Producing Artists

artistic director | James Gnam (he/him) is a dance artist based in Vancouver and Montreal. He is the artistic director of plastic orchid factory, a founding member of Left of Main, as well as an associate artist with MAYDAY and Grand Poney. He trained at the National Ballet School of Canada and from 1998 to the present, has performed in the works of Crystal Pite, Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, Jiri Kylian, Barak Marshall and collaborated in the creation of new work with Lee Su-Feh, Jacques Poulin-Denis, Melanie Demers, Vanessa Goodman, Evann Siebens, Peter Bingham and Tedd Robinson. With plastic orchid, James collaboratively devises interdisciplinary work that focuses the body as a site of social commentary. James’ research and performance have been supported by Opera Estate in Bassano Italy; Circuit-Est in Montreal; Centre Q and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa; Electric Company Theatre, The New Forms Festival, The Vancouver Art gallery, The Burrard Arts Foundation/Facade Festival, The Belkin Gallery and SFU/W in Vancouver. In 2010, the late Lola Maclaughlin nominated James and his wife Natalie for the City of Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Award for Dance.

artistic producer | Natalie LeFebvre Gnam (she/elle) is a dance artist, producer, teacher, curator, performance maker and mother to two energetic boys, originally from Lheidli T’enneh (colonially known as Prince George), now living on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Territory (colonially, Vancouver). She studied dance at L’École supérieure de danse du Québec and Le Cégep du Vieux Montréal in Tio‘tia:ke (Montréal) and arts management at Capilano University (Lil’wat, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Shíshálh (Sechelt), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) territory). Natalie has performed with companies and artists across Turtle Island including, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Coleman Lemieux & Co., The Vancouver Opera. Since 2003, she has the privilege of co-imagining and collaborating in the projects of plastic orchid factory as artistic producer, alongside her life and art partner, James Gnam. As a producer, Natalie has worked across disciplines and language with DanceHouse, The Cultch, Théâtre la Seizième and Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret. She is currently the Managing Producer at Electric Company Theatre. In 2009, she was awarded the Isadora Award for excellence in performance and with James Gnam, was nominated by the late Lola Maclaughlin for the City of Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Award for Emerging Dance. Active in her community at large, Natalie is a committee member for the Indigenous Learning Program at École Secondaire Jules Verne, the chair of francophone theatre company, productions 4par4, and chaired the Training Society of Vancouver from 2009-2020. In 2017, Natalie led plastic orchid factory’s work in establishing Left of Main, a creator hub for the live arts in Vancouver’s Historic Chinatown.

associate producer | Julian Legere (he/him) was born and currently living on occupied Coast Salish territories, and is a bi/genderqueer artist, community organizer, and cultural worker of European and Acadian settler ancestry. He has spent over a decade as a creator, writer, and performer across disciplines including theatre, poetry, drag, burlesque, and contemporary performance. His key areas of interest include investigating queerness in Western artistic traditions and using the arts to activate communities around anti-colonial liberation. He works as an independent artist-producer-instigator, and also with organizations including PuSh Festival, plastic orchid factory, and Electric Company Theatre.