For the 19th annual Coastal Dance Festival, Dancers of Damelahamid once again bring Indigenous stories, song, and dance from across Canada and around the world to the stage. Performances take place March 3rd at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster, and from March 4-8 at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC in Vancouver. The two spaces will be transformed through a dynamic offering of ancestral and contemporary performances from the Northwest Coast and international Indigenous artists.
Highlights of the 2026 Festival include: new guests Coastal Wolf Pack (Musqueam, Squamish, Tsartlip, Nanaimo); a preview of Tasha Faye Evans’ (Coast Salish) full-length piece Cedar Woman; returning guests Lax Kxeen Tsimshian Dancers, Sámi singer and activist Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska, and Sámi singer and poet Lawra Somby; and excerpts from Dancers of Damelahamid’s existing body of work, including a mountain goat transformation mask dance originally developed for their performances at Jacob’s Pillow in 2024.
“Through the Coastal Dance Festival, we’re continuing to explore ways of decolonizing existing relationships with spaces such as MOA’s galleries and collections through song and dance,” says Margaret Grenier, Festival Executive & Artistic Director. “By reshaping the lens through which dance regalia and masks are perceived, we invite audiences to better understand these art pieces not as static objects, but as living, embodied practices.”
March 3: The Anvil Centre opens the festival with two matinee performances designed to stimulate youth audiences to take in a deeper understanding of Indigenous dance, culture, and stories. The performances will open with a presentation from Chesha7 iy lha men (Skwxwu7mesh, Stó:l?, Tsimsian), a family group of grandmothers, mothers, and daughters; followed by the Dancers of Damelahamid, who will perform their popular mask dances from their production Spirit and Tradition.
March 4-8: MOA’s programming features all-ages matinees, festival stage and signature evening performances, an artist sharing series and film screenings.
The all-ages matinees on March 4 and 5 include performances from the Dancers of Damelahamid and Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska and Lawra Somby returning to the festival.
The artist sharing series running daily from March 4 to 6, features conversations with Dr. Sarah Hunt (Kwakwaka’wakw) and Lawra Somby and Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska.
On March 5 and 7 MOA hosts a screening of the film So Surreal: Behind The Masks, directed by Neil Diamond and Joanne Robertson.
March 6 and 7, signature evening performances share and honour culture and practices set among the monumental poles of the museum’s Great Hall.
Festival stage performances on March 7 and 8 will each feature distinct lineups of dynamic dance groups and companies from near and far.
The 19th annual Coastal Dance Festival presented by Dancers of Damelahamid runs March 3, 2026 at The Anvil Centre, 777 Columbia Street, New Westminster and March 4 to 8, 2026 at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, 6393 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver.
For full festival details, performers and schedules or to buy tickets, visit damelahamid.ca