Event by New Works Calgary

Dragon: A Vertical City Performance

May 8th 8PM | Doors 7:30PM


Tickets: $45 | $30 | $20

We use a tiered system so buyers can decide what level of investment aligns with their financial situation. In a more traditional tiered system these would be labelled as General, Student/Senior/Arts Worker etc. We prefer a neutral labelling system. Please select the pricing option that aligns best with what you're able to contribute, no questions asked.



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Dragon is an interdisciplinary meditation on the possibilities that lie beyond power. Bringing together three celebrated female artists from the fields of dance, theatre, and music, Dragon explores the complexities of adaptation, the beauty of maturity, and the richness of experience when the desire for domination is replaced with the openness of embrace. Ultimately, Dragon collapses 400 years of embodied discovery and surrender into an immersive hour, in a sensorial and sensuous attempt to imagine beyond human awareness.



Vertical City Performance is an award-winning interdisciplinary performance hub lead by Co-Directors Bruce Barton and Pil Hansen, who surround themselves with an evolving group of remarkable artists from a wide range of backgrounds and fields of expertise. Founded in 2007 by an ad hoc cohort of aerial artists, physical theatre performers, and musicians, Vertical City was born out of a desire to blend and transcend disciplinary practices—a mission we have maintained for the past 18 years across 14 distinct, ground-breaking collaborative creations.

Drawing on a spectrum of approaches, including theatre, dance, music/sonic arts, installation, aerial movement, puppetry, performance art, and interactive technologies (an incomplete list), Vertical City works on a continuum of proportions, from large architectural landscapes through immersive and participatory 1:1 encounters.

Drawing on what we refer to as “a dramaturgy of embrace,” all Vertical City projects perform a desire for intimacy – within the performance, between the performance and its audience, and among those who offer us their attention (the greatest of all gifts). A key strategy is the constant movement in and out of balance, a refusal of stasis, a celebration of vulnerability, and a conviction that navigation is the most valuable skill to cultivate in a messy, chaotic world.