James Gnam’s current practice lives in a world that considers a dialogue between representation and embodiment. He strives to cultivate relationships with other artists and move the exchange past transaction. Where mutual investment, curiosity, communication, and a sharing of authorship and responsibilities are the currencies driving the conversations. With plastic orchid factory, Gnam collaboratively devises work that considers the space and time living within the mind/body of the performer. While simultaneously organizing representation within the space to create context.
James Gnam trained at the National Ballet School of Canada and from 1998 to the present, has worked with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, Ballet BC, EDAM dance, Grand Poney, and Mayday Danse. He has had the pleasure of creating, collaborating and performing in the works of Crystal Pite, Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, George Balanchine, Peter Bingham, Thomas Lehman, Lee Su-Feh, Jacques Poulin Denis, Barak Marshall, and Melanie Demers.
Gnam’s work and research have been supported internationally by Opera Estate in Bassano, Italy; nationally by Circuit-Est in Montreal, Centre Q, and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa; and in Vancouver by Electric Company Theatre, Dance Centre, New Forms Festival, Vancouver Art Gallery, and SFU Woodwards. In 2008, the late Lola Maclaughlin nominated James and his wife, Natalie, for the City of Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Award for Dance.
