We close the festival in a state of alchemy, where grit meets soft love and the body remembers what the mind has yet to name. Through songs, dances and poems, we reflect on the fluid paths that carry us forward, while tending to the tangible yet unseen forces within us. Together, we honour alchemy as a living process. Never static, always becoming.
Featuring
MC
Abby
1:15 - 1:30 PM: Opening with Robbie George
1:30 - 1:55 PM: Sunset Stories (Festival Set): Live Looping Transformation - Sam Chimes
Sunset Stories is an interactive live looping performance where music and storytelling meet at dusk. Sam Chimes builds a full soundscape in real time using voice, keys, and percussion, layering Afrocentric rhythms and improvisation while inviting audience participation. The set begins with a short spoken word opening (with poet Marlo Browne), then transitions into a guided audience moment where key phrases and sounds become part of the loop. Each segment becomes a one-of-one composition shaped by the people and the place, celebrating transformation, community, and the spirit of the setting sun.
2:00 - 2:20 PM: Songs of the Evening Sky - Sudhesna
Sudhesna Mohapatra is an Odissi artist whose practice is rooted in the grace, rhythm, and expressive storytelling of Indian classical dance. Trained at the Odissi Research Centre in Bhubaneswar and certified through Pracheen Kala Kendra, she brings years of dedicated practice and performance experience to her work. Based in Canada, Sudhesna continues to explore Odissi as a living tradition , one that connects heritage, emotion, and human experience across cultures. For this presentation, Sudhesna will be joined by Aneri Nanavaty for vocal interpretation, bringing together movement and voice in an evocative exploration of Nobel Laureate RabindraNath Tagore's songs.
2:20 - 2:45 PM: Alexia Acuña
Consumption of the shifting tides, back to basics, lately, my body is nobody’s but my body, grief healing, can you pick me up, hold on.
Alexia is a queer multidisciplinary artist whose intention is to evoke feeling and question with their soul searching lyricism, blending soulful rnb and stepping into experimental sounds to their music. Alexia explores in every way what can be; with prominent features in Afro beats, Melodic rap and freestyle poetry, they transform and mold their craft through life’s inspirations.
“We are experiences based on experiences, let it flow with love”
2:50 - 3:05 PM: Nakita
3:05 - 3:20 PM: Terreane Derrick
3:35 - 3:40 PM: Barbara Wilson
Barbara is a dancer exploring contemporary dance and street circus styles in Chile, currently in her second year of the Contemporary Dance program at Lamondance. Mark and Jose are bandmates in the local experimental jazz group The Magic Triangle. Barbara has collaborated several times with the band as a dancer during live performances (including at UBC, Tyrant Studios, and two performances in Victoria). We have since formed Wild Spiral, a dance-forward exploration that searches for new ways of relating sound and movement.
3:45 - 4:15 PM: NATAB
Nana and The Asafo Brigade (NATAB) is an African Folk band abandoning the confines of a genre and making music from the soul. Birthed from a unique transcendent awakening to take charge and lend its voice to a transformational movement, NATAB identifies as a vessel for propagating the need for a revolution, whatever form it may take.
4:20 - 4:30 PM: Hannah Carpendale
4:35 - 4:55 PM: Jada Tang
Jada Tang (she/her) is a contemporary dance artist based in Vancouver, BC. She has recently completed her post-secondary training at Modus Operandi Contemporary Dance Training Program (MO) under the direction of Tiffany Tregarthen, David Raymond, Kate Franklin, and Maiko Miyauchi. Through this, she has had the pleasure to perform new creations by choreographers such as Yin Yue, Shay Kuebler, Spenser Theberge, Vanessa Goodman, Ella Rothschild, Mariko Kakizaki, and Yi-Chun Liu. She has also received additional training through programs at b12.research.or.die, Orsolina 28, Out Innerspace, Ballet BC, and Ballets Jazz De Montréal. In 2024, she had the opportunity to perform with Dance//Novella (Brandon Lee Alley and Rachel Prince) in their creation, “Night is the Mother.” Most recently, she joined Ballet BC Annex for a local 14-show tour presenting new works by Vanessa Goodman and Alexis Fletcher.
4:55 - 5:20 PM: Elizabeth Baena
Group Asi Somos is a performance group that presents songs and music rooted in the vast traditions of Venezuela folk culture. Drawing from Spanish, indigenous, Caribbean and African influences, the group creates a unique musical style that reflects the cultural diversity and historical richness of Venezuela. The work support social justice by uplifting ancestral and community base cultural expressions, and environmental justice by honoring traditions deeply connected to the land, nature and sustainable ways of living.
5:20 - 5:40 PM: Late Stage Remedy - Kelly McInnes
Late Stage Remedy, facilitated by dance artist Kelly McInnes, is a collective dance meditation practice currently in it's 4th season. Each week folks gather together in public parks to slow down and connect, bringing presence and love to the lands we dance on. This performance sharing at Vines Festival is a co-created improvised score grown from our ongoing practice together.
Our practices are open to anyone to join. No dance experience necessary. Email kelly.mcinnes@gmail.com for more info.
5:45 - 6:05 PM: Tiannin Chan and Michael Arkinstall
20love is a singer/songwriter folk duo created by Tiannin and Michael. Emerging onto the music scene with their demo EP's in 2024, the duo aspires to grow musically and show their music to the community through performances and engagements. They are currently working on their debut album.
INSTALLATIONS AND WORKSHOPS
Pandora’s Shoebox and the Community Hope Chest - Dawn Livera
Wholeding Collective
Soya & Chantal
Be(ing) Moss is a part of Soya's project rooted in ecosexuality and earth-based art. This interactive performance approaches environmental justice from love and intimacy with earth rather than the saviour perspective. It explores the expansive ways we can love our world by attuning our animal bodies to plants.
The performance/workshop starts with the artists, Soya and collaborator Chantal, finding movements in their stillness, zooming into the sensations as moss and lichen. We move in contact improv dance as moss receives water, bonds with each other, and sits on rocks and trees across seasons. In the second half of the performance, participants are invited to join us in somatic and contact dance movements while reflecting on their relationships with moss and other plants. Through this shared practice, we hope we can feel the grounding spirit of sun setting and connect more deeply with the earth through embodiment.
Jossie
Muhan Zhang
Ramneet Kaur
BANNERS
Cam Strain, Ellie May Eustache, Kitty Guerin, Ethan Kootenhayoo, Melanie Lyle Point, Nefe Africa
