Dancer Ziyian Kwan will take her unusual arts-advocacy protest to the Vancouver International Airport. She told the Straight that between 6 and 8 a.m. on Sunday (September 5), she will dance and talk to people about B.C. arts cutbacks in various areas of the airport. She also plans to hand out pamphlets before hopping on a plane to Regina, where she is going to work as a dancer. “I hope I’m not tasered,” Kwan quipped.

In 1991, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that two protesters had a constitutional right to hand out literature in a publicly owned airport in Montreal as long as they didn’t disrupt operations. “The distribution of pamphlets and discussion with certain members of the public are in no way incompatible with the airport’s primary function, that of accommodating the needs of the travelling public,” then-justices Antonio Lamer and John Sopinka wrote in their decision.

On the final four Sundays in August, Kwan danced outside the Gene Cafe at the corner of Main Street and Kingsway to draw attention to B.C. Liberal government cuts to the arts. During her final performance on August 29, she was joined by dancers Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, Laura Hicks, Alvin Erasga Tolentino, Caroline Farquhar, and Kim Tuson, and cellist Peggy Lee.

Ziyian Kwan talks about why she organized the weekly dance celebration.