Company 605 is supporting Justin Calvadores + Amanda Sum as a Co-Commissioning Partner with F-O-R-M 2021
Justin + Amanda will be creating a short film through @formvancouver’s Commissioning Fund program that will premiere at the festival in September.
Justin Calvadores (@jpcalvadores) is a freelance dance artist based in Vancouver BC, the lands of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam First Nations. They are a second generation Filipinx Canadian who is gender fluid and queer. Born and raised on Treaty No.1 Territory they began their dance training in high school doing hip hop, jazz, modern and ballet. During their latter years of high school, Justin trained classically at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. They completed their formal dance education in Vancouver, BC receiving a Contemporary Dance Diploma at Arts Umbrella. In 2017, they joined Ballet BC as an emerging artist under the direction of Emily Molnar and performed various works on the Queen Elizabeth stage. Additionally they toured internationally and performed a triple bill on stages such as Sadler Wells and the Autostadt Theatre in Wolfsburg, Germany for the Movimentos Dance Festival. During the 2019/2020 season Justin joined the contemporary dance company, Ballet Edmonton, under the direction of Wen Wei Wang and Karissa Berry. Currently they have returned to Vancouver and are reconnecting to their journey as an independent artist. They have been in creation and performed with companies such as Mile Zero Dance, Inverso Productions, Wen Wei Dance, FakeKnot and Dumb Instrument Dance.
Amanda Sum (@amanduhsum) is a performer and creator based in Vancouver, on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She dances between music and theatre, and strives to create work that dips between disciplines. Her debut singles, Groupthink and Mary Shelley were released in the fall of 2020. The Permanent Rain Press described Amanda’s “quirky indie pop” as having “the perfect amount of wit and tact”. She is currently working with producer Emily Millard in developing her debut full-length album. Amanda created a “concert in construction paper form” as a commission for Theatre Replacement and Company 605’s 2021 PushOFF Festival. This pop-up book performance piece, New Age Attitudes: Live in Concert, was presented locally and internationally, with books travelling by mail to Ireland and Sweden. Recent theatre credits include do you want what i have got? a craigslist cantata (The Cultch), Panto Come Home! and East Van Panto: Pinocchio (Theatre Replacement), and Chicken Girl (rice&beans). She was the Georgia Straight’s 2018 Fall Arts Preview featured theatre artist. Amanda also has extensive training in tap dance, and has taught students from beginner to advanced. She was recently invited to speak at See Sounds Listening Party about her current practice of informing pop melodies and lyrics through improvisational tap rhythms and movement. Amanda aims to champion other under-represented artists through her work, making her opportunities collective ones. Amanda holds BFA from Simon Fraser University.
Go to www.f-o-r-m.ca for more information.
City: Vancouver
Mentors: Nancy Lee @whichnancy
Graphic Design Credit: Flory Huang @studio.protea
#FORMvancouver
