Company 605 | Dancing on the Edge

Description
lossy is about an inability to take it all with us.

these are bodies at a loss, gathering together in a stream of movement. a state of recovery. seeking and sifting. grasping for an anchor. it is at once real and science fiction, digital and embodied.

this liminal space holds a confrontation with the promise of future, a collision between our inexorable, ecstatic draw towards the limitless new, and a continuous loss — a perpetual state of mourning for what we are leaving behind. there is no answer. It is overwhelming and incomplete. there is only the stream, and the blurring fragments of what we attempt to bring with us.

created collaboratively with the ensemble, lossy is a shared ritual of transcendence. it is a carefree conjuring of a shiny new future “us”, and a collective grieving for what the future may no longer hold, once we finally arrive.

Direction and Staging: Lisa Mariko Gelley & Josh Martin
Choreography: in collaboration with Performers
Creative Contributor / Dramaturgy: Marcus Youssef
Sound Design: Matthew Tomkinson
Wardrobe Design: Justine A. Chambers
Lighting Design: James Proudfoot

Performers: Kate Franklin, Lisa Mariko Gelley, Josh Martin, Avery Smith, Sophia Mai Wolfe, Shana Ai Wolfe, and Jade Chong (understudy).

Special Thanks: Donna Spencer and DOTE Staff, Vancouver Creative Space Society and Progress Lab 1422, and to those that have journeyed with us through this research, including Brandon Alley, Bynh Ho, Jamie Robinson, Jessica Wilkie, and Zahra Shahab.

Kate Franklin
Award-winning dance artist Kate Franklin spent the first decade of her career in Tkaronto/Toronto, where she was active as a performer, producer, choreographer, teacher, rehearsal director, administrator, volunteer and mentor. Living in so-called Vancouver since 2012, she has been Associate Artistic Director of Modus Operandi for the past 7 seasons. She works as a collaborator/dancer with many independent choreographers and companies such as Tara Cheyenne Performance, Justine A. Chambers, Company 605, Jamie Robinson and Ne.Sans Opera and Dance, amongst others. Kate’s own choreography has been shown most recently at EDAM Choreographic Series and Dancing on the Edge.

Lisa Mariko Gelley
Lisa Mariko Gelley (she / her) is an artist and mother, dedicated to sharing experiences with humans through dance and art, and across generations. She is a mixed race settler of Japanese and European descent, living and working on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Lisa is Artistic Co-Director of Company 605, a contemporary dance company in so-called Vancouver, creating original works for stage and film through collaborative processes with artists in dance and other disciplines. Lisa has worked and collaborated with artists including Justine A. Chambers, Cindy Mochizuki, Amber Funk Barton, Miwa Matreyek, Maiko Yamamoto, Ziyian Kwan, Vanessa Goodman, Jeanette Kotowich, Onibana Taiko, Dana Gingras, Martha Carter, Karen Jamieson, and was a member of Aeriosa (Julia Taffe) for six years, broadening her practice to include vertical contemporary dance in rock climbing systems on urban building walls and mountains. In addition to her work as a performer/choreographer, Lisa values opportunities to connect with young dancers and emerging professionals through dance education.

Josh Martin
Originally from Alberta, Canada, Josh Martin is dance maker/performer who now lives and works in Vancouver, on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples. Inspired by the overlap of urban and contemporary forms, he received his diverse training across North America and Europe, studying in many genres. In his ongoing career as an interpreter and collaborator, he has worked with many dance companies and independent choreographers such as: Justine A. Chambers, Dana Gingras (Animals of Distinction), Wen Wei Wang (Wen Wei Dance), Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond (Out Innerspace Dance Theatre), Helen Walkley, Martha Carter (MMhop), Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, Amber Funk Barton (the response.), Rachel Meyer, Serge Bennathan (Les Productions Figlio), Vanessa Goodman (Action at a Distance), Karen Jamieson, and as a past company member of Ottawa’s Le Groupe Dance Lab under the direction of Peter Boneham.

For over 14 years, Josh has been an Artistic Co-Director of Company 605, a Vancouver-based arts organization creating and producing new works through a collaborative process, regularly touring its expanding repertoire throughout Canada and Internationally. His collaborations with filmmakers and new media artists have been screened at over 60 Dance on Screen Festivals and events across the globe.

In his own choreographic practice, Josh’s independent work has been presented all across Canada as well as in the USA, Costa Rica, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Hungary, and throughout Germany. His previous solo work, Leftovers, has received over 50 performances around the world, and numerous awards (including 1st Prize for Choreography at the International SoloTanz Festival in Stuttgart). Josh regularly teaches masterclasses and workshops across Canada and internationally throughout his touring engagements, continues to mentor emerging artists and arts workers, and has created multiple commissioned works for other companies and artists, and post-secondary schools. Behind the scenes, he has served on multiple boards and advisory committees (The Dance Centre, CADA/West, Vancouver Creative Space). Josh was the Emerging dance recipient for the Vancouver 2013 Mayor’s Arts Awards.

Avery Smith
Avery Smith is a dance artist and mother living on the unceded territories of the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm, sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and sel̓íl̓witulh Nations. She has danced in site specific and multimedia pieces for artists including Company 605, Compagnie Vision Impure, Emmalena Fredrikkson, Farouche Collective, and others. Avery completed her professional training at Modus Operandi Training Program and has worked as an associate producer to Company 605. In recent years, Avery has developed her own choreographies and has presented work at Left of Push 2023, The Happening’s Accelerate Showcase, The Suoni Per Il Popolo Music Festival, Festival of Recorded Movement, and others.

Matthew Tomkinson
Matthew Tomkinson is a writer, composer, and researcher. He holds a PhD in Theatre Studies from the University of British Columbia, where he studied sound within the Deaf, Disability, and Mad arts. His debut audiovisual album as Mathoms, The Woe Trumpets, is out with Decaying Spheres, along with an accompanying film that has been presented at Sound Scene Festival (Washington, USA) and Chapeltown Picture House (Manchester, UK). As a sound designer for contemporary dance, theatre, and film, his work has been presented at CBC, VIFF, PuSh, VIDF, New Forms, Dance in Vancouver, Tanzmesse, Dancing on the Edge, Vines Art Festival, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, and more. Recent collaborators and commissions include Ballet BC, Company 605, Ace Co Pro, Kinesis Somatheatro, Magazinist, Eric Cheung, and the All Bodies Dance Project. Matthew lives on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓ (Kwantlen), q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), SEMYOME (Semiahmoo), and sc̓əwaθən məsteyəx (Tsawwassen) Nations.

Sophia Mai Wolfe
My name is Sophia Mai Wolfe (she/her/hers), I am a queer, Japanese-Canadian independent artist whose practice is ever-changing. My practice moves and connects me to live performance, video documentation, curation, festival programming, editing, filmmaking, and directing. I am a grateful guest of what is colonially know as Vancouver on the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish),and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. My dance practice has led me to performing and touring with Company 605, Co-Erasga, Chick Snipper, Cindy Mochizuki, Lisa Mariko Gelley, Kelly McInnes, Antonio Somera, Zahra Shahab, The Only Animal and New World Theatre. I hold an MA in Screendance (2022) from the London Contemporary Dance School, and am the founder and Director of F-O-R-M (Festival Of Recorded Movement).

Shana Ai Wolfe
Shana 愛 Wolfe is a dance artist currently based in so-called Vancouver on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She completed the Arts Umbrella Graduate Program in 2017 then joined Ballet BC as an apprentice for their 2017/2018 season performing “BILL” by Sharon Eyal throughout England and in Germany. In 2018, she attended Springboard Danse Montreal and since then has been freelancing with OURO Collective, The Falling Company and with artists such as Cindy Mochizuki, Company 605, Dumb Instrument Dance, Edmonton Opera and Justin Calvadores among others.

Jade Chong (understudy)
Jade Chong was born and raised in Steveston, BC and first found her passion for movement as a gymnast beginning at age 2. She trained at Modus Operandi Contemporary Dance Program under the direction of Tiffany Tregarthen, David Raymond and Kate Franklin. Since graduating, she has had the pleasure of working with Khoudia Toure, Kirsten Wicklund & MUCCI/OURO Collective and has performed in works by Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Radical System Art and Company 605. In 2022, Jade toured nationally and internationally with Radical System Art.

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