• Our Mission:

    We exist to promote the artistic excellence, creation, production, and performance of contemporary dance. We do this by supporting, educating, and challenging our artists to take creative risks.

  • Our Vision:

    To contribute to our vibrant local and provincial artistic communities through professional, high-level training; performance; and cultural exchange with communities across the province, the country, and around the world.

  • Our Values:

    Diversity and inclusion are important to us. We are committed to connecting people of all ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities by providing inclusive access for the community to our performances and supportive entry for emerging artists into a professional dance company.

    Established in North Vancouver in 2009, Lamondance is dedicated to advancing contemporary dance while championing the values of integrity, honesty, fairness, accountability, diversity, inclusion, learning, teamwork, passion, and quality. Since its inception, Lamondance has been at the forefront of promoting inclusivity by actively supporting underrepresented artists, including individuals from diverse backgrounds.

History

In 2008, Lamondance performed as a collective for the very first time. Gisele Santoro, the esteemed artistic director of the International Dance Seminar in Brasília, commissioned Lamondance to create the show *RED*, which was performed at the National Claudio Santoro Theatre in Brasília, Brazil, one of the most important theaters in the country.

The success of this performance prompted Hayley Walker (RNB Dance - Principal) and Charlie Costello (RNB Dance - President of the Board of Directors) to move forward with the idea of creating a dance training program. Monica Proença and Lara Barclay then founded Lamondance in 2009 with the mission of helping emerging dancers transition into the world of professional dance. The high quality of training, accompanied by unique choreography, provided the company with early stability.

From 2009 to 2014, the artistic direction of the company was headed by Lara Barclay and Monica Proença, with Davi Rodrigues joining in 2010 as co-director. In 2014, Davi Rodrigues assumed the position of Artistic Director and has since been responsible for the company's distinctive artistic identity.

Lamondance performed in Canada and Brazil with the shows *RED* (2009), *Human*, *Angels* (2013), and *Spark* (2016), and in Germany at the Tanzart Festival in Nordhausen in 2011 with the choreography *Terra Arrida* by Monica Proença. In 2021, the company closed the Vancouver International Dance Festival by performing *Before Dawn* by Artistic Director Davi Rodrigues.

Lamondance is a place where art is nurtured at the highest caliber. With an emphasis on original choreographic voices comes the responsibility of presenting shows that leave a lasting imprint on the audience’s mind and connect them to the dance world. This is a responsibility that Lamondance upholds proudly.

For its first ten years, Lamondance operated under the umbrella of RNB Dance and Theatre Arts, a not-for-profit society based in North Vancouver. In June 2019, Lamondance was incorporated as Lamondance Arts Society to continue its mission of facilitating the evolution of contemporary dance as an art form and enhancing its presence within the community. Lamondance is registered as Lamondance Arts Society. Charitable registration number: 78681 5274 RR0001.

With gratitude as guests, we acknowledge that Lamondances' activities take place on the unceded territories of the Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.