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