Members of Company 605 will present Vital Few at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Saturday, April 16. The company is based out of Vancouver.

Members of Company 605 will present Vital Few at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Saturday, April 16. The company is based out of Vancouver.

Vital Few brings vitality to stage

Company 605 explores the essence of unison and togetherness in its April 16 performance at the Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre

The human experience will unfold on the stage.

Company 605, formerly known as the 605 Collective, returns to the Vernon Performing Arts Centre with their new work Vital Few Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Led by artistic co-directors Lisa Gelley and Josh Martin, Company 605 is a Vancouver-based company inspired by urban and contemporary dance forms. With an emphasis on innovated movement, the company’s works are known for being physically demanding.

“We aim to offer a highly athletic art form derived from the human experience, exploring new paths and creative methods to build powerful and engaging performances,” said Gelley, recipient of the 2015 Vancouver International Dance Festival Choreographic Award.

With a rapidly expanding repertoire, the company has now performed coast to coast in Canada and throughout the U.S.

The final weeks of preparation before the show’s premiere were spent in residency at the Banff Centre.

“Being able to work in a space like the Banff Centre with scenic designer Jesse Garlick and lighting designer Robert Soundergaard allowed us to create a visual effect that responds in real time,” said Martin, who received Vancouver’s 2013 Mayor’s Arts Award.

That effect include a mirror-like substance using Mylar foil over the stage.

“The reflections deliver a wonderful amount of shadow work that is truly mesmerizing,” said Martin.

Company 605’s fresh and ever-evolving aesthetic is pushed to new levels with this innovative piece.

Vital Few further explores the essence of unison and togetherness, the negotiation of group dynamics, and the preservation of self within the collective consciousness.

“We wanted to explore the fragility of relationships and discover what happens when groups of people who work together to achieve their goal or objective,” said Martin.

“What becomes of them when they no longer need to contribute or push. Each performer’s own distinct expression, movement, and choice weaves together… the whole greater than the sum of its parts.”

Vital Few is the final show in the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Society’s 2015/16 dance series.

The performance will be opened by by local alternative band //AMISTAD//.

The Vernon-based five-piece, whose members are just finishing up high school, has been surprising music fans and critics since the 2015 release of their album, LEE.

The band’s new single, Radikal, has been receiving generous airplay since it came out in February, and is the first song off the band’s upcoming album, Talk Peace To A Wolf, to be released sometime this spring.

//AMISTAD// takes the stage at 7:30 p.m., with the dance show starting at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $30 for adults, $27 for seniors and $25 for students. Call the Ticket Seller Box Office at 250-549-SHOW (7469) or log online to www.ticketseller.ca for tickets and more information.

 

Vernon Morning Star