Paueru MashUp Dance
Onibana Taiko and Company 605 have integrated classic Powell Street Festival sounds and gestures, namely borrowing from the traditional Tanko Bushi dance and Radio Taiso morning exercises, to create a fun and accessible collective line dance. This 3.5 minute piece will suit participants of all ages and experiences.
Onibana Taiko
Formed in 2016, Onibana Taiko are three veterans of Vancouver’s Taiko community, whose depth of performance and taiko experiences combine to over 100 years. The group is comprised of Eileen Kage, Noriko Kobayashi and Leslie Komori. Onibana Taiko’s performances and presentations draw on traditional Japanese folk rituals, such as minyo and matsuri, and combine them with its member’s unique and varied experiences as Nikkei settlers. With roots in radical feminist punk and political activism, Onibana Taiko aims to empower various communities, including QTIBIPOC, Nikkei and Asian Diaspora. They would like to acknowledge that they are settlers of Japanese ancestry who are privileged to live and work on the unceded territories Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples. Through performance, Onibana Taiko seeks to re-examine and reinterpret musical and movement elements from Shinto and Buddhist ceremonies. Onibana Taiko allows audience members to commune with our ancestors via obon dance, song, sensu (fan) cheerleading, fue, shamisen and kick-ass taiko.
Company 605
Lisa Gelley is an artist living and working on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded Indigenous territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. She is the descendant of a Third Generation Japanese Canadian Mother and a French/Polish Father. She is Artistic Co-Director of Company 605, an arts organization in Vancouver, producing various dance projects and performances through a shared creative process. The artists place emphasis on rigorous choreographic propositions and movement invention, building physically demanding work that juxtaposes raw with precision, and highlights effort, risk, and interconnection. 605 is an ongoing exchange between separate people, bodies, and ideas, recognizing and celebrating the unique possibilities created in their attempt to co-exist. Valuing collaboration as an essential tool for new directions in dance, Company 605 continues to awaken a fresh and ever-evolving aesthetic, together building a highly athletic art form derived from the human experience. With an expanding repertoire of diverse works, the company has performed from coast to coast in over 30 cities across Canada, as well as in the US, Central America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Their collaborations with filmmakers have allowed 605’s work to be shared globally, with short dance films shown at dance-on-screen festivals around the world. www.company605.ca