In pre-COVID times, the Dance Centre hosted regular live studio showings by its DanceLab participants.

But today, it's taking the project online at 4 p.m., when Indigenous artist Tasha Faye Evans gives a sneak preview of her work-in-progress Cedar Woman, on the Dance Centre's Youtube channel.

The short film is a collaboration with visual artist Ocean Hyland, an artist and activist from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, known for painting murals in front of Kinder Morgan’s oil tanks and flags to hang from the Iron Workers Bridge, in protest of the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

In the film premiering today, Evans not only shares the work so far, but discusses the ideas and inspiration behind it.

In an interview on the Dance Centre blog, Evans explains Cedar Woman’s story is a mask and dance, with the mask recognizing a powerful Coast Salish ancestor who was transformed into a cedar tree to save her family during the Great Flood.

The dance work features an exquisite box carved from a 600-year-old cedar tree from the Elaho Valley, created by master carver Xwalacktun.

Evans has worked as an early childhood educator, as well as forging a career as an Indigenous dance and theatre artist and social activist.

The streaming is free, with the video staying up after the premiere.