The Dance Centre presents the Global Dance Connections series
Company 605 + The Human Expression Dance Company
SLOTH CANON (world premiere)
June 5-7, 2025
Scotiabank Dance Centre
We are located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. It is an honour and a privilege for us to be guests in their lands. We are grateful.
SLOTH CANON
Co-produced by The Human Expression (Singapore) / Company 605 (Vancouver, Canada)
Co-created and Co-directed by Anthea Seah / Josh Martin
In collaboration with performers Brandon Lee Alley, Haruka Leilani Chan, Chang En, Billy Keohavong, Rebecca Margolick
Apprentice Artists / Understudies: Emily Lee, Ashley Sankaran-Wee
Rehearsal Direction: Lisa Mariko Gelley
Composer: Matthew Tomkinson
Lighting Design: Adrian Tan
Costume Design: Loo An Ni
Additional Costume Design and Finishing: elika mojtabaei
Technical Director / Production Manager (Vancouver): Jack Chipman
Production Manager (Singapore): Cindy Yeong
Set Design / Build: Jack Chipman, Josh Martin, Anthea Seah
Producers: Athelyna Swee (The Human Expression) / Francesca Piscopo (Company 605)
Promotional Photography: Crispian Chan / Dan Loan
Created with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, Province of British Columbia, City of Vancouver, and The Dance Centre.
Special Thanks: Progress Lab 1422 / Vancouver Creative Space Society, Left Of Main / Plastic Orchid Factory, Raquel Alvaro, Mirna Zagar and The Dance Centre staff.
Sloth Canon is a Co-Production and international partnership initiated between Singapore’s The Human Expression Dance Company and Vancouver’s Company 605, with premiere presentations supported in both cities. Both the work and the project itself was conceived through a collaborative dialogue and exchange between both companies, their staff and artists, and the collaborators and designers involved from their respective cities. Central to this project was the building of new creative relationships, exchange between artistic communities and cultures, and strengthening international ties that help connect us to a global dance conversation.
The artists are grateful to all of the behind-the-scenes staff, all contributors, project supporters and partnering presenters, for embracing this opportunity and their extensive work in bringing this brand new creative encounter to life.
Company 605
Managing Director: Jim Smith
Senior Producer & Agent: Francesca Piscopo
Marketing and Communications: Jonathan James
Administrative Coordinator: Kevin Soo-Locsin
Accounts Manager: Ann Hepper
Fundraising Coordinator: Tammi Tsang
The Human Expression (T.H.E) Dance Company
Founding Artistic Director & Main Choreographer: Kuik Swee Boon
Associate Artistic Director, T.H.E Second Company: Silvia Yong
Assistant to Artistic Director & Dance Artist: Fiona Thng
General Manager: Athelyna Swee
Executive Assistant to General Manager: Sim Yan Ying “YY”
Communications Strategist: Crispian Chan
Outreach & Partnerships Executive: Charmaine Wu
BIOGRAPHIES
Anthea Seah has been a full-time artist with The Human Expression Dance Company (T.H.E) since 2015. She has worked with resident and guest choreographers Kim Jae Duk (Modern Table), Dimo Kirilov, Humanhood, Ross Mccormack (Muscle Mouth), Iratxe Ansa, Jecko Simpo, and Xin Liang to create original works. With these works, she has performed in Italy, Poland, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Thailand, and Malaysia. Up to 2021, Anthea has been Assistant to Artistic Director Kuik Swee Boon. She contributes to the development of T.H.E’s Hollow Body methodology, as well as facilitating Hollow Body workshops. Anthea has been sharing her practice through teaching T.H.E Main and Second Company, Nanyang Technological University’s dance club, and other ad-hoc classes in the form of task-based workshops and technique classes for five years. Through instruction, she finds that a naturally broader and deeper definition of her practice develops. Anthea creates in varying formats: choreographing pieces, designing movement for film, directing full-length performances, making short films. She also does curatorial and artistic facilitation for Contact Contemporary Dance Festival’s GreySpace platform. Anthea is currently living in New York.
Josh Martin Originally from Alberta, Canada, Josh Martin is a maker, performer and producer who now lives and works in Vancouver, BC on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples. He is co-founder and current Artistic Co-Director of Company 605, and has maintained an ongoing career as an interpreter and collaborator for dozens of dance companies and independent choreographers across Canada. Through both Josh’s independent practice, and with Company 605, his choreographic work has been presented throughout Canada and internationally, touring to numerous festivals and venues in over 15 countries worldwide. Josh is a past recipient of the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award and, alongside his partner Lisa Mariko Gelley, the 2024 Lola Award celebrating achievement in Dance. www.company605.ca
Brandon Lee Alley was born in North Carolina and now lives, heart first, on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, known as Vancouver. A multi-hyphenate creature of curiosity, he began his professional dance career with Hubbard Street 2 and BODYTRAFFIC before joining Ballet BC in 2015. After five seasons, he continued performing with Vancouver-based companies, most notably Company 605, and in 2022 joined Crystal Pite’s Kidd Pivot, touring internationally in the award winning productions Revisor and Assembly Hall. He is the co-founder of Dance//Novella, a contemporary dance company rooted in play, poetry, and community. D//N has presented work at Canada’s leading Deaf Theatre Festival, SOUNDOFF, and continues to offer substantial support and opportunities for artists to grow and collaborate within an ever-shifting industry.
A dedicated educator and joyful provocateur, Brandon has shared with numerous institutions including Modus Operandi, Richmond Academy of Dance, Arts Umbrella and Goh Ballet. He is also an accredited audio engineer, creating original scores for dance and exploring the intersection of sound, movement, and memory. Most days, you’ll find him juggling, composing, or dancing alongside his wife Racheal, chasing wonder in the small, everyday cues.
Haruka Leilani Chan Trained in ballet and Chinese dance from a young age, Haruka’s formal introduction to contemporary dance began at School of the Arts Singapore. In 2017, she was accepted into the New Zealand School of Dance majoring in contemporary dance where she got to train with a prestigious faculty that included Victoria Colombus, Paula Steeds Huston, James O’Hara, Balázs Busa, Daniel Jaber and other guest teachers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was unable to complete her final year at NZSD and returned to Singapore, where she joined T.H.E Dance Company in January 2021.
Since joining the company, Haruka has been an integral part of repertoire and original choreographies by Artistic Director Kuik Swee Boon, Resident Choreographer Kim Jae Duk, and guest choreographers such as Jos Baker and Dimo Kirilov Milev. With T.H.E Dance Company, she has danced in shows at home and abroad, traveling to perform in different festivals and theatres worldwide.
Chang En first started dancing classical ballet at the age of 4 and through her academic years, working with established choreographers such as Jeffrey Tan, Albert Tiong and Zaki Ahmad. From 2017 to 2021, Chang En was an integral part of T.H.E Second Company, where she honed her skills and talents. This opportunity culminated in her performance with T.H.E Dance Company in February 2021, representing a pivotal moment in her career. In January 2022, Chang En officially joined T.H.E Dance Company, embarking on a new chapter of her dance journey. Since then, she has been actively performing with the company, showcasing her artistry both locally and internationally. This includes touring to festivals such as OzAsia and performing at independent venues like Scenario Pubblico and The Coronet Theatre.
Billy Keohavong is a first-generation Laotian-Australian artist based in Eora (Sydney). He is a scholarship recipient of both New Zealand School of Dance and Ev & Bow Full-Time Training Centre. Billy is a movement coach and improvisational specialist focusing on character work and sensorial work. His experiences extend to international borders where he has returned to Singapore as the current Rehearsal Master while remaining as a dance artist with T.H.E Dance Company. He has performed extensively within festivals like Florence Dance Festival (Italy), Fukuoka Fringe Dance Festival (Japan), Daegu Dance Festival (South Korea) and Sydney Festival (Sydney). Billy has also worked with highly acclaimed choreographers such as Kuik Swee Boon, Kim Jae Duk, Ross McCormack, Sue Healey, Martin Del Amo, Meryl Tankard and Dimo Kirilov Milev. Outside of all of this, Billy is also a part of the Australian Ballroom (Vogue) community and is a member of The House of IMAN based in Aotearoa (New Zealand). He is the current Father of the Sydney Chapter.
Rebecca Margolick is a Canadian/American dancer and choreographer. Her dance creations have been presented in over ten countries. She recently returned back to her hometown of Vancouver, B.C. after living in NYC for 15 years. She was named one of Dance Magazines Top 25 to Watch in 2021 and has received fellowships and residencies from Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab, Banff Centre, Derida Stage, Centro de las Artes San Luis Potosí, and more. She has been commissioned to create original works on Oregon Ballet Theater, La Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, Arts Umbrella, NW Dance Project’s MOVE, and Ballet B.C.’s Annex. She has freelanced with many choreographers and was a company member of Sidra Bell Dance New York and UNA Productions. Alongside her projects, she is currently dancing with Charles-Alexis Desgagnés, Jason Martin, and Andrea Peña & Artists. Rebecca is an artistic advisor for BC Movement Arts Society, bringing contemporary dance to rural B.C. communities. She graduated from New York University and trained at Arts Umbrella. She is thrilled to join Company 605 and T.H.E Dance Company in Sloth Canon.
Lisa Mariko Gelley is an artist and mother, dedicated to sharing experiences through dance and art, and across generations. She is a mixed race settler of Japanese and European descent, living and working on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Lisa is Artistic Co-Director of Company 605, a contemporary dance company in Vancouver, creating original works for live performance and film through collaborative processes with artists in dance and other disciplines. Lisa has worked and collaborated with artists including Justine A. Chambers, Cindy Mochizuki, Amber Funk Barton, Miwa Matreyek, Maiko Yamamoto, E. Kage, Ziyian Kwan, Vanessa Goodman, Jeanette Kotowich, Aryo Khakpour, Dana Gingras, Martha Carter, Karen Jamieson, Aeriosa (Julia Taffe), and The Chop Theatre (Anita Rochon and Emelia Symington Fedy). In addition to her work as a performer and choreographer, Lisa teaches in the Dance Area at Simon Fraser University’s School for Contemporary Arts. Lisa is the recipient of the 2015 Vancouver International Dance Festival Choreographic Award, and the co-recipient of the 2024 Lola Award.
Matthew Tomkinson is a composer and sound designer based in Vancouver. He holds a PhD in Theatre Studies from the University of British Columbia, specializing in disability arts. Working across film, theatre, and contemporary dance, his music has been presented widely throughout Canada, the United States, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Ireland, India, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the United Kingdom — in collaboration with companies such as Ballet BC, Company 605, Raven Spirit Dance, Théâtre la Seizième, Kinesis Dance, Magazinist, the All Bodies Dance Project, and many solo artists. His debut album as Mathoms, The Woe Trumpets, was recently featured on Bandcamp’s “New and Notable,” as well as Perfect Circuit’s “Bandcamp Picks” list. Matthew lives on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.
Adrian Tan is a highly acclaimed and sought after lighting designer from Singapore. He has a wealth of experience having designed and created shows that have been staged on the local and international arts scene. It spans a wide spectrum of the performing arts and outdoor light installations. Having worked with T.H.E Dance Company since 2011, most of the company’s works in the past decade have been created by him. He has also had the opportunity to work in multi-disciplinary entertainment projects such as collaborations with Disney and Lucasfilm. A collaboration with the UK’s prominent landscape artist Tom Massey for the Singapore Garden Festival 2018 also led to a win in the Best Indoor Lighting Award during the festival. Adrian is also the founder of The Light Project, a design studio dedicated to explore the creative potential of light as a main medium for artistic expression and to push the boundaries of lighting design. www.thelightproject.co
Loo An Ni is fascinated with the tactility of objects and spaces. This brought her into theatre where the possibilities are endless. She has taken various roles in costuming, from design and construction to wardrobe management. Her costume design credits include PheNoumenon (Kuik Swee Boon & T.H.E Dance Company), Transplant (The Finger Players), First Fleet (Nine Years Theatre and Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre), and Windward Side of the Mountain (T.H.E Dance Company, Nine Years Theatre, and SAtheCollective). An Ni is currently a member of The Finger Players’ core team.
elika mojtabaei الیکا مجتبائی (she/her) is an Iranian-born Canadian costume designer, writer, editor, and translator. She lives and works on the unceded stolen traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, colonially known as Vancouver. She is an Artistic Associate with The Biting School; and co-founder of the No Small Feat Collective.
The movement and stillness of bodies, the power and limitations of material, and the joys and tribulations of colour inspire her. She is interested in surrealist gestures and hints of magic realism. She works with prints and textures, and the poetry of the unsaid. She enjoys delving deep into the psyches of characters and delivering an outward expression of that which exists just beneath the surface. With a creation process that revolves around extensive research and worldbuilding, she is fascinated by the potential of costumes and language interweaving to create themes and frame thoughts.
Jack Chipman is a Vancouver-based projection designer and technologist. His work integrates physical elements into digital spaces through the use of cameras, digital props, and image filtering. He is excited by the merging of different mediums to create an immersive experience. Jack’s past credits include The Flying Dutchman (Vancouver Opera), The Door Project (plastic orchid factory), An Undeveloped Sound (Electric Company Theatre), Szepty/Whispers (Rumble Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Vancouver Symphony Orchestra), Dance Craft (Joe Ink), and Ghost Forest (Simon Fraser University) www.jchipman.com
The Human Expression (T.H.E) Dance Company was founded in 2008 by Artistic Director Kuik Swee Boon. Rooted firmly in Singapore yet universal in its perspective, T.H.E’s contemporary dance works reveal the body as a medium for exploring and celebrating the human condition. Dance artists at T.H.E are immersed in the Company’s signature methodology, HollowBody™, which guides them to access their deeper instincts and impulses through movement. The Company’s movement vocabulary is distinct in its intensely personal aesthetics, yet thrilling in its diversity. Driven by a sincere desire to uncover the intricate, complex and oft-times overlooked dimensions of human existence, the Company’s incisive observations on the human condition and its original creations are an essential mirror to the issues and rhythms of contemporary life.
As one of Singapore’s seminal contemporary dance companies, T.H.E has performed and toured at many major and prestigious festivals in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, India, France, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Latvia, United Arab Emirates, Australia, and New Zealand. Based on its vision of contemporary dance as a medium for nurturing human potential, T.H.E has also actively initiated numerous platforms to engage young artists and the wider public. Since it was founded, the Company also started its semi-professional wing, T.H.E Second Company, which identifies and mentors dance artists who aspire to reach a professional standard of contemporary dance. In 2010, T.H.E also founded the cont·act Contemporary Dance Festival (previously known as the M1 Contact Contemporary Dance Festival) – the country’s first annual contemporary dance festival to showcase local and international artists. The Company also regularly runs public classes, workshops, and customised programmes for schools and the community.
Company 605 Led by artistic co-directors Lisa Mariko Gelley and Josh Martin, Company 605 is an arts organization based in Vancouver, on the traditional, unceded 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, with each project seeking and celebrating the unique possibilities created in their attempt to co-exist. 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 an embodied 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, presented at many notable festivals and venues such as: American Dance Festival (Durham, NC), New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival, PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, The Cultch, Usine-C and L’Agora de la Danse (Montréal), La Rotonde (Québec City), DanceWorks (Toronto), Live Art Dance (Halifax), The Banff Centre, On The Boards’ NWNW and Bumbershoot Festival (Seattle), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), Festival PRISMA (Panama), Festival Parentesis (Costa Rica), Internationale Tanzmesse nrw, Tempel Kulturzentrum and Regensburger TanzTage (Germany), BODY.RADICAL (Budapest), Oduru Akita and Fukuoka Dance (Japan), Hong Kong Dance Exchange, M1 Contact (Singapore) and the Sydney Festival (Australia). 605’s co-directors have created commissioned works for several dance companies, including Ballet BC (After We Glow, 2021 and Anthem, 2017). Their collaborations with filmmakers have allowed 605’s work to be shared globally, with award-winning short dance films shown at over 55 dance-on-screen festivals around the world.
THE DANCE CENTRE
Staff
Executive Director Mirna Zagar; Associate Programming Director Raquel Alvaro; Associate Producer Linda Blankstein; Membership Coordinator Kaia Shukin; Director of Marketing Heather Bray; Outreach Coordinator Yurie Kaneko; Digital Marketing Coordinator Lindsay Curtis; Development Manager Catherine Butler; Venue and Services Manager Christopher David Gauthier; Technical Director (Interim) Jeremiah Hughes; Comptroller Elyn Dobbs; Dance Central Editor Shanny Rann
Board of Directors
Yvonne Chartrand, Mique’l Dangeli, Mirjana Galovich, Linda Gordon (Chair), Selim Hasan (Vice-Chair), Anndraya Luui, Sujit Vaidya, Wen Wei Wang, Mark Weston (Treasurer)
The Dance Centre is grateful for the generous support of The Choreographer’s Circle, Anndraya Luui and the BC Arts Renaissance Fund.
THANK YOU
THE CORPORATE LEADER’S CIRCLE
The Holiday Inn and Suites Vancouver Downtown – Angela van den Byllaardt, Sales Manager, Jarislowsky, Fraser Limited – Beau Howes
THE CHOREOGRAPHER’S CIRCLE
Impresario: Charles and Eve Chang Foundation, Anndraya Luui
Choreographer: Anonymous x2, Marnie Carter, Moh Faris, Tony Giacinti (in memory of Lola MacLaughlin), Stephen Jarislowsky, Yosef Wosk OBC
Artistic Director: Linda Blankstein, Beau Howes and Genieve Burley, David Matte, Jackson McKiee
Principal Dancer: Anonymous, Ken Alexander, David Cousins, James Felter, Mike and Kathy Gallagher, Judith Garay, Ken Gracie and Philip Waddell, McGrane – Pearson Endowment Fund, Jean Orr, Patrick Shea, Don and Jane Shumka, Janet and Ron Stern
Dance Artist: Anonymous, Santa Aloi, Rosario Ancer, Noel Best and Barbara Shuman, Matthew Breech and Shino Watanabe, Richard Cavell and Peter Dickinson, Amanda Collinge, Jason Dubois and Clayton Baraniuk, Linda Johnston, Catherine McAllister, Anthony Roper, Kemo Schedlosky and Mark Gatha, Annelie and Dan Vistica, Wen Wei Wang, Jason Wrobleski, Max Wyman and Susan Mertens, Mirna Zagar
THE ARTIST’S CIRCLE
Sylvia Anderson, Carol Carr, Beth Carter, Kirk Chantraine, Yvonne Chartrand, Count and Countess Enrico and Aline Dobrzensky, Nicola Follows, Lorna Froidevaux, Linda Gordon, Selim Hasan, Dubravko Pajalic, Dr. Mary Robertson
The operations of The Dance Centre are supported by the Government of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of British Columbia, the BC Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver.
Media sponsors:
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