Vanessa Goodman holds a BFA from Simon Fraser University and is the artistic director and choreographer of Vancouver-based dance company Action at a Distance. She is attracted to art that has a weight and meaning beyond the purely aesthetic and uses her choreography as an opportunity to explore the human condition. She was the recipient of the 2013 Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award and the 2017 Yulanda M. Faris Program from the Scotiabank Dance Centre.
For ten years, Goodman was a company member of dancers dancing, under the artistic direction of Judith Garay. She also co-founded the Contingency Plan Collective, where she interpreted new work from Justine A. Chambers, Rob Kitsos, James Gnam, and Serge Bennathan. Independently she has danced with plastic orchid factory, Julia Sasso, Wild Excursions Performance, Jennifer Clarke Projects, dumb instrument dance, Mascall Dance, Holly Small, and Judith Marcuse.
Goodman has been commissioned to create works for the Dancing on the Edge Festival, Gwaii Trust, Vancouver Biennale, Lamon Dance, Modus Operandi, and the SFU Dance Program. Her work has been presented by the Canada Dance Festival, Magnetic North Festival, Dance Centre, Dance in Vancouver, EDAM’s Choreographic Series, Kinetic Studio, Connection Dance Works, Small Stage, Northwest New Works, Risk/Reward Festival, Firehall Arts Centre, Modulus Festival, Chutzpah Festival, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, and Push Off.
