Local gay choreographer to perform with company in Shanghai

Led by 22 year old gay Artistic Director Josh Beamish, Vancouver contemporary dance company MOVE: the company has been selected to perform at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China.

MOVE: the company, one of only two British Columbia performing arts groups invited to perform at the World Expo, will join an elite group of other Canadian performing and visual artists at the 6,000 square metres Canada Pavilion, being cooperatively developed by Canada Heritage and Cirque du Soleil.  The company will perform four shows, from October 8-11, including the gala closing performance.

“We are thrilled and incredibly excited to be representing British Columbia as Western Canada’s contemporary dance company in China this summer”, states Beamish. “As a relatively young company, it is really satisfying to know that our unique dance style is garnering such attention, and that audiences everywhere are responding so positively to our energy and our creative vision.”

The company will be performing “Trap Door Party”, conceived, choreographed and directed by Beamish. Created in 2007 and set to the music of Aphex Twin, the piece is an abstract, narrative look at six individuals, as they leave everything behind to start their own utopian society.  First premiered in Vancouver at the Scotiabank Dance Centre, the work has also been performed by the company in New York City, and has since been added to the repertoires of the Bellingham Repertory Company in Bellingham, washington and the Wylliams / Henry Contemporary Dance Company in Kansas City, Missouri.

Move: the company

Founded in 2005, by its present Artistic Director, Josh Beamish, MOVE: the company is a contemporary dance company based in Vancouver BC, committed to the creation and performance of original choreographic works by both emerging and established artists, while also paying tribute to creations of the past. 

In the five years since its founding, MOVE: the company has assumed a vital role in both the local and national dance scenes, and, with its unique mix of dance styles, energy, and creativity, is striving to connect people from all walks of life to the exhilarating physical and emotional possibilities that dance offers. Fusing dance, interdisciplinary ideas, the company is now celebrated for the breadth of its diverse repertoire, technique, and powerful theatrical presentations.