Rachel Meyer stages interdisciplinary new Many Worlds in Railtown, May 31 to June 3
Microcosmos Quartet intermingles with dancers in a total experience at Alexander Street warehouse

Many Worlds features dancers Eowynn Enquist, Oksana Maslechko, Justin Rapaport, and Calder White. Photo by Fahim Kassam
Rachel Meyer presents Many Worlds at 298 Alexander Street from May 31 to June 3
INDEPENDENT DANCE ARTIST RACHEL Meyer’s shows in warehouse spaces always have a cool, underground, immersive vibe—not to mention some spectacular theatrical choreography.
That’s because the former Ballet BC and Dominic Walsh Dance Theater dancer approaches performance as a complete experience, from the invitations and programs to the costumes, the lighting, and the musicians that often intermingle with the performers. In 2018, in an industrial Alexander Street warehouse, her Transverse Orientation featured violinist Janna Sailor intermingling with a trio of gauzy, winged “moths”, under James Proudfoot’s flickering sepia lighting. In 2021, Mama, do we die when we sleep? plunged audiences into a fever-dream world as soon as they arrived at Strathcona’s historic Russian Hall. (Both shows were part of Dancing on the Edge.)
Now Meyer is back at Railtown’s atmospheric 298 Alexander with one of her most ambitious interdisciplinary shows yet.
Four dancers and four musicians are on hand for Many Worlds, a show that explores the boundaries of the performance space and time. Events are performed repeatedly, with both subtle and drastic changes altering relationships, perceptions, and outcomes.
As usual, Meyer has assembled a crack team of young contemporary dancers: Eowynn Enquist, Oksana Maslechko, Justin Rapaport, and Calder White.
Dancers will perform to the Microcosmos Quartet, with Marc Destrubé, Tawnya Popoff, Francisco Barradas, and Jake Klinkenborg, playing work by composer James Maxwell. They’re surrounded by visual art by celebrated sculptor and installation artist Rochelle Goldberg, who has also contributed to costume design for the piece. Expect a total experience.
Janet Smith is cofounder and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.
Related Articles
Presented by New Works, the dance piece will draw inspiration from natural surroundings on Granville Island
Offerings also include world premieres from Corporeal Imago and FakeKnot, plus Ame Henderson + Matija Ferlin’s Show Gone
Belle Spirale’s backyard shindig features performances by Action at a Distance’s Vanessa Goodman, Paper Rabbits collective, Ballet BC dancers, and more
This year’s event, on from August 7 to 17, also features a standup comedy show by YouTube star Manpreet Singh and all-ages dance workshops
Waacking-infused world premiere co-created with Justine A. Chambers draws on a 1990 indie Bollywood film choreographed by Sachar’s mom
Performances by the Wild Moccasin Dancers, jazz trumpeter Feven Kidane, party band Dr. Strangelove, and plenty more artists are in store
Artists Kevin Jesuino and Marco Esccer worked with LGBTQI+ society members to create an empowering dance performance that told their truths
Offerings are designed to suit dancers of varying ages and abilities, from the inaugural ISDI2 program to intensives for Juniors and Teens
Presentation features genre-spanning pieces by Aditi Chaudhury and Sudnya Mulye, Jhoely Triana Flamenco, Jullianna Oke, and Krystal Tsai
Repetition, endurance, and ritual from Noam Gagnon, Lesley Telford, Rebecca Margolick, and Tushrik Fredericks
The MascallDance production uses a large set piece to unite three distinct pieces by different choreographers
With arresting dancers and haunting atmosphere, Company 605 and T.H.E Dance Company cocreation grapples with big, timely ideas
Studies in math and an industrial fan are just some of the unexpected touches on the event’s mixed programs
Intimate duet to begin with no end explores the artists’ respective religions with care and intensity
Company 605 and T.H.E Dance Company push cross-Pacific team of dancers to embody a society rushing toward the next thing, at the Scotiabank Dance Centre
The Dust Palace’s cabaret send-up stars a visionary fashion designer who sews costumes live onstage at The Cultch
Canadian-Brazilian interdisciplinary artist brings together film and dance in a work that can be enjoyed from different angles at the Roundhouse
Marco Goecke, Crystal Pite, Sharon Eyal, and Fernando Magadan provide a whirlwind of short work for tomorrow’s next dance stars
Presented with Boca del Lupo, the accessible production by the U.K.’s Seven Circles encourages interactive learning
Aussie troupe Gravity & Other Myths’ stripped-down spectacle has been a hit around the world
Senior dance artists offer decades of insight to the new event’s joyful collaborations with younger performers
Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber share a full-evening work, and hit productions of Crystal Pite’s Frontier and Shahar Binyamini’s BOLERO X return
In the midst of an international career, the Kidd Pivot dancer is setting a short Crystal Pite work for the student showcase
Moroccan and Spanish choreographers join the international contingent of event that runs at Firehall Arts Centre and SFU Woodward’s
With the Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre, artists Marco Esccer and Carla Alcántara celebrate the centenary of the feminist writer’s birth
Powerful dancing across the board in Medhi Walerski’s striking Last light; Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber’s straight-from-the-heart Obsidian; and Marco Goecke’s vibrating Woke Up Blind
As part of Asian Heritage Month, the gallery’s first performers-in-residence use old-school radios and headlamps in a new piece that fuses dance, multimedia, and theatre
The Dance Centre prizes carry $5,000 in funding for each artist
Fifth edition of uncurated program provides a welcoming space for artist’s first dance-theatre piece
Tickets on sale today for a Simran Sachar–Justine A. Chambers choreographic collab, comedian Kiran Deol, and Indian classical music star Alam Khan