Photo | Michael Slobodian
RESIDENCY AND NEW CREATION
KEVIN O’DAY x BELLE SPIRALE in Terrassa, Spain
SAKA ~ new creation and preview performances with Kevin O’Day and Alba Nadal
August 11th - September 5th, 2025 Cultural Institute of Terrassa, Catalonia
Photo | Jon McRae
Sometimes the most profound artistic discoveries happen when generations collide across continents. This summer, Belle Spirale embarks on an extraordinary international residency in Catalonia, co-creating SAKA with legendary choreographer Kevin O'Day and Spanish dancer Alba Nadal.
Spanning over 20 years of age difference, the artists share a rare artistic kinship that transcends time—their bodies hold the same movement history, their creative voices speak the same language. At the prestigious Cultural Institute of Terrassa, this intergenerational collaboration will unfold over nearly a month of intensive creation, culminating in preview performances for European audiences. While Vancouver won't see SAKA this season, this residency represents something invaluable: the deep artistic lineage that shapes Belle Spirale's creative DNA, and the international recognition that brings our city's contemporary dance vision to the world stage.
We send a special thank you to Jill Henis for her support and rehearsal direction during early phases of this creation.
New Creation for Ballet BC Annex
September/October 2025
Ballet BC Annex, a collaboration with Vancouver’s Arts Umbrella Dance and Modus Operandi, offers an invaluable opportunity for students throughout BC to engage in world-class dance education and programming. Providing meaningful career experience for pre-professional dancers and enabling Ballet BC to increase its reach and impact in its community, Annex brings professional repertoire, performances, and workshops to schools across the province.
Belle Spirale Directors Alexis and Sylvain are thrilled to be contributing to this important initiative through the creation of a new work, which will tour throughout the season, performed by the Ballet BC Annex dancers.
This work is created with invaluable choreographic assistance from, and in collaboration with, Belle Spirale Artists Sophia Makarenko and Nathan Coburn.
Photo | Jon McRae
UNIVERSUS ON TOUR
Belle Spirale is thrilled to be performing for Dance Victoria’s 2025/26 Season!
January 16th, 2026
McPherson Playhouse
Victoria, BC
7:30pm
Justin Rapaport and Ariana Barr in UNIVERSUS | Photo: Michael Slobodian
Following our World Premiere at Vancouver Playhouse in March 2025, we are thrilled to be presenting UNIVERSUS at Dance Victoria.
Each performer gave everything. Their commitment, control, and emotional range was nothing short of extraordinary. The depth of embodiment, the subtlety of connection, it was masterful.
The standing ovation was more than deserved, it was a collective exhale. A thank-you from every soul in the room. UNIVERSUS is not just a dance production, it is a somatic journey into the depths of the human spirit, urging us to embrace our inner truths and find beauty in the impermanence of it all. I left profoundly moved, reminded that we are all orbiting the same mystery, and sometimes, if we’re lucky, we get to feel it move.
~ Review Vancouver
Alexis Fletcher and Ariana Barr in UNIVERSUS (STATERA by Fernando Hernando Magadan)
Photo by Jim Coleman
Marisa Gold in UNIVERSUS (Everything and Nothing by Alexis Fletcher) Photo by Jim Coleman
At this moment it becomes clear that Everything and Nothing may be a seminal work in our dance history — a new creation melding spoken word and contemporary movement that seems to speak to our collective consciousness in a new way.
~ Arts Addict
STATERA by Fernando Hernando Magadan Photo by Michael Slobodian
Then came STATERA, choreographed by Fernando Hernando Magadan, with a stunning original score by Ben Waters. A massive dark stone anchored one side of the stage, while a floating house drifted across a pendulum arc. The entire set moved with the dancers—amplifying the tension between groundedness and transience. The visual design alone could’ve held the stage, but the dancers made it breathe. It felt like a cosmic inquiry into existence beyond the body—into time, vulnerability, and transcendence.
~ Review Vancouver
World Premiere by Wen Wei Wang
Stay tuned for performance date announcements ~ Spring 2026
Choreographer Wen Wei Wang by Shin Sugino
When a master returns home, magic happens. Renowned choreographer Wen Wei Wang—a true national treasure and former artistic director of Ballet Edmonton—is creating an intimate new work for Belle Spirale, exploring the profound spaces between bodies, breath, and choice. Produced in collaboration with Wang’s company Wen Wei Dance, this deeply personal commission celebrates his long-time artistic relationship with our directors Alexis and Sylvain.
Mezzo-Soprano Emma Parkinson by Ben Owens
Working with dancers Alexis Fletcher and Justin Rapaport, Wang explores the intimate geography of human connection. Joined by mezzo-soprano Emma Parkinson, they'll investigate the delicate textures of human connection—how we touch, how we breathe together, and how we navigate the weight of final moments. In Wang's hands, the interplay of dance and voice becomes a meditation on presence, distance, and the choices we make when everything hangs in the balance.
It's a rare opportunity to witness one of Canada's most celebrated choreographers in dialogue with seasoned performers, complete with the wonder of live music.
World Premiere ~ Solo for Ariana Barr
Stay tuned for performance date announcements ~ Spring 2026
Join us for a FREE work in progress showing, plus discussion of artistic process, on November 21st, 2025 at the Roundhouse, hosted by New Works Dance.
Ariana Barr by Sylvain Senez
In the space of a heartbeat…
In this intimate new solo, co-creators Alexis Fletcher and Ariana Barr examine the profound moment between stimulus and response—that fraction of a second where choice is born. Through a distinctly female lens, they explore how intuition, memory, and conditioning shape our decisions in an increasingly uncertain world. What emerges is a meditation on agency and pause, revealing the quiet power that lives in the space before we act. Presented as a solo for Ariana, and at a time when we're all collectively holding our breath, two artists dive deep into that suspended moment, finding strength and wisdom in the waiting.
Ariana Barr by Michael Slobodian
New Creation by Sid Chuckas
June 2026
“Dreams have the potential to colour our mortal existence with the prospect that there is something greater out there, perhaps even here with us, that guides us, protects us, and can see us for all we are and made to be. And in these dreams, I take refuge as a human and creator.
Dance has an inherent ability to store and preserve cultural histories, belief systems, and experiences such as those of marginalized groups: their stories, their triumphs, and their dreams. Dance is the medium in which I have felt accepted for all I am and where I am the most free to express these big dreams of mine.
It is the ultimate power behind the community, the engine that propels the individual toward innovation, and the beating heart at the center of all creation. Through this work, I hope to inspire others to find the autonomy to dream more in their personal lives.”
~ Sid Chuckas.
Belle Spirale is proud to produce an exciting new creation by Sid Chuckas. A powerful emerging voice in our community, and an artist loved for their compelling performances both with Ballet BC and at The Dance Deck, we cannot wait to share this innovative new work which draws from Sid’s unique voice as a dancer, creator and an architect.
Photos of Sid Chuckas by Marcus Eriksson
KIN
Stay tuned for performance date announcements ~ Spring/Summer 2026
Juan Duarte and Lazaro Silva by Sylvain Senez
Created in collaboration with Lazaro and Juan, KIN explores ideas of belonging, lineage and kinship as guided by these Brazilian artists’ personal stories and shared mother tongue.
Through the honesty, vulnerability and daring of the dancing body, KIN celebrates arrival, tenacity, and the people who become our chosen family.
Lazaro Silva by Michael Slobodian
Created in 2023 as a work in progress performance commissioned by STAND Festival, we are thrilled to be presenting the fully developed world premiere this season!
Juan Duarte by Michael Slobodian
Lazaro and Juan by Michael Slobodian
