Northern Arts & Cultural Centre

Degrees of Separation
2026-03-28 19:30 (America/Edmonton) | Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (NACC), 4701 52nd Ave, Yellowknife, NT, X1A 2N7, Canada
An Adaptation By

Tinged with Alison McCreesh’s signature blend of humour and humanity, Degrees of Separation is a story of the North and transformation. Following Alison’s personal journey from young adulthood to motherhood, the piece explores themes of connection, change, and anxiety told through the unique lens of a Northern life.

The Tin Can Collective’s new staged adaptation brings McCreesh’s story to life, celebrating lived experiences of the North and the impact of female friendships during these pivotal years, and featuring a score composed by Yellowknife’s own Grace Clark.

Formed in 2024, The Tin Can Collective is an emerging multidisciplinary performance collective, guided by new ideas, connection, and community-driven storytelling based in the NWT. The Tin Can Collective was formed by Gwenan Guillas-Letain, Kacie Hall, and Sophie Rivers.

The tension between free-spirited off-grid living and prosaic adult responsibility runs through Alison McCreesh’s tender and loving ode to the people and landscapes of the far North. Joe Sacco, Paying the Land on “Degrees of Separation: A Decade North of 60” by Alison McCreesh

About Alison McCreesh

Alison is a Yellowknife-based graphic novelist, illustrator and fibre artist. Over almost two decades in the North, Alison has enjoyed numerous opportunities to travel the Arctic and Sub-Arctic – experiences which have greatly influenced her creative work. Since 2015, Alison has published three graphic novels, all of which explore aspects of contemporary day-to-day life north of the 60th parallel. Her most recent book, ‘Degrees of Separation: A Decade North of 60’, was released in April 2024 and was named one of the Best Canadian Comics of 2024 by CBC Books. It also earned Alison invitations to be a guest author at several literary festivals such as the Vancouver Writers Festival, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival and the Stockholm International Comics Festival. Most recently, “Degrees of Separation” has been nominated for a 2025 Eisner Award in the “Best Graphic Memoir” category.

The staged adaptation of Degrees of Separation is produced with support from the GNWT Arts Council.

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Effortless
2026-04-17 19:30 | The Underground, 4910 Franklin Ave, Yellowknife, NT, Canada
Presented As part of the Northern Spark Emerging Artist Series

A Collaboration Between NACC and The UNDerground

Effortless is a collection of short contemporary dance works created by professional and emerging choreographers based in Yellowknife. This one-time performance calls into question the idea that dance is simply “beautiful” or easy; revealing the labour, risk, and creative process beneath what appears seamless on stage.

Featuring choreography by Fia Grogono, Tomiko Robson, Jordyn Riou, and Benjamin Mujuni, Effortless offers audiences an investigation into how movement stories are built, shaped, and refined.

A Q&A with the artists will follow the performance. Choreography: Haha (Fia Grogono), Big Monster (Fia Grogono, Jordyn Riou), Masc Masks (Tomiko Robson), Silence (Benjamin Mujuni), Fantasmagoria (Fia Grogono, Benjamin Mujuni, Tomiko Robson)Cast: Ady McLeod, Benjamin Mujuni, Fia Grogono, Johanna Tiemessen, Jordyn Riou, Karen Wasicuna, Katie Schauerte, and Tomiko Robson

Must be 19+

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Juliet & Romeo
2026-05-09 19:30 | Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (NACC), 4701 52nd Ave, Yellowknife, NT, X1A 2N7, Canada
This Lost Dog show reveals the real story of Romeo and Juliet. It turns out they didn’t die in a tragic misunderstanding; they grew up and lived happily ever after.

Well, they lived.

Now in their 40s and struggling with a mid-life crisis, they feel constantly mocked by their teenage selves and haunted by the pressures of being the poster couple for romantic love. They decide to confront their current struggles by staging a performance about themselves. Their therapist told them it was a terrible idea.

With Lost Dog’s blend of dance, theatre, and comedy, this duet directed by Olivier Award nominated Ben Duke takes on our cultural obsession with youth and our inevitable issues with longevity.

Comic awkwardness tipping into vulnerable emotion is a hallmark of Ben Duke’s work. The Independent

Ben is Artistic Director and co-founder of Lost Dog. He trained at Guildford School of Acting, the London Contemporary Dance School and has a first-class degree in English Literature from Newcastle University. His work is an attempt to reconcile those three subjects.

In 1997 Ben saw Alain Platel’s show Bernadetje at the Newcastle Playhouse and has since been trying to recreate the feeling of confusion and joy he had while watching that piece in his own artistic practice. Most of his artistic output has been within Lost Dog.

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TRANSHUMANIST / SUPERHUMAN
2027-02-06 19:30 | Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (NACC), 4701 52nd Ave, Yellowknife, NT, X1A 2N7, Canada
NEXT ZONE is a Denmark based company working with OPEN STYLE DANCE. Choreographer Lene Boel works with dancers from different street dance backgrounds such as popping, locking, electro, break dance, hip hop, and new circus. She creates a distinct choreographic language which is unique for each production and very visceral. The pieces challenge the language of the human body and what it can express through very articulated and highly physical dance. Dealing with contemporary themes interlacing with the past, present, and future the performances communicate to audience of all ages through non-verbal movement, original music, and sustainable atmospheric light.

TRANSHUMANIST features two dancers balancing between both the artificial and the human, and between machine and human. It explores the upgrading of the human body and mind in extremely articulated body language.

SUPERHUMAN explores the limits for the capacities of the human body in a unique and thought-provoking performance that redefines the human being in new optimised versions. It has already become the everyday to enhance human characteristics artificially and modern science has brought closer the dream of the perfect human being. But what happens to humanity in the future if all humans are optimized with new skills that reaches beyond our current mental and physical capacities?

The distinctive choreographic language within the performance builds on explorations of mental states, translated into extreme physical movements in a fusion of urban dance, new composed music and atmospheric light.

It speaks both to heart and mind to everyone between the ages of 7 and 97.

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