Christmas Presence Preview: Meet Anna Vandas

The second in my series of mini-interviews with the performers of CHRISTMAS PRESENCE: Anna Vandas! A multi-talented, all around "creative person," Anna is a wonderful lady to keep around.


Anna's bio, taken from her website:

When I was a child, I was always making something, whether it was a pencil-crayon picture, a fairy tale story, or a play-dough land with little ball-people. In my adult life I have explored many forms of creativity, including song-writing, singing, sewing, photography, graphic design, painting, jewelry-making, and dance. I believe that we all have creativity in our bones, even if it's currently sleeping in some.

The last few years I've particularly been honing my musical, painting, and dance abilities, and hopefully smashing them all together will create something strange and wonderful! My debut album was released in 2005, "All I Thought I Knew", and has been a successful and exciting endeavor. There will definitely be many more albums and tours to come in the near future. With painting, I have been creating images inspired by nature on this earth, with a consistent and growing base of clients. Finally, in dance, I dove into a full-time school at Dance Barn Studios three years ago, and it's been a challenging time of conditioning, training, and learning how to work in creative collaboration and community.

My husband Dave (a very talented filmmaker) and I live in Greater Vancouver, BC, and enjoy spurring each other on to keep at our dreams. Our mutual motto is "We Like To Make Stuff"... because it's true.

When I see something I like, I don't think, "how can I buy that?".

I think, "how can I make that?".

And, without further ado, her interview!

PT: Introduce yourself.
AV: Anna Vandas - singer-songwriter, artist, dancer

PT: How long have you been involved in Christmas Presence?
AV: This is my first year with Christmas Presence
(PT: Like Peter La Grand, Anna was a part of this year's PRESENCE in September, so she may be a familiar face!)

PT: What's your favourite aspect of being involved in Christmas Presence?
AV: Favourite aspect... the collaboration with other musicians and getting to sing with them on their songs. The beautiful way the meaning of the song is transformed as it pairs with a reading.

PT: What other music-related projects are you working on right now?
AV: Playing local (BC) shows, writing for next album

PT: If you weren't playing music, what would you spend your time doing?
AV: Painting & making lots of stuff...