DanceHouse’s 2026/27 season promises an arresting journey across continents, ideas, and emotional terrain, bringing five bold contemporary works to the Vancouver Playhouse from October through April. Now in its 19th year, the series continues its reputation for presenting boundary-pushing international dance, with artists from Canada, Sweden, the UK, and India exploring themes of liberation, connection, and the human condition.
The season opens in October with ODE by Compagnie Catherine Gaudet, a BC premiere that interrogates conformity and collective behaviour. With stark physicality and mounting intensity, the work probes the tension between individual desire and societal pressure, offering a haunting yet hopeful reflection on cultural collapse.
In January, Sweden’s Cirkus Cirkör makes its DanceHouse debut with the Canadian premiere of Knitting Peace, co-presented with The Cultch. Blending circus and dance, the production uses ropes and threads as both material and metaphor, crafting a visually striking meditation on cooperation and interconnectedness.
February brings a landmark first for DanceHouse: its inaugural presentation from India. Aditi Mangaldas’s Forbidden, a North American premiere presented in partnership with the Indian Summer Festival, draws on Kathak dance and the Kama Sutra to explore female sexuality with boldness and nuance. The solo work challenges stigma while celebrating the expressive power of the body.
Vancouver’s own Kidd Pivot returns in March with Assembly Hall, following its acclaimed premiere in 2023. Known for its theatrical inventiveness, the company examines belonging, group dynamics, and exclusion through a richly layered dance-theatre hybrid.
The season concludes in April with Deepstaria from the UK’s Company Wayne McGregor. Inspired by deep-sea jellyfish, this visually and conceptually immersive work delves into isolation and the vast unknown, ultimately revealing unexpected forms of freedom.
Together, these works form a compelling season of risk, beauty, and deeply contemporary inquiry.
Subscriptions for past subscribers are on sale March 17 and for new subscribers on April 14. Single tickets are on sale May 19. For tickets and further information, visit: dancehouse.ca
Last modified: March 31, 2026
