The Dance Centre Presents A New Work By Choreographer Daina Ashbee

The Dance Centre will present the Global Dance Connections series featuring Daina Ashbee's We learned a lot at our own funeral, running February 6-8, 2025 at Scotiabank Dance Centre. 

Internationally acclaimed BC choreographer Daina Ashbee's compelling new solo We learned a lot at our own funeral examines the notion of death. Performed by the Italian dancer Imara Bosco, the choreography evokes a battle with the self: she challenges gravity, resists the ground, and overcomes precarious balances.

Using movement, breath and voice, the work draws the audience - seated on all four sides of the stage - into a potent sense of ritual, echoing the communal experience of a funeral rite. The atmospheric score incorporates sounds from nature and haunting vocalizations. We learned a lot at our own funeral is a profound meditation on the strength and fragility of the body.

Ashbee is known for radical and thrillingly unique works which push at the boundaries of the form. Still only in her early thirties, she has garnered major awards and critical acclaim, and her creations are shown all over the world.

We learned a lot at our own funeral premiered at Montpellier Danse, France in July 2024 and has toured to Montreal and Ottawa. The work includes full nudity and is for audiences aged 18 and up.

Born in Nanaimo, BC, choreographer Daina Ashbee is internationally renowned for her bold works at the edge of dance and performance. She was a double prizewinner at the Prix de la danse de Montréal, winning both the Prix du CALQ for Best Choreography of 2015-2016 for her choreographic installation When the Ice Melts, Will We Drink the Water?, and the Prix Découverte de la danse, for Unrelated (her first choreography). Daina was named by the German TANZ magazine as one of 30 promising artists for the year 2017 and named one of 25 to watch by Dance Magazine in 2018. In 2019, she won a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie), for Outstanding Choreographer. In 2021, at the age of only 31, she had two separate retrospectives: one in Montpellier, France and the second in Montreal, Canada. In 2022 she received The Clifford E. Lee Choreographer Award from The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Recognized as one of the most original and prolific choreographers of her generation, her work has been presented over 100 times in 18 countries and over 40 different cities, including at prestigious festivals such as the Venice Biennale, Oktoberdans, the Munich Dance Biennale, and Montpellier Danse.

After residing for 8 years in Montréal, in 2020 Daina relocated to Gabriola Island, BC (unceded territory of Snuneymuxw Nation). Her work, firmly established in somatic and energetic practices, reinvestigates and transforms trauma and violence. Her repertoire has been recognized for being unafraid, bold and brutally honest. She has created a unique artistic signature that seizes a purpose far beyond dance and performance aesthetics.

WE LEARNED A LOT AT OUR OWN FUNERAL

Artistic Direction & Choreography: Daina Ashbee
​Performer: Imara Bosco
​Rehearsal assistant: Gabriel Nieto
​Lighting Design: Vito Walter
Technical Direction: Louis-Charles Lousignan
​Production: Daina Ashbee
World premiere: July 3, 2024 Montpellier Danse, France

Co-Production Funders: Montpellier Danse (France), Usine-C (Montreal), Festival Saint-Sauveur, Crimson Coast Dance Society (Nanaimo), The Dance Centre (Vancouver)

Funded additionally by the Candance Network and Canada Council for the Arts

Residencies: Montpellier Danse

About The Dance Centre

Established in 1986 as a resource centre for dance in British Columbia, The Dance Centre is a multifaceted organization offering a range of activities which is unparalleled in Canadian dance. It presents performances and events, building audiences and nurturing public awareness; invests in programs, resources and support for hundreds of dance professionals working in all genres; operates Scotiabank Dance Centre, a cultural hub and one of Canada's flagship dance facilities which welcomes tens of thousands of visitors annually; and works to promote BC dance.

Through programs, outreach and education, The Dance Centre is committed to sustaining a strong and vibrant community through dance.

Information: 604 606 6400 www.thedancecentre.ca

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