Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY

Originally created for Santa Barbara Dance Theater in 2016, SALT was inspired by the post-apocalyptic aesthetic of Mad Max: Fury Road and the drought that was occurring in California while I was creating this work, next to the ocean. The work has been newly reimagined and largely recreated for the current cast. SALT is situated in a not so distant future paradox where we are starved for fresh water, while drowning in salt water. The movement vocabulary is derived from states of dehydration, paranoia, experiencing mirages and delirium. The relationships explore the acceptance, melancholy and hope inherent in the desire to survive and the manipulation of power as fuelled by opportunism and desperation.

---

Choreographer: Joshua Beamish

Joshua Beamish founded MOVETHECOMPANY in Vancouver in 2005. The company currently operates between Vancouver and New York City, with charitable operational bases in each city. His works have toured throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Creations include works for The Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, Vancouver Opera, Cape Town Opera, New York City Ballet Principals Wendy Whelan for Restless Creature and Ashley Bouder for The Ashley Bouder Project, Dance Live with American Ballet Theatre Principals Herman Cornejo and Skylar Brandt, New York City Ballet's New York Choreographic Institute, Compania Nacional de Danza de Mexico and Toronto Dance Theatre, among others. Joshua choreographed for the CBC Radio Canada series Ils Dansent and with Cirque du Soleil for World EXPO Shanghai.

He was an inaugural Artist-in-Residence at The Joyce Theater’s Choreographic Center, in addition to residencies at The Banff Centre and Jacob’s Pillow. Notable presentations include BAM Next Wave, The Joyce Theater, The Guggenheim Museum/NYC, Royal Opera House/London, Princeton University, Fire Island Dance Festival, The Harris Theater/Chicago, Sziget Festival/Budapest, Artists in Action/Mumbai, Seoul International Dance Festival and the Bangkok International Festival, among others.

Joshua most recently premiered a new work at NYC's Lincoln Center, in celebration of 25 years of Youth America Grand Prix. The work featured a cast of dancers from The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, English National Ballet and Philadelphia Ballet. He was also Creative Director of the two-program event.

Lighting Designer: James Proudfoot

From Edinburgh, Scotland, where he received his initial theatre training has been living in Vancouver since 1993. For 12 years he was Technical Director of the Firehall Arts Centre. He eventually lit shows for the Firehall Theatre Company and acted as Lighting Director for Dancing on the Edge Festival.He is currently Resident Lighting Designer / Lighting Director for Ballet British Columbia, and has designed more than 20 pieces.

Specialising in the realm of dance lighting, James has contributed designs for dance works to many companies, including:Lola Dance, Company 605, Co. Erasga, Wen Wei Dance, Joe Ink, EDAM, The Contingency Plan, battery opera, Kinesis Dance, Ballet BC, Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY, Restless Productions, Holy Body Tattoo, Dumb Instrument, MACHiNE NOiSY, Anatomica, Tara Cheyenne Performance, Les Productions Figlio, Karen Jamieson, Trial & Eros, Rachel Meyer, Action at a Distance, Out Innerspace, Helen Walkley, Ballet Jazz Montréal, Justine A. Chambers, and plastic orchid factory.

Rehearsal Director: Heather Dotto

Heather Dotto is a diverse performer trained in many forms of dance and theatre at Caulfield School of Dance. Following graduation, Heather began dancing for Josh Beamish’s Move: the Company in 2005. For the following seven years she performed, toured and grew to be artistically involved in many new creations by Director, Josh Beamish. Within the company Heather also performed works by: Simone Orlando, Amber Funk-Barton, Susan Mensinger, and Danny Austin. After seeing stages all over the world (Shanghai, Singapore, New York, England, Brazil, Bangkok, Seattle, Los Angeles, Toronto, Nanaimo) Heather planted her feet back in Vancouver and has enjoyed working with many members of the dance community on new creations and remounts. A selection being: Vision Impure, mmHop, Kenesis Dance, Coriograph Theatre, Heather Laura Gray, Caitlin Griffin, Lara Barclay, Monica Proenca. In2012, Heather joined the cast of JoeInk, under the direction of Joe Laughlin in Vancouver. She remounted roles and participated in new creations within the company for 10 years. In 2009, Heather made her professional choreographic debut as one of the invited collaborators involved in the creation of MOVE: the company’s “The Cell”. Soon after, she premiered the solo “Gift” at Chop Shop in Seattle. In 2017, Heather engaged in two new creations of her own, seeded by Small Stage. She has been commissioned twice by Ballet Kelowna and Lamondance. Last year, Heather was on tour across Canada, the US and Europe as the Rehearsal Director for “Saudade”, “Source Amnesia” and “@giselle”, all works by Joshua Beamish. Running parallel with her dance career, Heather is also a double-certified Pilates Instructor with her own practice. She is a Private Chef and most importantly…a Mom.

Performers:

Marisa Christogeorge

Born in Vancouver, BC, Marisa began her classical training at the Richmond Academy of Dance, subsequently studying at ballet schools such as Canada’s National Ballet School and Boston Ballet School.

Marisa pursued post-graduate training at the San Francisco Conservatory Of Dance and became a Spingboard Danse Montréal alumni before relocating to New York City to join Sidra Bell Dance New York as a Company Artist from 2018 to 2021. She toured internationally and across the US, serving as a performer and choreographic assistant to the artistic director, Sidra Bell. Concurrently, Marisa held the role of adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Returning to Vancouver, BC, Marisa became an artistic collaborator at MOVETHECOMPANY. In the 2022 season, she took on the role of rehearsal director for Ballet BC Annex and is currently a Ballet BC MOVE faculty member. More recently, Marisa performed in Italy at Orsolina 21 for a new creation by Ethan Colangelo and appeared in several movement films in New York and Los Angeles.

Juan Duarte

Juan Duarte is a Brazilian dancer who has been involved with multiple outreach programs and fellowships. After graduating from Bolshoi Ballet School in 2015 they/he moved to Vancouver, Canada. During Juan's first year in Vancouver, they/he worked with Lamondance Company - a pre-professional program, where they/he performed for two seasons. Juan later on joined Arts Umbrella Dance Company, where they/he had the opportunity to perform works by a variety of artists; such as Crystal Pite, Johan Inger, Wen Wei Wang, Mats Ek, Ihsan Rustem and others. In 2019 Juan joined Ballet BC under the direction of Emily Molnar, where they/he got to experience and perform works by Medhi Walerski, Crystal Pite and Sharon Eyal. In 2020 Juan had the opportunity to work with Lesley Telford through the Performance Research Program in Vancouver.

After taking a brief absence from the stage, Juan joined MOVETHECOMPANY under the direction of Joshua Beamish where they/he had the chance to tour through Ontario, Quebec and Europe with the piece "Saudade", as well as the chance to perform some of Beamish's creations in their/his New York City debut in 2022. During that same year, Juan toured with Traverse City Dance Project, under the direction of Jennifer Lott and Brent Whitney in the USA.

Earlier in 2023 Juan danced in the premiere of "Source Amnesia" at the Vancouver Playhouse, Joshua Beamish's newest work. Since then Duarte has been working with Corporeal Imago, under the direction of Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes, where they/he have been developing aerial skills.

Juan continues to share their/his beauty and artistry with the world, and has been a powerful member in the queer scene in Vancouver. During the summer of 2023, they/he performed at the main stage of the Sziget Festival, in Budapest, the same stage as singers such as: Billie Eillish, Lorde, and others. As an ambitious and dedicated performer, Juan is looking forward to what the future has to offer, and is very excited to continue to explore the meaning of diversity in the dance industry."

Cai Glover

In an ever-going discovery and study of dance, Cai Glover has been training, performing and creating in the art form for over 25 years. From 2012 to 2022 Cai was working as a dance interpreter and choreographer for Cas Public and has been a part of 8 creations for the company. Most recently Cai has been developing his own expression in poetry and in a language of movement putting the dancing body to task in a search of an embodied expression of poetics through the transposition of language into movement under the name of his company, A Fichu Turning. He never tires of the search in finding ways to affect audiences through this art form and to appeal to the varied and countless emotional experiences of the human being. As a hard of hearing artist, hearing differently has become a driving force of his artistry and originality as a mover, interpreter and choreographer.

Justin Rapaport

Justin Rapaport (he/him) is a freelance dance artist, choreographer and stager from Miami, FL, who enjoys collaborating and creating with like-minded artists and individuals. Most recently, he has worked with Kidd Pivot, Anne Plamondon, PARA.MAR Dance Theater and Josh Beamish|MOVETHECOMPANY. Justin is a former member of Ballet BC, where he had the opportunity to perform various solos and lead roles by choreographers such as Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, Aszure Barton, Ohad Naharin and Sharon Eyal. Justin received his formal training at New World School of the Arts, followed by The Juilliard School, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

Justin has delved into the choreographic realm throughout his career, starting with Peter London Global Dance Company in 2014 and has gone on to create numerous collaborations for the company. He has gone on to create with HD Theatre, Boykin Dance Projects, Dance Deck Dix and Ballet BC. Most notably in 2021, Justin created Passing By at Ballet BC, in collaboration with Evan Rapaport and Rae Srivastiva, which was selected as a finalist of the 14th Copenhagen International Choreography Competition, and awarded the Danish Dance Theater Award by Pontus Lidburg. Justin had the opportunity to set Passing By on Dansk Danseteater and present the work at the Copenhagen Summer Dance Festival in July 2023.

While growing up in Miami, Justin was a trained violinist for 10 years, in addition to his rigorous dance training, but had to put it to the side as dance became his full-time focus after high school. He stills fiddles around with it from time to time. Outside of dance, Justin loves being outdoors biking or at the beach, and the occasional decadent donut.

Renee Sigouin

Renee Sigouin graduated from Modus Operandi contemporary dance program in Vancouver in 2012 under the direction and mentorship of Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond, and later studied contact improvisation with Peter Bingham through the EDAM scholarship program. She has performed nationally and internationally originating roles in several works with Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Kinesis Dance Somatheatro, Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY, Company 605, Wen Wei Dance, Mascall Dance, Emmalena Fredriksson, Constance Cooke & EDAM. She joined Crystal Pite’s Kidd Pivot in 2018.Calder

Calder White

Calder White is a freelance dance artist based on the unceded and stolen lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations (so-called “Vancouver, BC”). He is an alumnus of Tkaronto’s Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre and holds a BFA in Dance from the Ohio State University (2018). He has originated roles in work by Shay Kuebler, Joshua Beamish, Ziyian Kwan, Wen Wei Wang, and Rachel Meyer.

Calder’s choreographic work has been shared with audiences across Canada and the US, receiving commissions from Ohio Dance Festival, The School of Dance Ottawa, and Dancing on the Edge (Vancouver). He is also a floorwork teacher, sharing his workshops with institutions across North America. He is the proud recipient of the 2022 Hnatyshyn Foundation’s Ukraine – Heritage, Spirit, and Future award for Exceptional Talent in Contemporary Dance.

Kirsten Wicklund

Kirsten Wicklund (she/her) was born in British Columbia, Canada and trained at Goh Ballet Academy, Modus Operandi Contemporary Training Program, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, The Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, and received scholarships to train at American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet & Pacific Northwest Ballet. As a Dance Artist, Kirsten has danced with The Washington Ballet Company, Ballet BC under Emily Molnar, CM & Medhi Walerski (2014 - 2021) and at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (2021 - 2024). As an independent maker, Kirsten has choreographed works for Ballet Edmonton, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, The Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company & New Moves Program, The New York Choreographic Institute at New York City Ballet, Ballet BC’s “Take Form”, Ballet Kelowna among others. Her work “Overcast” was selected as a finalist for the International Choreographic Competition Hannover in 2021. Kirsten has just been appointed the incoming Artistic Director of Ballet Edmonton where she will lead the creation-based company starting in August, 2024.