The Coastal Dance Festival, now in its 19th year, continues to be a vibrant showcase of Indigenous dance traditions and contemporary works from across the Pacific Northwest and beyond. This year's festival, running from March 3 to March 8, features an expanded version of Tasha Faye Evans' acclaimed piece, Cedar Woman, which has evolved from a solo performance into a collaborative work involving six women.
Evolution of Cedar Woman
Originally conceived as a solo piece, Cedar Woman has transformed into a 20-minute excerpt that premiered at this year's festival. Evans, a Port Moody-based dancer and choreographer, explained the shift in artistic direction. "It began as a solo, and then I realized, as our world started to get more and more crazy, that I didn't want to dance alone anymore," she said. "I also realized that I wasn't the only woman who had a strong story to tell and who was calling for an ancestor to come forward to give us medicine."
The additional dancers now play crucial roles in the performance. "They prepare the audience, prepare the space, prepare the story, and help me prepare to dance this beautiful ancestor," Evans noted, emphasizing the collaborative nature of the revised work.
Festival Highlights and Diverse Programming
The Coastal Dance Festival offers a rich program beyond Cedar Woman. Attendees can experience a mountain goat transformation mask dance performed by Dancers of Damelahamid, the organizing group behind the festival. The lineup also includes a duet from Sámi singers Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska and Lawra Somby, along with a performance by new guests for 2026, the Coastal Wolf Pack.
Additional Festival Components
Beyond stage performances, the festival features workshops, conversations, and a special screening of So Surreal: Behind The Masks. This feature documentary, directed by Neil Diamond and Joanne Robertson, traces the fascinating journey of Indigenous masks from Turtle Island (North America) to European surrealists such as Max Ernst, André Breton, Roberto Matta, and Joan Miró.
The Heart of Cedar Woman: Mask and Inspiration
At the core of Evans' Cedar Woman is a meticulously carved Coast Salish mask created by visual artist Ocean Hyland, known for politically engaged public works including murals and large-scale installations tied to environmental and Indigenous rights campaigns. The mask represents the titular character, an ancestral figure connected to the Great Flood story.
Evans wears the mask during performances but is careful to maintain a distinction between herself and the figure it embodies. "I could never assume that I could hold that spirit in my body," she explained. "I get to be in service of the mask."
The inspiration for Cedar Woman came from the late Sto:lo writer and knowledge keeper Lee Maracle, who shared stories about Cedar Woman with Evans, sparking the creative process that led to this significant dance work.
Festival Logistics and Venues
The Coastal Dance Festival takes place at two distinct locations. The opening event occurred on March 3 at Anvil Centre, located at 777 Columbia Street in New Westminster. The festival continues from March 4 through March 8 at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, situated at 6393 NW Marine Drive in Vancouver. Tickets and additional information are available through the festival's official website.
This year's festival represents not only the expansion of individual works like Cedar Woman but also the growing recognition and celebration of Indigenous artistic expressions within the broader cultural landscape of the Pacific Northwest.
