Events in Vancouver: Things to do May 5-11

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Whether you’re looking for date-night ideas, free things to do, or just something with the kids, you can’t go wrong with our list of events happening around Metro Vancouver between May 5-11. Headlining this week’s picks is the BC Ukrainian Cultural Festival.

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For more ideas, click HERE for our coverage of Vancouver’s Arts scene.

Here are 5 things to do in Metro Vancouver this week:

25th BC Ukrainian Cultural Festival

When: May 7

Where: Heritage Park Educational and Cultural Center and the Clarke Foundation Theater, 33700 Prentice Ave., Mission

Tickets: $ 13 / $ 10 ($ 1 children, six and under)

After a two-year delay, the BC Ukrainian Cultural Festival is back with dance, music, crafts and food. In dance, groups from around the province compete in categories such as the Previt, or Welcome Dance, and the Hopak, the National Dance of Ukraine. Hunky Bill’s Perogy Food Truck will be on-site, and vendors will offer arts and crafts and embroidery. “We are resolved that, despite our anguish over what is happening in Ukraine, we will go ahead with the festival this year,” festival society president Darka Morin (Konyk) said in a statement. Organizers will donate 20 percent of admission fees to Ukraine humanitarian efforts through the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

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BodyTraffic: Mixed Repertoire

When: May 5 and 6, 8 pm

Where: Vancouver Playhouse, 600 Hamilton St., Vancouver

Tickets: From $ 35 at tickets.dancehouse.ca

BodyTraffic performs some of its most celebrated performances in this mixed program. The Los Angeles company is known for employing multiple styles, from hip-hop to ballet, while exploring topics like corporate greed and the opioid crisis. One piece, The One to Stay With, choreographed by New York team Baye and Asa, was inspired by Empire of Pain, a book about the Sackler family. Another piece, Pacopepepluto, features three dancers each performing his own solo to the music of Dean Martin.

Dan Mangan

When: May 11 and 12

Where: Vogue Theater, 918 Granville St., Vancouver

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Tickets: From $ 39.50 at admitone.com

Dan Mangan follows up last fall’s re-release of his 2011 Juno Award-winning album Oh Fortune with a tour, including two hometown shows. “We’ll be hitting songs from across the entire catalog, including a retrospective of democratically selected requested songs from ticket-holders, with the usual dose of singalongs and a big ol ‘grand finale,” the Vancouver singer / songwriter said. Ontario singer / songwriter Georgia Harmer, who released her debut album Stay in Touch in April, opens.

Screwball Comedy

When: May 5-8

Where: Anvil Center, New Westminster

When: May 10-14

Where: Evergreen Cultural Center, Coquitlam

Tickets: $ 30- $ 35 at tickets.chilliwackculturalcentre.ca, and $ 15- $ 40 at everngreenculturalcentre.ca

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In Norm Foster’s Screwball Comedy, two newspaper journalists, a man and woman, compete for a position at a newspaper by covering a society wedding. Set in 1938, the play is both tribute to and spoof of the genre popularized in the thirties and forties by stars such as Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and Carole Lombard. Langley’s Ellie King directs the Royal Canadian Theater Company, which features four actors playing multiple characters. This is a Western Canadian premiere. Screwball Comedy also plays Jericho Arts Center on May 17-22 and Kay Meek Arts Center on May 25-29.

Seamus Blake Quartet

When: May 8 at 8 pm

Where: BlueShore at Capilano University, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver

Tickets: $ 30 at tickets.capilanou.ca

Vancouver-raised saxophonist Seamus Blake now makes his home in the Netherlands, where he moved after a period in New York working with heavy cats like the Mingus Big Band, John Scofield, and Dave Douglas. For this hometown show, which falls on Mother’s Day, the Seamus Blake Quartet plays tunes celebrating women and moms as well as music from his albums and new music and improvisations. His band features Phil Dwyer on piano, Andre LaChance on bass, and Jesse Cahill on drums.