Friday March 15th 2024
— 2:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Registration required: Free (or donation) via Zeffy
Language: French and English
For tomorrow’s dance makers
In collaboration with Big Bang, and the dance departments of Concordia University and UQÀM.
On request, a childcare service will be offered free of charge in the adjacent office – Please contact us at info@studio303.ca before Monday, March 11th 2024 at 9am.
Open to emerging choreographers: recent graduates, self-taught and students. This gathering offers a rich space for exchange to assist the new generation of artists in demystifying the journey into the Montreal dance milieu. We’ll discuss networking, grant applications and how newly graduated or self-taught artists can approach the milieu. Our intention is to give hope and soften boundaries to encourage new connections in our milieu.
The activity will start with testimonials by independent choreographers, on their preoccupations and challenges from when they started. Small groups for discussion will later be formed, and will engage in conversations on specific topics.
PREPARATION
To get the most out of this event, please:
– Read the introductory chapter “Montreal” in our guide Taking the Leap﹥
– Listen to our four podcasts featuring conversations between artists and cultural workers
– Check out Re-tours: personal stories by Dana Michel, Virginie Brunelle, Mélanie Demers and others, about touring and how their careers got started.
GUEST ARTISTS
We’ll be joined by three local curators: Claudel Doucet from La Serre, Camille Larivée from MAI and Jaleesa Coligny from Tangente. Two emerging artists, Claire Pearl and Victoria Mackenzie, whose work is currently being programmed and supported in Montreal, will also be with us.
Jaleesa “Tealeaf” Coligny, has trained diligently in street dance – 15 years in hip hop and 3 years in krump, under the mentorship of several pioneers and community leaders in Montreal and New York. She is currently a dancer for Ebnfloh Dance Company, led by Montreal hip hop pioneer Alexandra “Spicey” Landé, since 2018. She has also performed for several artists including Victoria Mackenzie (Never Not Moving aka d**gs), playwright Phillip Boutin (The Rise of the Bling Bling – La Genèse), and Dana Gingras (Creation Destruction and Frontera). Jaleesa is devoted to expanding her global understanding of Hip Hop culture, closely following its rapid evolution. She is invested in her community and strengthening her ties with its members and community leaders, through collaborations and teaching. She is also interested in pushing her expertise in dance theatre, ensuring her street dance values remain an integral part of her artistic development.
Appointed Artistic Director and Co-Executive Director of LA SERRE – arts vivants in January 2022, Claudel Doucet brings to LA SERRE her interdisciplinary perspective rooted in a directing and performing practice. Strong of her extended international career, she now dedicates her energy and creativity to supporting and disseminating the voices of emerging artists. She created LION LION, a company dedicated to exploring new transdisciplinary dramaturgies. As a creator, she convenes risks within the bodies and the presences to weaken the facades and to rush into the forces that spread between violence and tenderness. LION LION gave birth to Coconut (short movie, 2021), FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN (micro-festival, 2021), and Se prendre (apartment show, 2019). The latter piece, created in collaboration with Félix-Antoine Boutin and Cooper Lee Smith, has been touring in dozens of international festivals. Claudel also acts as director and mentor for the École Nationale de Cirque (National Circus School) in Montreal and for various projects, including Emile Pineault‘s More-than-things, Zip Zap Academy (Cape Town), and Uniarts (Stockholm).
Camille Larivée is a street artist, independent curator, author, and cultural worker based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyaang/Montréal. They hold a bachelor’s degree in art history and a certificate in feminist studies from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Over the past 12 years, Camille has created and curated numerous public art projects, exhibitions, and publications with extraordinary collaborators. As an author, they recently co-edited the book “D’horizons et d’estuaires: entre mémoires et créations autochtones” with Léuli Eshrāghi (2020), and their writings have been featured in various magazines, including Canadian Art and Espace Art Actuel. Camille has been the general and artistic director of Montréal, arts interculturels (MAI) since 2023.
Claire Pearl is a contemporary dance creator and performer originally from Tiohtiá:ke/ Montreal. Since graduating from the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD, 2022) and the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM, 2021) in choreography, she has been developing an approach based on the construction of singular universes in which relationships to space, music and imagined realities are explored. She has developed this approach in a number of projects, including Sink Your Teeth into the Void, flesh > and < dust and GROOVE ETHER. In 2022, she co-founded the collective Project Alterdogs alongside Léonie Bélanger. As a performer, Claire works with Sarah Dell’Ava, Morgane Guillou and the performance collective La Brigade.
Victoria Mackenzie/VicVersa is a Montréal-based independent dance artist. Her main areas of focus are performance, pedagogy, facilitation, and event coordination. Vic has been dancing since early childhood and has since practiced and performed various styles in various arenas. She is an amalgam of classical training, b-girl-ism, and nightclub regular. She has performed, taught, and battled locally and internationally. Her frequent past and present collaborators include: Tentacle Tribe, Helen Simard, WAFD Creations, Ebnfloh, 100lux, Tangente, and FRGMNT. Her connections with the street dance and club scene are an essential part of her life. Her approach considers musical emphasis, expression of self and catharsis above all else.
TAKING THE LEAP REGISTRATION