☰
Nindy Banks, Mecdy Jean-Pierre; photo Do Phan Hoi
In 2025, the Vancouver International Dance Festival (VIDF) celebrates 25 years of presenting world-class dance with no aesthetic boundaries!
From March 5–15, with OFFSITE events happening March 2–22, VIDF 2025 transforms our beautiful city into a vibrant hub for live art, where raw, kinetic, and experimental works take centre stage.
This year’s festival features 25 performances by 14 artists/companies, with over 100 artist collaborators. We're also offering BATTLES * BALLS * OFFSITE PARTNERSHIPS* INSTALLATIONS * WORKSHOPS *
Promoting exchange between local, national and international artists who challenge norms, communicate beyond language, and reflect societal issues, VIDF 2025 will leave audiences feeling transformed.
Themes for VIDF 2025
Dance is constantly evolving and much of this innovation is coming from beyond the margins. As artists with a history of self-producing, VIDF's new Co-Directors Deanna Peters + Victor Tran are in relationship with artists whose work is incredibly nuanced, creative, and which often goes unseen on mainstream stages.
Papillon We All Fall Down (Montreal) * Western Canadian premiere of a widely popular touring show (Edinburgh Fringe, Sejong International Dance Festival (Korea), Suidoosterfees Festival (South Africa)) where street and contemporary dance collide in an exploration of human connection supported by live music blending jazz, hip hop and drum’n’bass.
Breathe in the Fragrance Sujit Vaidya (Vancouver/United States) * A celebration of nostalgia through the scent of Mogra (Indian jasmine), this ensemble work for three dancers and three musicians combines traditional Indian dance elements with queer fantasy.
Woza Wenties! Lorin Sookool (South Africa) * North American premiere of an autobiographical solo interpreting the dancing body as a previously colonized state. It engages with the political through a very personal and embodied experience, where movement is used to trace and unpack the violent erasure of Black African identity.
Nepantla: Magia Ancestral Salome Nieto + Julio Medina (Vancouver/United States) * World premiere of a duet blending Butoh and autoethnographic dance, reflecting Mexican heritage and the experience of living in the diaspora.
The Disaster Show Mile Zero Dance (Edmonton) * A dance, live music and augmented reality installation, featuring three dancers and three musicians, that presents the vulnerability of the human body facing climate change, providing both a lament and warning.
The Cookout Kiki Ball BlackOut Collective (Vancouver) * Vogue Ball centering LGBTQIA2S+ BIPOC communities, featuring walkers, DJs, MCs and the city’s first all-Black judge's panel.
Mouth to Mouth Luciana Freire D’Anunciação + Kelly McInnes (Vancouver/Brazil) * A radical eco-feminist duet where bodies, breath and voice evoke symbiosis, interspecies kinship and reciprocal ecology, with an original score by local composer, Alex Mah.
photo Yo Yozhik
The Xchange: Street Dance Crew Exhibition Battle * A FREE/by-donation event featuring street dance crews from the Lower Mainland, Montreal, Minneapolis and Seattle. It’s not just a battle; it’s a space to experience the essence of being in a crew and the community connections that are this culture's roots.
Stage Crasher! * Audiences and artists come together after the first week of shows to dance the night away with some of the city’s best DJs.
The Living Room * An in-person and virtual space featuring local artists-writers for spontaneous critical engagement and informal audience dialogue.
