Producers Notes
We begin by acknowledging that the 2024 VIDF takes place on the unceded ancestral territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ilwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations and we thank them for sharing their land, with us.
When we started the VIDF in 2000, we had ambitious objectives. We wanted to put Vancouver on the international map of dance, we wanted to build audiences for contemporary dance with a focus on artists from marginalized communities, and we wanted to support the development of the art of contemporary dance by giving performance opportunities to local, national, and international dance artists. We started producing the VIDF without any funding support. We were, and still are, artists supporting other artists.
In 2012, we contracted Robert Kerr, former Executive Director of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and 2010 Cultural Olympiad Programmer, to help us articulate strategic objectives for the VIDF. A key objective that he identified was the need to find a way to condense our programming to a 2-week period that incorporated a variety of venues. In 2024, we have finally achieved that objective. Venues include the Vancouver Playhouse, the Annex, the Roundhouse Exhibition Hall and Performance Centre, KW Production Studio, and the Woodward’s Atrium. Each artist/company will have four performances to further their artistic growth and to reach a wider audience. We are staggering start times so that audiences can see as many as 4 performances in a single day. We are offering a subsidized $25/ticket rate for any patron who cannot afford the regular price of admission. Woodward’s Atrium performances are free and Roundhouse Exhibition Hall performances are included in the ticket price to the Roundhouse Performance Centre shows, $10 online, or pay-what-you-can at the door.
In the following program, you can read about the exciting, provocative, and evocative performances by nine artists/companies from Vancouver, Montreal, Japan, and Hungary. Once again, we are exhibiting art and photography at the Roundhouse Exhibition Hall, and you are invited to join free drawing sessions at the same venue. New this year are nightly Jazz Jams at the KW Production Studio where you can join us in improvising moves on the dance floor or just sit back and groove to the music by Vancouver’s finest jazz musicians rotating nightly under the direction of the brilliant guitarist, Tony Wilson.
Welcome to the 2024 VIDF!
Enjoy!
Barbara Bourget and Jay Hirabayashi
VIDF Co-producers
