DUETS- An evening of dance / Inverso Productions

Inverso is proud to kick off our 2026 LIFT Festival with DUETS, an evening of short works presented at The Annex. 

Join us Sunday, May 17th, 2026  at 8pm for an evening of duets choreographed by Lesley Telford. Featuring two live performances and a short film, “DUETS” explores how we connect: the relationship in its simplest form, full of complexity.

“I’ve spent decades studying duets, as a dancer and a choreographer. This has always been my favourite thing to dance and an endless discovery to choreograph. In partnering, I’m interested in the moment of listening before a movement: the slight delay, noticing weight, making a choice. Duets bring the body to the edge of its habits because there is always a level of unpredictability when two dancers connect. I return to the duet because it strips everything else away.” - Lesley Telford

PROGRAM:

 

If I Were 2 

(2017)

A collaboration with writer Barbara Adler about the Narcissus myth, exploring the subjective nature of our perception of others. Originally commissioned for Ballet BC in 2017. 

Choreography: Lesley Telford

Text: Barbara Adler

Performance: Eowynn and Isak Enquist

Duration: 12 minutes

 

Spooky Action (Film)

(2021)

The film version of Inverso's celebrated project. Filmed at TRIUMF's particle accelerator, the jetty at Iona beach and in city tunnels to highlight spacial concepts of particle entanglement. Spooky Action weaves together dance, poetic storytelling and original composition to extend quantum physics to human connections.

Spooky Action is inspired by Einstein's famous phrase referring to particles that are so closely linked, they share the same existence. A collaboration with poet/performer Barbara Adler, this interdisciplinary work weaves together contemporary dance, poetic storytelling and original composition to extend the theory to human connections. By turns intricate, refined, and dryly witty, Spooky Action brings together thought-provoking dance and engaging narrative to probe the mysterious ways we act on each other’s lives.

Choreographer: Lesley Telford

Director of Photography: David Cooper

Text and Voice: Barbara Adler

Original Composition: James Meger

Dancers: Stéph Cyr and Eden Solomon

​Editing: Andrew Mackenzie and Lesley Telford

In collaboration with TRIUMPH UBC

Duration: 12 minutes

  

2Hold (World Premiere)

A study of falling and saving.

This work began through Inverso’s Performance Research Project and became an early study for a recent work in Germany. The title 2Hold echoes that larger work while shifting the focus toward the duet itself: two bodies continuously recalibrating in relation to one another. The work examines how care, frustration, dependence, and risk emerge inside unstable systems. Rather than focusing on heroic rescue, 2Hold focuses on smaller negotiations: responding too late, holding too tightly, compensating, resisting collapse, and searching for precarious balance.

 

Choreography: Lesley Telford with the artists

Performance: Emma Galvin and Yuha Tomita

Duration: 25 minutes

 

May 17th, 2026

8:00 - 9:00pm

The Annex

823 Seymour St, Vancouver, BC V6B 3L4