Contemporary dance performer and choreographer Daina Ashbee

Cathy speaks with contemporary dance performer and choreographer Daina Ashbee on the eve of the presentation of her first creation Unrelated, a dark duet inspired by the fate of Indigenous women in Canada. A native of Nanaimo, British Columbia, of Cree, Metis and Dutch descent, Daina credits Michael Jackson with awakening her passion for dance. She moved to Vancouver in her late teens to study at Modus Operandi and then dance with Raven Spirit Dance and Kokoro Dance before moving to Montreal where her career and reputation rapidly blossomed. Unrelated was followed by the installation When the Ice Melts, Will We Drink the Water? that earned two Prix de la Danse de Montréal and the Prix du CALQ for Best Choreography, the solo Pour, and her newest installation Serpentine. Daina speaks of her work and reach, her inability to separate her personal life from her art, and the support and stimulation her current association with l’Agora de la danse, Centre de Création O Vertigo and The Yulanda M. Faris Choreographers Program brings her.