Circul’R Bérénice Dupuis & David Phiphak + Elie-Anne Ross

Born in Ottawa to a Québecois father and a French mother, choreographer, dancer and performer Bérénice “B-Nice” Dupuis defines herself through the addition of languages, practices, and borders. Trained in theatre and screenwriting, and holding a master’s degree in philosophy from La Sorbonne, she taught philosophy while pursuing a practice of breakdancing in Montréal beginning in 2003, which brought her to be a part of the national breakdancing team of Canada. To be able to freely explore the dramaturgical qualities of urban dance, she co-founded Circul’R with David “Laos” Phiphak in 2013, a company that distinguished itself on the international scene before relocating to Montréal in 2018. Their creations traveled in the world of urban and contemporary dance in several countries: Kalypso Festivals (France), Suresnes Cité Danse (France), Jonk! (Sweden), Echo Echo (Ireland), Street Perspektif (Germany), Sorry Mom (France), Centro Coregrafico de la Gomera (Spain), etc. Bérénice individually created solos presented in France, at TPAM in Japan, and at Tangente in 2020. Bérénice has been an administrative assistant for a property management firm since 2018.

David “Laos” Phiphak, a member of the Montréal group Fresh Format, began dancing in 1993 in France as he followed the pioneers of the group Aktuel Force. Champion of the Breakdance World Cup in 2001, he worked for 10 years as a performer for the contemporary choreographer Régis Obadia as well as for many companies, including Choréam, Ykanji, Compagnie Par Terre, La Rualité, Black Blanc Beur, and Kham, but also as an outside eye (La Rualité Bintou Dembélé) and teacher (Juste Debout School, Micadanses, and French Dance Federation, among others) in addition to being invited to several countries to give workshops. Alongside his career as a dancer, he obtained a BA in sociology, which nourished his thinking. In 2013, he cofounded the company Circul’R with Bérénice Dupuis, which they relocated to Montréal in 2018. In Montréal, David Phiphak distinguished himself with a creation at B-Side in 2019 and at Festival Accès Asie 2020 (online show). David has been in charge of building maintenance since 2018.

Joe Danny “Dingo” Aurélien cultivates his passion for understanding the body and movement through a long practice of breakdance, which began in Montréal in 1996. Founding member of bboy group RedMask/IllMask, Joe Danny won illustrious breakdance competitions such as War is War in 2003, 2004 and 2005, participated in the competition King of the Ring in 2005 and in 2006, where he was selected as one of North America’s 32 best bboys. He produced the annual event Who’s Hungry? for several years as well as The Choice is Yours. Eager to share his language on stage, he collaborates as a performer with RUBBERBANDance from 2002 to 2011, but also with Nadine Thouin, Jean Léger, Helen Simard, Solid State, Emily Honegger and Geneviève Gagné, Simon Ampleman, Mourad Mouaraki (Destins Croisés), Parts+Labour_Danse, Ford McKeown Larose, and others. His long experience led him to develop a solid technique of floor movements that he had the opportunity to share during a solo at the 100Lux festival and in numerous workshops and cultural mediations for the shows in which he took part. Joe Danny is also active under the name DJ Indigo. He also collaborates with Lucas “LazyLegz” Patuelli, whom he accompanies on his tours and mediations. Joe Danny also works for Canada Post.

Originally from Ontario, Charles “Mercenary” Gao started breakdancing while completing his Bachelor of Commerce at Queen’s University. Devoted to street dance, he initiated the first annual competition in Kingston before leaving to travel the world to meet mentors and win several competitions, notably in India, Finland, and Japan, representing a very Canadian style. The recipient of several awards and grants supporting his artistic development and community actions, he was notably selected by the Ontario Arts Council to develop educational artistic missions in 2013 and 2014. A multidisciplinary artist who trained in dance as well as in mime and theatre at Concordia University, he is recognized as a true pillar for the Canadian BBoys/BGirls community, being the instigator of BBoy North, a YouTube channel meticulously archiving numerous interviews and Canadian battles. A consultant in digital marketing, he also collaborates with the educational platform BBoy Dojo, to name just this one.

Tiffanie Boffa is a lighting designer and technical director with a solid background in dance, theatre, and scenography. Trained at the University of Nice and at Concordia University, she counts among her collaborators Katya Montaignac, Georges Stamos, Jon Lachlan-Stewart, Cédric Delorme-Bouchard, Paul Chambers, Hana Sybille Müller, and Brice Noeser, to name only a few. She is also a technician at UQAM and collaborates with the CCOV and other institutions from time to time.

Samuel Nadai is a sound engineer who has been working as a project director at Landr since 2014. Trained in music at the Montpellier Conservatory from a young age, he then graduated from Musitechnic in Montréal. Having breakdanced since he was young, he has an in-depth knowledge of urban dance and has worked as a dancer for Cirque Eloize, Ampleman Dance, and Destins Croisés, to name a few. He also continues his personal productions under the pseudonym Sungprod and composes for several productions of Tentacle Tribe as well as other dance companies.

The choreographic project called Kafka Paradise is a quartet that brings together breakdancing figures Jo Danny “Dingo” Aurélien, David “Laos” Phiphak, Bérénice “B-Nice” Dupuis, and Charles “Mercenary” Gao to explore a premise: what if the collective metamorphosed into a multi-legged monster? A kind of Leviathan? It is therefore a quartet that travels through several increasingly oppressive formations: it notably features a ball of indistinct bodies rolling together. This ball, sometimes a totem, sometimes a thousand legs, feeds on individuals without their knowledge to exist, manipulating its different parts and taking care not to frustrate them, thus giving them the illusion of freedom and choice so as to not to be dissolved from within. This absurd ball also passes through the image of the aggregate, of the nest of vipers, of ridiculous challenges. We use breakdance techniques, a competitive dance, to dance not only on the ground but also on each other. We develop partnering work based above all on improvisational systems that sometimes reveal physical mutual aid, sometimes the friction inherent in the shape of an uncomfortable ball. When the ball becomes an apparatus, turning complementarity between individuals into an efficient organisation, perfectly mechanized by “a ruse of reason”, each one does not feel more than a dehumanized cog. With academic backgrounds in philosophy and sociology, dance is for us a field that serves to reflect on individualism, post-modern alienation, and the loss of landmarks that characterize the march of civilization towards more rationality, efficiency, and organization. This ball of bodies which itself becomes an individual, represents well the paradox between the need of others and the modern individual who is confused, believing himself to be self-sufficient. We, after all, need so much the proximity of our peers?

As a woman evolving in Montréal’s street dance culture, Elie-Anne Ross was introduced to popping in 2006. A funk style born from African-American culture that distinguishes itself by muscle contractions and isolations as well as illusory movements. She trained for five years with Montréal’s popping pioneers Fon DeVueno Powell, Hitmaster Fish and Handy Yacinthe “MonstaPop” and then decided to assumer her artistic autonomy. She fell in love with the art of freestyle dance and participates in international battles. She positions herself as one of the few women in Canada who specializes in this form of street dance. In 2017, she became a member of Symbiotic Monsters. She has worked for Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Eloize, and several festivals in Montréal, including the Just for Laughs Festival, the Montréal Jazz Festival, Les Francos, 100Lux festival, and JOAT festival, which she’s now co-directing with Handy Yacinthe. She performed for Axelle Munezero, Handy Yacinthe, Saxon Fraser, Alexandra Landé, Emmanuelle Lephan, Martin Messier, and others. Performing and battling made her travel to Europe, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. In 2017, she completed her bachelor’s degree in contemporary dance at UQAM and became a performer at Ebnflōh Company and a dancer teacher. She is working on new projects, including her first solo, FLUX. Her goal is to broaden her artistic vision by being interested in other types of art, including theatre and cinema, as well as by continuing to work in collaboration with other artists in the community here and abroad.

Helen Simard is a choreographer, rehearsal director, and dance dramaturge. Originally from Kingston, Ontario, she relocated to Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal in 1996 to pursue a career in dance. Helen Simard collaborates with musicians and dancers to create visceral interdisciplinary shows. Her work uses repetition, complex spatial patterns and techniques to overwhelm spectators’ senses to create hypnotic, dreamlike performances that blur the boundaries between conscious and subconscious spaces. Past works such as NO FUN (2014), IDIOT (2017), Dance Side of the Moon (2018), REQUIEM POP (2019), and PAPILLON (2020) are joyfully chaotic and complex in their simplicity, walking a fine line between the real and the imaginary. Helen Simard holds a BFA (Concordia University, 2000) and MA in Dance (Université du Québec à Montréal, 2014). Her current research explores themes relating to loss, memory, nostalgia, and intergenerational exchange.

Tiffanie Boffa is a lighting designer and technical director with a solid background in dance, theatre, and scenography. Trained at the University of Nice and at Concordia University, she counts among her collaborators Katya Montaignac, Georges Stamos, Jon Lachlan-Stewart, Cédric Delorme-Bouchard, Paul Chambers, Hana Sybille Müller, and Brice Noeser, to name only a few. She is also a technician at UQAM and collaborates with the CCOV and other institutions from time to time.