BCBusiness

January/February 2022 – The Most Resilient Cities

With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.

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64 BCBUSINESS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 FROM TOP: EMILY CROUCH; STEVEN SHEARER anatomy. He can create a way to answer the ques- tion, even if it's something he hasn't seen before. And he's seen a lot." When Beavis, a Univer- sity of the Fraser Valley business administration grad, started Longhouse Media, the gym was his first client. "I went to my jiu-jitsu school and said, OK, lis- ten," Beavis recalls. "I'm not going to ask you for any money, but you give me a $500-a-month bud- get, I will get you a large number of students." Bea- vis helped Soares more than double his business over the course of a year. Given that confidence and resilience, it's prob- ably not a huge surprise that Beavis feeds off the rush and thrill that com- bat sports like jiu-jitsu can deliver. "When you go to the gym and lift weights or hit the treadmill, your brain can tell that you're tired, and you can convince yourself to stop working out," he says. "When you're in a fight, the body pushes past the mental limit. If you stop, you're going to get choked. It sucks to lose. The mental and the physi- cal benefits are probably my two favourite things. It's also something you can always get better at as well. There's no limit to moves and the different ways you can get out of a situation." Though Brazilian jiu- jitsu remains somewhat of an underground activ- ity in Canada, Beavis con- tends that it's "definitely growing." As with most pastimes, there are both accurate portrayals of the sport in popular cul- ture and those that miss the mark. "That Nicolas Cage movie that's titled Jiu-Jitsu has zero jiu-jitsu," Beavis says with a laugh. "He's fight- ing aliens and using guns and stuff, and the moves are so over-cho- reographed. But if you want to see good jiu-jitsu and good judo in a movie, Keanu Reeves has done an amazing job in John Wick. Every single throw and sweep and arm bar—all the judo and jiu-jitsu in there is phenomenal. I watched those movies again recently—just get a rush from seeing them. It's so refreshing to see legiti- mate fighting in a movie." Beavis might not be at the John Wick level just yet (who is?), but we had to ask: who wins a fight be- tween father and son? "My dad is a monster," Beavis says. "I won't say I always lose to my dad, but for a 55-year-old guy, he is tough. I'm probably one of two or three people at the gym that gives him a hard time. He's a scary guy." • A F T E R HO U R S PUSHING IT With live performance back from the dead, you'll find no shortage of options at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. The 18th edition, at various Lower Mainland venues and online, features 13 theatre, dance, music and multimedia works from three countries. Among the companies and artists: local Theatre Replacement, Britain's Just Us Dance Theatre (above) and Calgary musician Vivek Shraya. January 20–February 6 Single tickets start at $20; schedule at pushfestival.ca PICTURE SHOW Don't miss the chance to catch this rare hometown exhibition by a topflight interdisciplinary artist. Steven Shearer, at the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver, is the first major national survey of Shearer's work since 2007. Through his photographs, paintings, sculptures and other pieces, the New Westminster native explores how people remember and idealize each other, according to the gallery. Besides some 40 works, the show includes a series of 19 self- published books capturing Shearer's vast archive of more than 74,000 images. Through February 13 Admission by donation; visitors must wear a face covering; details on hours at thepolygon.ca • LIKE US ON FACEBOOK @VANCOUVER MAGAZINE FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM @VANMAG_COM VISIT US AT VANMAG.COM

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