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COMPANY 605 (Vancouver)

Led by artistic co-directors Lisa Mariko Gelley and Josh Martin, Company 605 (605) is an arts organization based in Vancouver, on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded Indigenous territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Producing various dance projects and performances through shared creative process, the artists place emphasis on rigorous choreographic propositions and movement exploration - juxtaposing raw with precision, and highlighting 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. Devising from experimental practice, and valuing collaboration as a critical path for new directions in dance, Company 605 continues to transform and build on an ever-evolving aesthetic, with multiple choreographic voices in pursuit of a truly embodied art form derived from the human experience.

Honouring its original roots as a dance collective, the company was founded in 2009, and has built an expanding repertoire of of diverse works and interdisciplinary collaborations. The company has performed in over 35 cities across Canada, and toured in the US, Central America, Europe, Asia and Australia, presented at notable festivals and venues such as: PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, and The Cultch (Vancouver), Usine-C and L'Agora de la Danse (Montréal), La Rotonde (Québec City), DanceWorks (Toronto), National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Live Art Dance (Halifax), The Banff Centre, American Dance Festival, Bumbershoot Festival, On The Boards, RISK/REWARD Fest, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival (USA), Festival PRISMA (Panama), Festival Paréntesis (Costa Rica), Odoru Akita, SAIDance, and  Fukuoka Dance Festival (Japan), M1 Cont-act Festival (Singapore), Salihara Arts Centre (Indonesia), Kuandu International Arts Festival (Taiwan), MasDanza (Spain), Teatri Riflessi and RA.I.D Festival (Italy), Tempel Kulturzentrum, Regensburger TanzTage, Heidelberg TanzBiennale, and Tanzmesse (Germany). The company’s award-winning dance films have been shown at over 60 dance-on-screen festivals around the world, and on streaming platforms like CBC Gem. 

The organization is involved in curating and producing various events that support Vancouver's dance community, including annual HOLD ON LET GO festival (formerly PushOFF), a platform to showcase new Canadian performance works, in partnership with Theatre Replacement since 2014. Company 605 was also the original founding producer of the Festival of Recorded Movement, piloting 2015-2019. Since 2022, 605 has been a collaborative sponsor and producing partner for Here For Now Collective and Boombox — a shipping container converted into an artist-led performance space. 

605's co-directors have been invited to create several commissioned works for various arts organizations, including Vancouver's acclaimed Ballet BC (Anthem, 2017 and After We Glow, 2021), and regularly create and teach within post-secondary dance education programs across Canada. In 2024, co-directors Lisa Gelley and Josh Martin were jointly named for the Lola McLaughlin Legacy Award, celebrating their shared achievement in dance, and contribution to the BC artistic community through Company 605’s work.

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OURO Collective

OURO Collective (OURO) creates and produces new dance works on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations and the City of Vancouver. We wish to express our gratitude to the Indigenous people who have ties to this territory and acknowledge that we are guests on this land we work, play and live in as artists and settlers. 
 
OURO was founded by Cristina Bucci, Rina Pellerin, Maiko Miyauchi, Dean Placzek, and Mark Siller in 2014. Fusing hip-hop, waacking, breaking, popping, house, and contemporary dance as their foundation, each street dancer has trained with the original founders of their respective dance styles and brings specific knowledge to the group aesthetic.

Since 2014, the collective has created over ten digital and live works which have been presented across Canada and internationally at festivals and venues including Dancing on the Edge (CA), Dance Allsorts (CA), Vancouver International Dance Festival (CA), Guelph Dance Festival (CA), CypherFest (CA), Seattle International Dance Festival (US), Yachioza Kabuki Theatre (JP) and Machida Shimin Hall (JP), Quinzena de Dança de Almada (PT), and Frei Art Festival (DE).

The collective has also been featured in CBC Arts’ Exhibitionists and participated in and developed various outreach initiatives, including Share Dance Outreach Program, Immigrant Services Society, and The Power of Dance through The Dance Centre. OURO’s outreach activities have engaged with communities in the city of Revelstoke, Nelson, Trail, Nanaimo, Smithers, and included a tour to Campbell River, Alert Bay, and Sointula, through BC Movement Arts Society. Notable collaborations include a commission by Yarita Yu Ballet Company (Tokyo) to create a new work with 50 youth dancers and CLAY, a large-scale piece created in partnership with the KMA Orchestra (Kumamoto). OURO’s multidisciplinary creation HAKO, developed with public installation artists Tangible, premiered in a sold-out run at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts and was later remounted for Dance in Vancouver, Shambhala Music Festival, and the Vancouver Street Dance Festival.

In 2021, OURO received the Chrystal Dance Prize to collaborate with international artist Rauf Yasit (RubberLegz). The resulting work, 7y98D, includes a short film—premiered on NOWNESS and screened at Lago Film Fest (IT), Cinedans (NL), TANZAHOi (DE), and Mignolo International Screendance Festival (US) —and a full-length stage production performed at Fall for Dance North, La Serre, Vancouver Art Gallery, The Polygon Gallery, and OFF-DIV.

In 2024, OURO marked its 10th anniversary with the inaugural edition of OUROFEST—a free/by-donation four-day festival celebrating local and national street dance communities through performances, workshops, and community events. Through creation, presentation, and collaboration, OURO continues to expand the possibilities of street dance, championing its relevance in both contemporary performance and cultural dialogue.

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Anya Allegra Saugstad 

Anya Allegra Saugstad is a a choreographer originally from Xwlil’xhwm (Bowen Island) and now based in Vancouver Canada, on the unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh', Stó:lō and Səlílwətaʔ/ Selilwitulh, and xwməθkwəyə̓ m First Nations. 

Anya trained at ArtsUmbrella in the professional training program, has a BFA in Dance from 91��ܽ, and spent many summers training at The San Francisco Conservatory of dance. As a dancer she has toured and performed around the world with ‘Action at a Distance’ and in Vancouver as a freelancer. Her company Furious Grace Dance Theatre creates live collaborative performance works in theaters and in nature. Anya is interested in building choreography through a feminist perspective and she creates work that encompasses toughness and softness, and perseverance and decay. Her work is often inspired by nature and animals.

Anya has created works for Springboard Danse, Ballet Edmonton, ArtsUmbrella, LamonDance, 91��ܽ, Coastal City Ballet, Method Dance Society, and DanceStreams. Anya’s work has been presented throughout Canada (in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver) and recently in the USA. Anya Saugstad is the recipient of The Scotiabank Dance Centre Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award for 2024.

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