NW Spotlight | Perelandra Waddle at Pacific Contact
New Works Spotlight
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Beyond performances and programs, New Works is part of a living, evolving dance ecosystem. This monthly blog series highlights the unseen moments—the collaborations, reflections, and shifts that shape our community. It’s about the ripples of artist support, learning, and shared growth. Each story offers a glimpse into the evolving needs of the dance community and how we respond.
NW Spotlight | My Experience Attending Pacific Contact as a Next Gen
by Perelandra Waddle
For this month’s New Works Spotlight, we are thrilled to feature the Cohort Alumnus, Perelandra Waddle, who participated in BC Live Performance Network’s The Next Gen Program.
This program commits to creating opportunities for young people in the performing arts sector by providing financial support for their attendance at Pacific Contact 2026, which happened earlier in October. Read Perelandra's journey as she shares about her experience at this prestigious event.
An exceptional learning opportunity for emerging artists.
This year, I was given the honour of attending the 50th annual BCLIVE Pacific Contact arts conference in Nanaimo as a Next Gen delegate.
Earlier this year, I completed the New Works Cohort program, which set me up with valuable skills for running my non-profit
BIPOC Artist Collective ᐋᐧᐸᓇᒐᐦᑯᐢ💫, and I have been looking to continue my professional development in this sphere, so New Works kindly agreed to
nominate me as a Next Gen delegate, which helped cover the costs associated with attendance, travel and accommodation on the island.
What I learned.
As I wandered around the conference, I had the opportunity to attend talks about all kinds of important arts sector issues in the modern market by leaders in their fields. Issues like social media marketing, navigating AI, climate consciousness, accessibility, and block booking for effective touring. While I’m no stranger to lectures, having graduated from SFU with a BFA a few years ago, what I found unique was how warm and collaborative these “talks” were. Every speaker I encountered brought a grounded and fresh perspective to their disciplines and was very welcoming to questions from emerging professionals like myself. I also got to put my networking skills to good use with opportunities to mingle and converse about useful topics. Every table, hallway, and booth gave me a new chance to meet role models with decades of experience in sectors I'm only starting to enter.
What was fun?
Wandering around the adorable coffee shops and vintage clothing stores around the old city of Nanaimo, I got to truly experience the lively island culture and gorgeous land of the Snuneymuxw people. Every day we were generously welcomed in with protocol by the Elders and Knowledge keepers of Snuneymuxw who shared not only words but songs, prayers and stories of their land and people. One of my highlights from this conference was watching the children of the local elementary school, ages 6-12, perform their traditional dances and songs at the first showcase. As a Métis performing artist who grew up without access to my cultural dances and songs, I found this display of intergenerational celebration very inspiring.
How did I contribute to the atmosphere?
While I wasn't selected to spotlight or pitch this time around, in the spirit of this cultural exchange, I decided to share my own culture with the conference in my own little way. I put together a simple social experiment that I documented via TikTok and Reels. Every day of the conference I filmed myself Métis jigging in the middle of the convention ballroom. The objective was to see if anybody would join me. Unsurprisingly, they did. This proved to be a fantastic icebreaker with performers, presenters, agents and industry leaders who took interest in my traditional dancing. Feel free to check it out on my TikTok channel @perelandrawaddle or my collective's IG: @wapanacahkos_ If you or someone you love might be interested in learning jigging, look into my collective's free all-ages Métis jigging classes in Ladner!
What I’m taking away:
Unfortunately, conferences like this cannot last forever, so I find myself wondering what I will make of this experience. I am bringing back 2 tickets from BC Ferries, a shoebox full of business cards, multiple desheveled notebooks full of scrambled notes from talks, and scribbled contact information, a DIY
rock-painting mindfulness activity, a half-eaten box of Nanaimo bars, a phone full of pictures and dozens of new IG contacts. Most importantly, however, I am leaving with a heart of gratefulness. I am grateful to BCLIVE for creating the Next Gen program, to New Works for their generous nomination, to
the Snuneymuxw Nation for welcoming me to a land they have carefully stewarded since time immemorial, to the speakers who shared their hard-earned data and information in an easily understandable way, and to the friends I made that I can’t wait to meet up with on the mainland.
To all of you, I raise my hands and say Maarsii Hyi Hyi,
-Perelandra Waddle
Artistic Director of ᐋᐧᐸᓇᒐᐦᑯᐢ💫Artist Collective
About Perelandra Waddle
Perelandra is an interdisciplinary 2S, Red River Métis performing artist located in Metro Vancouver. After graduating with honours from SFU with a BFA in Dance, they founded and became Artistic Director of ᐋᐧᐸᓇᒐᐦᑯᐢ💫Artist Collective. They also proudly study Métis dance and culture under Yvonne Chartrand, and perform as a Louis Riel Métis Dancer with the renowned Métis dance company V’ni Dansi; and she studies Indigenous drum, ceremony and protocol under Aunty Aline Laflamme and proudly performs with Daughters of the Drum. On top of this she works as a dance teacher with the City of Delta and works as a freelance performing artist with notable credits across genres including contemporary dance soloist in La Mitchin di Michif with V’ni Dansi, improvisational dance ensemble in Soft Currents with Action at a Distance, musical theatre ensemble in The Producers with Theatre in the Country, lead in the stage play Red Skin Girl with UBC Players Club, and numerous roles in The Nutcracker with Royal City Youth Ballet.
Website: https://perelandrawaddle.squarespace.com
Facebook: Perelandra Waddle
IG: @perelandrawaddle
Tiktok: @perelandrawaddle
Why New Works Spotlights?
New Works delivers many unique programs, in many different ways, in support of many communities of artists. If you’ve ever asked a New Works staff member, “so, what does New Works do exactly?”, you’ve likely been met with a rambling run on sentence and a laundry list of exciting programs and projects that we have on the go. Up close it may look a little messy, but take a step back and you will see the container: all of our work exists in response to current gaps in the needs of the dance community. This looks like performance opportunities, partnership and collaboration, professional development, teaching engagements, mentorship, skills training, and many more. And we are just one small piece of this vitally diverse dance milieu.
We envision a healthy artist-centred arts ecosystem where connection, collaboration, and opportunity is celebrated beyond the container of our own organization. Through this ongoing blog series, we invite you to join us in witnessing artist experience through and beyond New Works programs, and in celebration of our living, breathing, shared communities.