A one-week studio residency to exchange, explore, and create collaboratively. Culminating in an informal, open sharing, along with a facilitated audience talkback.
Artists at all stages of their careers—emerging to established—who are open and curious in their practice. Artists working in traditional forms and lineages, contemporary and experimental approaches, street dance forms, and everything in between and beyond.
子嫣 Ziyian Kwan (she/her) I conjure riddles that vanish in time collages of movement, image and rhyme. I aspire to tend, to vision, to glow spaces intentioned by kindness and flow. I invite you to banter, to revel, to bless to partner in actions of gentle transgress. I was born in Kowloon, Hong Kong and am a Chinese Filipina dance artist who has lived on the ancestral, unceded, occupied and stolen territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam),Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations since 1973. I am grateful to be here on these lands and in this life. My name, 子嫣, was coined by my father and in Cantonese, it means: daughter with the essence of a beautiful smile. I began dancing professionally in 1989 and choreographed my first work in 2013. I am the founding Artistic Director of Odd Meridian Arts, with which I’m always learning about how to be in relationship with creative practice and creative people. oddmeridianarts.ca Photo by David Cooper
Rachana Joshi Rachana Joshi is an independent dance artist based in Tkaronto. A graduate of York University’s BFA in Dance, she trained in Bharatanatyam under Lata Pada and completed her arangetram in 2017. She is a company dancer and teacher at Sampradaya Dance Centre, and also works with Nova Dance, performing in productions such as Svaha! and Decoded Dance. Her diverse training—including contemporary, Bollywood, and house dance techniques—continues to inform her exploration of movement in diasporic and contemporary contexts. An emerging choreographer, Rachana is curious about the possibilities embedded in the rich technique of Bharatanatyam and how it can be explored. She is the artistic director of Kala Dance Collective, an organization that supports Bharatanatyam dancers through performances and community-centered training initiatives like Prep + Practice. Photo by In The Soul of Photography
Simran Sachar is a Indo-Canadian dance artist, choreographer, teacher, writer, and actor originally from Calgary, Alberta, but currently dedicates time to their artistic practice in Vancouver, Canada on the unceded, ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She is a captivating anomaly in this industry known for her work as a contemporary and street dance artist and choreographer. As a performer she’s contributed her skills in various film, television, theatre productions, and Canadian dance companies, as well as the street dance scene where she’s known for her exceptional abilities as a freestyle dancer, strong storytelling skills and fluid precision. As a choreographer, Simran’s work uncovers distorted memories and how they disfigure us, the duality of relief and grief, and all the baggage that eventually leads us to joy. Lately she is inspired by the bugs within XR technology. Instead of trying to improve the technology, perhaps we can work alongside its flaws and allow them to deepen the world building and choreography. Simran’s latest live work, ‘ACT TWENTY FIVE’ premiered in front of two sold out audiences in June 2024 at Vancouver’s Dancing On The Edge Festival and at Dance In Vancouver. Simran’s latest XR film “The Edge of The Underworld,” premiered in September 2024. Her first XR film, BETA बेटा was presented at Luna Arts Festival 2021. In 2020, her first film ‘LUNACY’ was a part of National Arts Centre's CAPSULE and premiered at F.O.R.M Film Festival and won the Official Selection of the Audience Choice Award. She made her debut in 2023 as the lead actor and assistant choreographer in Alberta Theatre Projects showing of Bombay Black as Apsara. Simran is the Winner of Release Yourself Whacking Battle in Montreal 2023. Simran’s other credits include: Disney, Tubi, Netflix, The CW, Apple Tv, Luna Arts Festival, Artfullness Festival, Indian Summer Festival, The Vancouver Opera, Dance In Vancouver, Action At A Distance, Alberta Theatre Projects, Blackout Art Society, Furious Grace Dance Theatre, Park Production House, The Vancouver Art Gallery, Dancing On The Edge, OFF-Parcours Danse, OFF-FTA, F.O.R.M Festival, Apple TV, National Arts Centre, Fringe Manila and more.
Ai Li / 愛丽 (they/she) is an interdisciplinary artist, self-taught jeweler, dancer, and crafts person. Through adornment creation in both their jewelry and dance practice, they explore interconnectedness, transience, queer spirituality, and Orientalism, all while balancing the fine line between sexuality and fetishization.
CanAsian Dance centres the Asian Diaspora dance community, which includes artists from across Asia—including South, East, Southeast, West, and Central Asia—as well as the surrounding Pacific Islands. We are committed to supporting critical artistic conversations and the exploratory stages of new work. By fostering relationships and strengthening solidarity, we aim to create more opportunities for creative exchange, knowledge-sharing, representation, and connection within the Asian Diaspora dance community and the broader dance community.
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