COMING UP:
A brand new creative collaboration between live drawing and dance with Draw Around Vancouver!
First event coming up – live drawing of dance artists in stillness and motion. No drawing experience necessary. Open to all.
Save the date – May 21, 2024, 7pm – 9pm.
More details and registration coming soon!
Follow us on Instagram @Voirelia for the latest updates.
We are fundraising to help sustain our hub and to make two new creations happen in 2024/2025!
Donate here to support our work. The arts sector has been affected by major funding cuts and shortages, which impacts Voirelia Hub and many other arts organizations.
We are a small non-profit and we urgently need your support! Every bit counts and we appreciate it a great deal.
RECENT PAST EVENTS:
“DE/FORMED REVIVAL”
It was a pleasure to have “De/Formed Revival” return to the stage on February 29, 2024 to be part of ‘Discover Dance’ series at Scotiabank Dance Centre! Many thanks to the Dance Centre, our artistic team and volunteers, and our wonderful audience – it was very special for us to share this work with you, hear your impressions, and engage with the thoughtful reflections and questions you shared.
Photos by Gemma Crowe, Adrian Ortega, and Alina Sotskova
See below for more information about this work!
Arts in the Garden, May 2023
By NorthVan Arts
Photography by Nicolas Ventura. Dancers: Margarida Macieira, Alina Sotskova, Hana Rutka.
Some highlights from the 2023 Arts in the Garden:
“DE/FORMED REVIVAL” PREMIERED
MARCH 30 – APRIL 1, 2023
PRESENTED BY SHADBOLT CENTRE FOR THE ARTS
“Past is empty,
all the devils are here”
Photos above by: Alina Sotskova
“De/Formed Revival” blends contemporary dance with Renaissance art visuals as three dancers take you on a poignant journey of transformation. Using the metaphor of sculptures coming to life, this dance asks: how do we emerge from a mould that someone else has built around us? The performance explores how gender norms are transported through time and the struggle to let go of what others want us to be. The moments of real connection that we find along the way are what makes the struggle worth it.
“De/Formed Revival” is a physically rigorous, imaginative blend of contemporary dance with sculptural and visual art inspirations. It is a story that touches something in all of us: a daring hope for change.
The performance included a short talk by the Artistic Director, Alina Sotskova, a professional dance artist and a practicing psychologist and Q & A with the artists.
CAPTURES FROM THE PREMIERE BY ADRIAN ORTEGA:
Artistic Director/Choreographer: Alina Sotskova
Dance Artists: Hana Rutka, Ben DeFaria, Will Jessup
Artistic Associate: Margarida Macieira
Artistic Advisor: Idan Cohen
Research phase dance artists and choreography collaborators: Margarida Macieira, Nicolas Ventura
Previous dance artist contributor: Kylie Miller
Costume design: Alaia Hamer
Videography: Gemma Crowe
Stage Manager: Sylvain Senez
Voirelia gratefully acknowledges the support of Canada Council for the Arts and Metro Vancouver’s Regional Cultural Grants program. We thank Shadbolt Centre for the Arts for supporting the creation and production of this work.
DANCE INCUBATOR:
DANCE WORKSHOP + OPEN STUDIO TIME FOR CREATIVITY
Presented in partnership with Dance//Novella
Sat, November 26, 2022 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
The Dance Centre (Birmingham studio), 677 Davie St, Vancouver
Racheal Prince and Brandon Lee Alley, Co-Directors of Dance//Novella, will guide participants through a 1 hour and 15 minute movement exploration class with focus on specificity and intentionality. They will turn the room over for questions before opening up the space for individual exploration. During this time participants are encouraged to try and implement some of the tools from the class and see how they integrate into pre-existing material or influence the creation process. They will finish the day with a 20 minute open discussion where participants will have the chance to share what they experienced during the Dance Incubator.
Who is Dance Incubator For?
Dance Incubator is for advanced, professional, and pre-professional dancers who want to learn new tools and ideas and who benefit from co-working, discussion, and simply sharing creative space and dedicated studio time with other dancers.
What is the purpose of the Dance Incubator?
The purpose of the Dance Incubator is to create protected time and space for dance artists to interact and share ideas in a supportive environment that does not have a specific goal or result that needs to be produced. We want to increase cross-pollination of ideas in the dance community. We want to create opportunities for people to informally ask each other for support or advice, or simply to run through a phrase or a research question together with someone they might not typically work with. We want to increase cohesiveness and space for dialogue outside of goal-oriented work processes.
Format:
Each Dance Incubator starts with a thorough physical warm up, delivered in a workshop style. Each facilitator is different, but expect to be moving, trying different dance methods and tools and potentially doing some improvisation and/or learning some choreography.
What to Expect:
Expect a warm and supportive atmosphere that encourages you to take artistic risks and learn new things. Expect a guided workshop that will be at a level appropriate for advanced and professional dancers. For the open/creative time, be prepared for many possible ways this can take form – people may work on their solo ideas while sharing the space; people can simply stretch + discuss the concepts from the workshop; be ready for spontaneity and know that you are always welcome to do what you need during the open creative time – whether that’s taking a break, writing, digesting, or asking for help.
What to Bring:
Wear layers, bring water and a snack. You are welcome to bring paper and pen, your burning research ideas or questions, or physical/dance concepts you are working on.
You are also welcome to come with no ideas or questions at all, and just with readiness to be open to new experiences.
“MORE ALIKE THAN UNALIKE:” A DANCE WORKSHOP
Led by Jen Aoki and Alina Sotskova
September 10, 2022
This dynamic, all-levels dance workshop will introduce the participants to the themes that Jen Aoki has been exploring in her dance practice. Jen has been working with ideas of home, roots, displacement, adaptation, and belonging as she explores her cultural heritage and Japanese-Canadian history through her artistic process. This workshop is an invitation to immerse yourself in her artistic tools as we reflect on common ground – what unites us as humans despite our differences. Jen Aoki and Alina Sotskova, Voirelia’s Co-Directors, will offer dance-, poetry-, and image-based exercises. We will co-create a short movement phrase with, approaching dance as a community building activity.
April 2022:
WORK IN PROGRESS: “RENAISSANCE REDUX”
A DUET, PART OF THE “MINDS IN MOTION” PROJECT
We are excited to return to the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts for 2022/2023 residency as we work towards a early 2023 premiere of the full work. We thank Canada Council for the Arts for the Research and Create grant in support of this project, Metro Vancouver Cultural Grants Program, and Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
Photos: Carol Gandra.
SUPPORT THIS PROJECT & GET A COOL T-SHIRT!
Get one while they last! Limited edition!
We’ve been working with a local artist, Carley Bjorgum, to create a unique design that captures the Renaissance Redux duet. The design integrates the choreographic forms.
Check out Carley’s work on Instagram: @carley.b.art
Gender neutral sizes XS, M, L, XL (out of size S). $40. Send us an email to confirm that we have your size voireliahub@gmail.com
Then, send an e-transfer with your size and mailing address to voireliahub@gmail.com. All proceeds go to support the premiere of this work in 2023, including wages for all artists, cost of costumes, etc.
RECENT PAST EVENTS:
Moving Together:
A week of online dance and movement sessions.
Image: Addo Platform
Addo Platform invites you to us this summer for an experience like no other from July 19th to 25th 2021. Moving Together is an online movement experience led by 10 mentors from around the world, who are eager to create enriching encounters. This event is for those who are interested in self-development, movement exploration & choreographic research. Connect to your body and pleasure of moving, while embracing a supportive community. The workshop contains a wide range of movement techniques such as composition, task-based research and improvisational languages. By hosting classes for the mind and body, this project aims to enhance interconnectivity, interdependence and co-creativity on a global scale. No previous dance experience is needed for attending this event. This event is open to individuals of all ages, genders and ethnicities who are interested in connecting with people from all around the world.
The more people we engage, the more affordable it will become. Addo Platform is taking this opportunity to apply a new payment model for this event called “Our Presence Matters”, which will make the workshop cheaper as we work together to engage more people to join us. Share it with friends, family and community.
Alina Sotskova, Voirelia’s Artistic Co-Director, will be teaching one of the classes, sharing some of the most recent dance and movement tasks from the Leonardo da Vinci research process, which has been a tremendously enriching experience in deepening all layers of creativity – movement, visual, psychological, experiential.
To learn more and to register, go to the Addo Platform website.
VOIRELIA: Dance, Psychology, & Philosophy Hub 