Closing the Firehall Arts Centre’s ELBOWS UP – Made in Canada season, Enemy Lines by choreographer Mayumi Lashbrook takes the stage from May 6th to May 9th.
photo: MP Photography
Wrapping up an inspiring and successful season celebrating bold Canadian voices and storytelling, Enemy Lines is a live dance performance that looks at how a climate of fear led to the incarceration of Japanese Canadians. Choreographer, performer and educator Mayumi Lashbrook delves into the actions taken against her family and other Japanese-Canadian families during World War II. Suddenly deemed a threat after the Pearl Harbour attack in 1941, over 22,000 Canadians of Japanese descent were forcibly removed from the coastline of British Columbia – their lives forever altered.
A fourth generation Japanese-Canadian settler, the acclaimed Lashbrook seeks to understand these dark events in Canadian history and the hold it has had on her life. Her work illuminates the cycles of fear-based oppression and intolerant thinking that still afflicts us today, In Enemy Lines, she shines a light on our ingrained need for each other, and the way that generational trauma and disconnection can hinder our growth.
Choreographed and performed by Lashbrook, along with an ensemble of Michael Mortley, Lucy Rupert, Denise Solleza, and Gerry Trentham, Enemy Lines invites audiences to reflect on the divisions of our shared past while envisioning the possibilities of a united future.
Mayumi Lashbrook’s Enemy Lines runs just four performances from Wednesday, May 6 to Saturday, May 9, 2026 at Firehall Arts Centre, 280 E Cordova Street. Visit firehallartscentre.ca for showtimes and tickets.
Later this month, show your support for the Firehall Arts Centre on May 23, 2026 at 6pm as the Firehall Gala celebrates the tireless spirit of the Firehall Arts Centre and honours Carol Lee, a relentless force and advocate for the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown.