Corps multiples : approches et esthétiques de la danse intégrée
Host: Marie-Claire Forté
Panelists: Diane Leduc, Renata Soutter, Menka Nagrani, and France Geoffroy
Date: March 9th from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Site: Studio 303
Cost: Free!

Public discussions around integrated dance issues. As part of the Corps Atypik series.

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Marie Claire Forté’s artistic expression is currently focussed on duration and space. She dances for choreographers in Montréal and Toronto, namely Louise Bédard and Ame Henderson. From 2004 to 2008, as a member of the now defunct Le Groupe Dance Lab, she danced with numerous choreographers from Canada and abroad and trained daily with Peter Boneham. Her work has been presented in different venues in Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto and St-John’s. Presently, she is collaborating on the performance and video series Moving Towards with Alanna Kraaijeveld, and is working on Room Tone, a research project through “In Limbo”, an event organised by Lynda Gaudreau and Tangente. She translates for several arts organisations. She also writes, primarily for The Dance Current, where she has broached subjects such as dance and disability (On the Ability of the Audience, February 2009) and ethics in the studio (An Intricate Intimacy: Ethics in the Dance Studio, April 2010).

Interested in dance since her childhood, Diane Leduc holds a Ph. D. in art studies and practices. The work and training of the contemporary dance performer are at the heart of her artistic approach. While creating shows with artists she appreciates (L’aberration des traces and Dédanses d’elles choreographed by Benoît Lachambre), she has performed for Lucie Boissinot and Alain Populaire, amongst others. As of 2005, she has studied teaching and evaluation practices of art teachers in higher education. Initially formed in architecture, her academic career demonstrates sensitivity to all forms of knowledge. Recipient of several grants from Quebec and Canada’s Art Councils, she is currently completing a postdoctoral internship subsidized by the Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC) and the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport du Québec. She is regularly involved in various cultural and community organizations. She is also the co-founder and co-editor in chief of Éparts magazine.

Renata Soutter is co-founder and co-artistic/co-executive director of Propeller Dance. She is an experienced integrated dance artist and has trained with Candoco in London UK (Thanks to the support of The Canada Council for the Arts) and also with Alito Alessi/DanceAbility International, and has been invited to show work in professional theatre venues as well as present at international and national conferences. She graduated from Concordia University in 2001 with a BFA in Contemporary Dance. Prior to this, since 2002, she worked for The School of Dance as co-director of the DanceAbility Performing Group. As well, she developed and taught one of the City of Ottawa’s first community arts dance programs for people with disability. She has choreographed and performed dance works in the Canada Dance Festival, Square Zero Independent Dance Festivals, NAC Fourth Stage, fFIDA, Montreal Fringe Festival, Studio 303, Dance Network, Bread and Puppet Theatre. She has been a core member of the Grasshoppa Dance Exchange and is also an experienced dance educator and has been invited by the National Arts Centre’s music education department to create dance for a pilot school residency project. She holds a certificate in expressive arts therapy from Algonquin College and a BA in comparative development from Trent University. She lives in Gatineau QC, near the hills. www.propellerdance.com

Multidisciplinary artist Menka Nagrani works as a performer and a designer in dance, theatre and music. Her interest lies in different artistic and activist pursuits. Her involvement as a dance teacher for people with intellectual disabilities at the Centre d’art Les Muses (since 1999) familiarized her with the world of intellectual disability. She went on a European tour of several exploratory companies featuring people with disabilities and has created shows for Créahm-Provence in France where she lived for a year. She came back to found Les Productions des pieds des mains in 2004 with the desire to integrate marginalized people in her creations in order to initiate an artistic and social reflexion. Her creations have been presented on several occasions on Montreal’s professional scene and in international festivals in Belgium and Japan. www.productionsdespiedsdesmains.com

France Geoffroy completed a college degree in dance in 1997 while studying Bartenieff technique and improvisation with Valerie Dean. In 98-99 and 2001, she studied with CandoCo, a London integrated dance company. In 2000, she founded Corpuscule Danse where she acts as an artistic director, teacher and performer. Geoffroy has danced, amongst others, with choreographers Harold Rhéaume, Johanne Madore et Estelle Clareton. www.corpusculedanse.com

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