Vanessa Goodman acknowledges that she lives, works, and creates on the ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, including the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University and is the artistic director of Action at a Distance Dance Society. She is drawn to art that carries meaning beyond aesthetics, using choreography as a means to explore liminal expressions within the human condition.

Vanessa’s choreographic practice weaves together generative movement and sonic embodiment to create immersive performative environments. Through her work, she seeks to cultivate intimacy between the body and its surroundings, challenging conventional forms of performative hierarchy through collaborative approaches. She has received several awards and honours, including The Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award (2013), The Yulanda M. Faris Scholarship (2017/18), The Chrystal Dance Prize (2019 & 2024), the Schultz Endowment from the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (2019), The Isadora Award (2025) and participation in the “Space to Fail” program (2019/20) through Hyde Productions (NZ), Critical Path (AU), and The Dance Centre (CA). Longstanding collaborations include “Graveyards and Gardens” with Caroline Shaw, “BLOT” with Simona Deaconsecu, and multiple works with Loscil (Scott Morgan), Brady Marks, and James Proudfoot.

Through Action at a Distance, Vanessa’s work has been presented in Vancouver by PuSH Performing Arts Festival, DanceHouse, SFU Woodwards, Music on Main, The Firehall Arts Centre, The Dance Centre, The Chutzpah! Festival and The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. She has been an artist-in-residence at Cutivamos Cultura/BioFriction (Portugal), The Dance Centre, Dance Victoria, Harbourfront Centre, The Shadbolt Centre, and The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, where she was also on the faculty.