The Dance Centre celebrates 40th season with global stories

Seven works, workshops, and more opportunities to explore the world of dance are coming to The Dance Centre.

The Vancouver dance resource hub will celebrate its 40th anniversary during its 2026-27 season.

The Dance Centre Society was born 40 years ago to build a home for dance and provide resources to support its development in B.C., says Mirna Zagar, The Dance Centre’s executive director.

“At the time, [the venue] was very unique in all of Canada because it was the first Canadian building for dance,” Zagar says. “This was built specifically to bring as much dance into the public view.”

The centre is now home to 14 dance organizations and more than 300 dancers use the space each year, while also hosting community organizations, theater groups, and music events.

“We have a small, 150-seat black box theater that we rent out to the community for use, and six studios,” Zagar says. “Each studio is specially built to address a specific art form.”

Four studios’ have marley floors — meant for soft shoes or point work. The other two studios are made of hardwood, intended for dance forms like flamenco, tap, and jazz.

The Dance Centre’s season will start with an open house on Sept. 12, where visitors will be able to attend free classes, workshops, and studio showings.

The season’s first performance, part of the Global Dance Connections series, is Tasha Faye Evans’ “Cedar Woman” set for Oct. 1 to 2. It’s a Coast Salish story of ancestral resilience and hope.

Wen Wei Wang will present his “Last Solo” performance on Oct. 23 and 24, where he will explore his dance journey through traditional Chinese opera dance.

November will bring the international production “Forecasting” from Barbara Matijevic and Giuseppe Chico. The production will be told through a single performer and a laptop.

“It’s a fun and mesmerizing story [of] the intimate, often absurd world of YouTube videos,” Zagar says.

The Discover Dance! series will feature performances by tiger princess dance projects, Ballet Vancouver’s “Winterbourne,” and the classic Indian dance — Bharatanatyam — by Vidya Kotamraju and House of Indian Dance.

“[I hope] everyone will find something of interest for themselves, because dance, as we know, is inherent to… most cultures. Also, we often hear how dance is a universal language, in the sense that it speaks through emotion, the visual appeal,” Zagar says.

“It can be open for anyone to interpret and see how it lands through their own lived experience, and so anyone can engage with them as long as they remain open.”

For tickets, visit www.bit.ly/thedancecentre.