JumpStart Performance Society is a West Coast interdisciplinary company with its roots in dance. Founded in 1984 by Lee Eisler and Nelson Gray, it established a history of work in new opera, interdisciplinary art and dance theatre. Since 1993, Lee Eisler has been the sole Artistic Director of the company.

JumpStart has been praised for its highly kinetic and visual work in which actors move with intense physicality and dancers connect to charged inner emotions. Through collaborative work with designer Nicola Kozakiewicz, the works are set in an environment that creates visual excitement and advances the action of the work. Music is an important element in the work and live composers Patrick Pennefather and Ron Samworth often work with the company.

JumpStart has just completed a trilogy of works based on women's lives including "The Laughing Years", "Matters of the Flesh" and "4 Fridas". The newest completed work, "Running Shoe Point" is an exhilarating mad dash through overscheduled, date book lives; dancing in uniquely designed running shoes, so they can perform on point, the characters rise from their daily grind yearning for more balanced lives.

Lee Eisler's recent work in film has developed a new avenue for art on television as well as art in education. "Stonewash", "Deep West" and "The Last Bough" have been shown on Bravo and Knowledge Network. JumpStart is intensely interested in teaching in order to develop young artists and young audiences. Work with Robin Lynn Smith, Lee has become known as a teacher and mentor of young directors and choreographers working in the field of Physical Theatre and Dance Theatre. (See Residencies for further information on this topic.)

The society maintains ongoing funding relations with The Canada Council, the B.C. Arts Council, the City of Vancouver, the B.C. Gaming Commission and other foundations and sponsors.