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Global Dance Connections: Forecasting Where & When November 13 & 14, 2026 at 8pm | The Dance Centre, 677 Davie St, Vancouver Dancers Barbara Matijevic and Giuseppe Chico Tthe world of amateur YouTube videos is a starting point for Barbara Matijevic to explore the ways technology influences our lives. Matijevic weaves voice and body into the images until the boundaries dissolve. Part performance, part meditation, Forecasting is a poetic portrait of who we are when we think no one, and everyone, is watching. The work now makes its Canadian premiere after successful, prize-winning tours across the EU and Japan. More than 15 years after its creation, its examination of online identities, digital storytelling and our increasingly mediated lives feels remarkably relevant in today's digital culture. Tickets $38; $29 for people under 30, students and seniors, plus a $1 facility fee fromThe Dance Centre
The Little Match Girl by David Lang Where & When November 13 & 14, 2026 at 7:30 pm | Vancouver Playhouse, 600 Hamilton St, Vancouver Conductor Kari Turunen Choreography Kevin O’Day Set design Thomas Mika Lighting design Victoria Hunter Bell Featured dancers: Grandmother Alba Nadal Little Match Girl Emma Galvin The Little Match Girl is an invitation to see one another more fully through a reinterpretation of Hans Christian Andersen’s original story. O’Day’s striking choreography bridges Lang’s music, including additional choral works woven into The Little Match Girl, with the reality of contemporary Canadian streets. The dancers’ bodies become the site where a 19th-century European fairy tale speaks directly to 21st-century society, as audiences follow the tale of a young girl moving through an urban landscape of indifference. Against the backdrop of a set originally designed by Thomas Mika, now been rebuilt for the Vancouver Playhouse by Senez, music and dance are transformed through collaboration. Movement becomes resonant, and music becomes embodied, as the Little Match Girl’s story unfolds in front of 29 rolling towers that continually reposition as the story progresses. Lighting by Victoria Hunter Bell adds flames, snowflakes, and floating clouds, deepening the audience’s visual immersion in the story. Tickets from $38 from Belle Spirale
Ballet BC Annex Where & When Sunday November 15, 2026 at 7:30 pm | Anvil Theatre, 777 Columbia St, New Westminster Ballet BC Annex, the junior ensemble of Canada’s leading contemporary dance company, presents a triple bill of three exciting and distinct works featuring world premieres by Canadian choreographer Cameron Fraser-MonroeandBallet BC company dancer Michael Garcia as well as Vancouver-based Out Innerspace’s Last Flower For Michael Garcia
this piece marks the exciting choreographic debut, while highly sought-after
Canadian Tickets from $38, Senior/Student $26 from Anvil Theatre
When & Where 5 December at 2:30 and 7:30 pm | Queen Elizabeth Theatre Founder and Artistic Director Carrie Tennant
Conductors Luke McAndless-Davis, Kelly Proznick, Michelle Hartley, Caroline Lempert, Caroni Young, Bev Willms Best, Rosie Ding Pianists Citlin Hayes, Helen Pei, Danielle Lee String quartet Yuel Yawney, Cameron Wilson, Genevieve MacKay, and Heather Hay Singers from Kindergarten through age 24 will grace the stage in two performances, each featuring a different lineup of VYC ensembles alongside the flagship Vancouver Youth Choir. The matinee performance features VYC’s youngest singers, from Kindergarten to Grade 6. It includes seasonal songs with audience participation from VYC Tiny; a traditional Basque round, 'Airia', and Tim Minchin’s 'When I Grow Up' from Matilda from VYC Kids; and the French chanson 'Le coeur des gens' and the wonderfully kooky Scottish folk song 'Aiken Drum' from VYC Treble 1. VYC Treble 2 sings the joyful Sesotho song 'Ke Nna yo Morena' before joining the flagship choir’s sopranos and altos for Belle and Sebastian’s indie-pop 'Fox in the Snow'. The Vancouver Youth Choir also performs the Hawaiian cowboy song 'Namolokama La', the North American premiere of 'Injongo Yami' by South African composer Lindokuhle Thabede, the Cree-language 'Nipîy'. The evening features VYC’s older singers, from Grade 7 to age 24, again with the VYC. Vivaldi’s 'Gloria' is followed by songs from the American protest movement and gospel-inspired calls for justice, a song from Métis singer-songwriter Sandy Scofield and an energetic isiZulu greeting song. The Vancouver Youth Choir brings a meditative, wintry sound world to the stage with the Estonian 'Tali 1', inspired by the gentleness of snow, and Arvo Pärt’s Drei Hirtenkinder aus Fátima'. Both performances feature a new choral arrangement by Andrea Ramsey of Brandi Carlile’s song 'The Joke', and both close traditionally with 'Auld Lang Syne', Tickets
and information at vancouveryouthchoir.com
East Van Panto: Hercules When & Where 18 November, 2026 to 10 January, 2027 at 7 pm, matinees 2 pm | York Theatre, 639 Commercial Driv., Vancouver, BC Director Chelsea Haberlin Composer/Music director Veda Hille Choreographer Amanda Testini Costume design Stephanie Kong Set and Props design Shizuka Kai Lighting design Sophie Tang Featured performers Jacob Woike, Jason Sakaki, Meaghan Chenosky, Raugi Yu, Sara Vickruc Studio 58 Chorus Keely Coleman, Payton Gowdar, and Daniel Marte Under the streets of Vancouver, Hades — God of the No-Fun-Derworld — is digging his way to power with his newest megaproject: the Arbutus Subway System — also known as the A.S.S. Expansion! Wanting to be adored by humankind and determined to squash protests from woke East Van, Hades will stop at nothing to claim the city as his own Standing in his way is his nephew and reluctant hero, Hercules. Raised by Hera — Goddess of East Van, local activist and undisputed ruler of Science World — Hercules could save the day… if he weren’t too busy tackling his Labours When Hades schemes to seize Science World and turn it into a gleaming shrine to masculinity, Herc is put to the ultimate test. Can he overcome his personal trials before Hades flexes his way to total domination. Tickets from $49. Tickets on sale now through The Cultch’s Box Office: 604-251-1363 or The Cultch.com
Heart Felt Holiday When & Where Fridays and Saturdays with additional performances, 19 November - 30 December at 7 pm, matinees 2 pm | The Improv Centre, 1502 Duranleau St., Granville Island
A puppet looks for love amidst work, family drama, friendships, and the general messiness of the season in a completey improvised rom-com. With improvisers and puppets sharing the stage there may be holiday romances, ridiculous puppet problems, genuine feelings, and a love story that will turn out differently each and every night. Tickets from $28.50. Tickets on sale now in person at The Improv Centre's Box Office, tel.: (604) 738-7013 or theimproventre.ca
When & Where November 19–22, 2026, Thursday & Friday, 5:00pm–10:00pm, Saturday & Sunday, 11:00am–6:00pm | various Eastside venues between Columbia St., 1st Ave., Victoria Drive, the Waterfront, and 716 E Hastings St.
Each year, hundreds of artists open their workspaces, ranging from studios and workrooms to garages and warehouses, offering the public a glimpse into the creative process, from experimentation and playfulness to problem solving and ingenuity. This year’s festival welcomes more than 525 artists, including 85 new artists, and 12 new buildings to the Crawl, a measure of the enduring creativity and resourcefulness of a vibrant community.
From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya with Ayana V. Jackson When & Where 19 November, 2026 to 29 March, 2027 | Museum of Anthropology UBC, 6393 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver
In her first major institutional exhibition, Ayana V. Jackson draws inspiration from the mythic underwater world imagined by Detroit techno duo, Drexciya, to create a feminist, Pan-African aquatopia inhabited by water spirits from African and Afro-Atlantic traditions. Informed by Afrofuturism, a cultural movement and aesthetic that combines science fiction, history, and fantasy with Black identity to envision alternative futures, Drexciya’s 1990s music imagined a mythical country populated by the children of enslaved African women who were thrown overboard or jumped during the Middle Passage. The artist imagines African water spirits as midwives to survivors, helping to breathe life into a matriarchal, aquatic society. Through the convergence of myth, memory, and performative embodiment, the exhibition transforms the Atlantic from a site of trauma into one of ancestry and resilience. It offers viewers a space for reflection, remembrance, and repair. For
further information, visit moa.ubc.ca
ONGOING
When & Where October 30 - November 7pm | various venues and times The 23rd Festival celebrates the experience of being seen, heard, respected, and valued for who you are. More than 100 events at over 30 local venues — music, poetry, theatre, ceremony, films, dance, readings, forums, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, art talks, history tours, and more — all rooted in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Tickets most events are free. Further information and full listing of all events here https://www.heartofthecityfestival.com/
When
& Where 19 March, 2026 - 3 January, 2027 | Museum
of Anthropology Guest curator Luis Manuel González This exhibition offers a glimpse into Andean cosmovision (a holistic and spiritual framework for explaining the structure of the universe) through an exploration of MOA's collection of nearly 100 ancient Andean artifacts, crafted from ceramic, textile, bone, shell, and wood. Some items date back over 2,500 years. Also included are various ancient wind instruments and an animated projection of an oil painting by contemporary Peruvian artist Miguel Araoz Cartagena of the Milky Way, which highlights the Inka's belief in a dual constellation system–recognizing shapes in the sky's light formations and shadows. For
further information, visit moa.ubc.ca
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The
Dance Centre 
Belle
Spirale and The Vancouver Chamber Choir
Anvil
Theatre 
Vancouver
Youth Choir 
The
Cultch presentsTheatre Replacement's
The
Improv Centre
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Downtown
Eastside Heart of the City Festival
Museum
of Anthropology