena Arts, Vancouver, West

Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) has commissioned three Indigenous story ballets over the decades, each one making, for its time, a newsworthy impact. 1971’s The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, choreographed by Norbert Vesak, was a hard-hitting depiction of racism, while 2014’s Going Home Star—Truth and Reconciliation, by Mark Godden, put the residential school scandal onstage. Then came 2024’s traditional Indigenous tale, T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods, and, this time, an Indigenous choreographer: Cameron sinkʷə Fraser-Monroe, a member of the Tla’amin Nation of British Columbia’s northern Sunshine Coast. RWB recently presented T’əl (pronounced “tall”) on a seven-stop tour of BC—which I…

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