ECU x MP: Boots ‘n’ Cats
From influences in Old Way from Popping, Breaking and beyond, from the Dip to the 5000, a viral clip of two sailor scouts battling in Street Star 2013 (Inxi and Lasseindra) to now, please join us on January 9th, 2026 for Mini Ball and All Styles Battle, “Boots ‘N’ Cats”!
BOOTS ‘N’ CATS — Mini Ball x All Styles Battle
Merging performance, sound/music and celebration to bridge the vibrant local communities of Ballroom and Hip Hop/Street Dance. This evening brings these forms into dialogue, the event highlights their shared spirit of resilience, artistry and community, calling in future, present and past Emily Carr alumni alongside the wider community, the event expands what performance can be within the contemporary art context. Positioning Ballroom and Street Dance as not only cultural practices but as vital, living art forms that challenge and reimagine how performance enters and transforms institutional spaces.
Curated by Katria Phothong-McKinnon
Katria Phothong McKinnon is a Thai-Canadian artist, dancer, and curator working across new media, sound, sculpture and performance. Her practice explores embodiment, transcultural identity, and the intersections of tradition and technology, drawing from Thai dance and Street styles such as Voguing, W*acking, Campbellocking, Popping, House and Hip Hop. A recipient of the inaugural New Media Curation Award at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where she completed a BMA in New Media + Sound Arts with a minor in Curatorial Practices. She is currently an artist-in-residence with the Festival of Recorded Movement in their Technology + Interaction program.
100 Years in the Making | This event has been curated in support of ECU 100, Emily Carr University of Art + Design’s centennial anniversary and The Birdhouse.