For Mique'l Dangeli, the dances of her ancestors are very much alive today.
The Burnaby resident and her husband, Mike, lead Git Hayetsk, a renowned First Nations mask-dancing group that's featured this weekend in the Coastal First Nations Dance Festival.
The festival is underway at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, presented by the Dancers of Damelahamid in partnership with the museum.
The festival features both international and B.C.-based groups, all showcasing various forms of First Nations dance.
"Each year the festival serves as an important cultural bridge between First Nations and non-First Nations communities by providing opportunities for artists and audiences to witness living traditions," says artistic director Margaret Grenier in a press release. "We are proud to play an important role in the development and sharing of indigenous dance by increasing our commitment to educational programming for youth and emerging artists."
The festival includes school group performances, ticketed gala evening shows and afternoon festival stage performances - the latter included with admission to the Museum of Anthropology.
Git Hayetsk is set to perform on the festival stage on Sunday, March 8, as part of a 2:30 p.m. program.
Check out www.damelahamid.ca for all the details, or buy tickets for evening events through www.ticketstonight.ca.
DANCE RESPONSE
A Burnaby dancer-choreographer is featured in the upcoming Vancouver International Dance Festival.
The 15th anniversary festival is taking to the stage at venues around Vancouver for three weeks, from March 8 to 28, showcasing dance artists from around the world in styles that run the gamut from butoh, hip hop and flamenco to ballet and contemporary dance.
Among the headliners is the response, a contemporary dance company founded by Amber Funk Barton - also a teacher with Burnaby's Avant Dance Company.
Barton and Alexa Mardon will bring to the stage Orbits: a movement study, part of a series of work-in-progress performances geared towards the movement research and creation of the company's next full-length work.
"This instalment, a duet, finds two atomic beings moving through space in relentless unison with moments of irregularity and reaction, the bodies of the dancers striving to portray the sense of chemical reactions we find internally and externally in our universe," a write-up about the dance explains.
The work will be onstage at the Roundhouse Exhibition Hall March 26 to 28 at 7 p.m. It's free with a festival membership.
See www.vidf.ca for all the details about the festival or to buy tickets.
THE ART OF DRAWING
A reminder to art lovers that this weekend marks the opening of the new exhibition at the Deer Lake Gallery.
The Burnaby Arts Council is celebrating the opening of Drawn: Exploring the Line with a reception on Saturday, March 7 from 2 to 4 p.m.
The exhibition features the work of Aimée Henny Brown, Anson Aguirre Firth and Teodora Zamfirescu.
"This exhibition reflects the increasing presence of drawing within Western contemporary art and investigates the act and object of drawing," a press release. "Burnaby Arts Council invites you to consider drawing through a wide lens: drawing as the mark and trace of the body moving in space, drawing as the inscription and mark-making of the hand on surfaces, drawing as a gestural process, and of course drawing as the line of the unconscious."
Interested? Stop in to the gallery at 6584 Deer Lake Ave. for the reception, or take in the exhibition anytime before March 28. It's open Tuesdays to Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m., and admission is free. Check out www.burnabyartscouncil.org or email [email protected] for more details.
YOUNG TALENT
Want to see some of the best young talent in the city?
Here's an early heads-up that Burnaby's Got Talent is returning to the Michael J. Fox Theatre.
Local high school students will be competing for the right to represent their school at the April 8 gala event, with each school sending two acts.
The show is produced by Burnaby's DSAC (district student advisory council), and it will feature guest judges who'll select the finalists - with an audience vote for the overall favourite.
Tickets will be $8 for students and $10 for adults, and proceeds are going to the Kinbrace Community Society - a Vancouver-based registered charity that provides housing orientation education and other support to new refugees.
Check out www.facebook.com/BurnabyDSAC to find out more about the event.
ARTISTS WANTED
Do you know a local artist or performer who deserves to be in the spotlight?
We're always on the lookout for interesting folks to profile in our ongoing Fill in the Blanks series.
If you'd like to be considered, or you know someone who should, then be sure to send me an email - include a few details about the person you'd like to see profiled, as well as contact information if possible. You can find me at [email protected].
Do you have an item for Lively City? Send arts and entertainment ideas to Julie, [email protected], or find her on Twitter, @juliemaclellan.
