Bettina Szabo + Alexandre Morin & Jonathan Goulet

Born in the Laurentians, Québec, Alexandre Morin, graduates from l’École de danse contemporaine de Montréal in 2013, where he is awarded a grant from the Hnatyshyn Fondation for promising Canadian artist in contemporary dance. He has danced with Marie Chouinard, Sylvain Émard, Dominique Porte, Marie Béland, Sébastien Provencher, Claudia Chan Tak and Fleuve-Espace Danse, to name a few. In 2016, a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts allows him to participate in the ImPulsTanz: Vienna International Dance Festival via the ATLAS, mapping future talents program. Alexandre has presented works at Tangente, the OFFTA, ZH Festival, and Short&Sweet in Montréal. His interest in interdisciplinary projects brings him to perform in visual artist Jimmy Robert’s installation Metallica at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, as well as to collaborate regularly with sound artist Jonathan Goulet.

After studying music theory at Université de Montréal, Jonathan Goulet joins Michel Gonneville’s composition class at the Montreal Conservatory where he is awarded a “Prix avec distinction” in instrumental composition. He then completes a specialized diploma in mixed music under the direction of Louis Dufort. His work seeks to explore the inter-influence of different mediums, such as dance, video art, improvisation, and electro-acoustic music. Lately, his research attempts to deepen the interaction between sound and movement through the use of custom-made sound installations that are activated by and interact with the moving body. His works have been performed by different ensembles, such as Magnitude 6, l’Ensemble Pallade Musica, l’Orchestre de la Francophonie, and Ensemble Aka. He collaborates regularly with choreographers Alexandre Morin, Sara Hanley, and the Anavolodine collective.

Angela Rassenti is a costume and props stage designer for dance, theatre, and circus. She is particularly drawn to interdisciplinary creation. Her enthusiasm for visual arts collaborations led her to a diploma in set and costume design at the National Theatre School of Canada, where she currently teaches prop design and fabrication. Since 2008, she has worked with many artists, choreographers, and directors, mainly in Montréal.

Hugo Dalphond questions synergy between body, space, and light by elaborating and building scenographic devices aimed at initiating meetings. It is principally by making viewers and performers coexist within a same space and by modulating their perception of that very space that he creates alternative sensorial experiences. This becomes a reason to engage in different co-presence qualities and thus to become aware of our interactions and relation with others. Since 2015, he tackles these questions in a PhD, which has for its subject light installation and the spatial opportunity it offers to rethink our collective states. He also collaborates on various theatre and dance projects as a lighting designer and a scenographer.

A writer, a play director, an actor, and a dramaturge, Mathieu Leroux is a graduate of UQAM’s École Supérieure de théâtre (performance profile). He co-founded Les Néos, writing and performing some 100 short plays in five years, while also being artistic director of this theatre collective. He created the solo work La naissance de Superman in 2009; his play Scrap closed the season at Espace Libre in 2012. He recently was dramaturge on tanzmainz’s Twist (Staatstheater, Mainz, Germany), and is currently performing in Michelle Parent’s Le sixième sens at Fred-Barry. As a dance dramaturge, he is also a collaborator of Victor Quijada, Helen Simard, Alexandra Spicey Landé, and Catherine Gaudet. Leroux earned his master’s degree in French literature at Université de Montréal. His first novel, Dans la cage, was published to rave reviews by Héliotrope, and his plays and reflection on performing the self, Quelque chose en moi choisit le coup de poing, was published by La Mèche.

Sophie Michaud is specialized in accompanying contemporary dance artists through the creative process. For thirty years, she has been evolving with both emerging creators and established artists as assistant choreographer, director of rehearsals, and dramaturgy consultant. As a researcher, she is interested in the phenomenon of perception in the dance viewer and by the communication issues that emerge between artistic collaborators. In parallel to her work in the studio, she develops workshops for the Regroupement québécois de la danse and works as a cultural mediator.

Since 1996, Pascale Girardin has been exploring the potential of clay, both as a referent and as a device within a broader sculptural framework. Her installations, performances and sculptures draw on her experience in crafts, design and visual arts to explore how both skill and materiality contribute to the development of ideas. Pascale holds a master’s degree in visual and media arts from UQAM and is the recipient of several prizes and scholarships (Pierre-Pagé, François-Houdé, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and Canada Council for the Arts). Her works enhance the interior design of many luxury establishments around the world. In 2019, she completed a large-scale sculpture entitled Contemplation, which is located in the heart of Montréal’s new Four Seasons Hotel.

We are currently interested in the human-animal relationship and eco-aesthetics. While Breach examined the choreographic mechanisms and power dynamics in Seaworld orca shows, On the Brink questions how nature is staged by humans into an aesthetic experience, for example in tourist attractions like aquariums and zoos.

We were inspired by biologist Jamie Cragg’s initiative named PROJECT CORAL (2012), which aimed to develop innovative sustainable methods for the reproduction and restoration of coral reefs in reaction to coral bleaching. Craggs invented a technique consisting in artificially provoking coral spawning with LED lights mimicking the intensity of the full moon. Complimenting this research, we were interested in the octopus and its ability to camouflage to its environment, a skill that is impressively transferable to man-made environments. All the sources nourish the genesis of On the Brink: a poetic and abstract manifestation of a time between the Cambrian explosion and a near future where humans go to museums to appreciate what is left of nature as we know it.

Born in Uruguay, Bettina Szabo has been dancing and choreographing in Montréal since 2007. She studies in Montevideo with Hebe Rosa, at Concordia University and EDCM in Montréal, as well as in Israel with Rami Be’er. She dances for the Ballet de Camara de Montevideo from 2004 to 2007. In 2006, she creates the dance collective Jeli-Mien, with which she is awarded the emerging choreographer and emerging performer awards from Uruguay’s National Ministry of Culture and Sport. She dances with KCDC in Israel (2010), and with Interlope (2013-2014) and Propulse (2017) in Montréal. Dance is a means of communication for her that enables a connection to the audience without the limitations of language or social class. She is interested in interdisciplinary collaborative research, somatic movement, and sound exploration. In 2016, she registers her company Petrikor Danse. Since then, she has presented Noir=+ and Sequelles, and has been developing Cuña and Habitat.

Jacinthe Derasp is a multidisciplinary artist based in Montréal. She graduated from Concordia University in Studio Art and Print Media. Her practice is a mix of sculptures, installations, printing, and painting. She is interested in the ambiguity of perception, the exploration of materials, and the poetics of space.

Ana Dall’Ara-Majek is a composer, performer, sound artist, and researcher living in Montréal. She is devoted to the study of how instrumental, electroacoustic, and computational-thinking approaches interact in musical composition. In 2016, she obtains a doctorate in composition from Université de Montréal, where she also teaches a number of courses in the digital music section. Her works have been presented at various international festivals, including commissions by Musiques & Recherches (Belgium), SeaM (Germany), Taller Sonoro (Spain), Densité 93, Musicalta (France), Distractfold (UK), SAT (Canada), and Quasar (Canada). Recently she released two albums: Air (Kohlenstoff Records) and Nano-Cosmos (Empreintes DIGITALes).

Morena Prats studied theatre at UQAM’s École supérieure de théâtre in Montréal, at the Avignon conservatory in France, and at Teatro in Byelorussia. She has worked as dramaturg for choreographer Bérengère Bodin, for scenographer Jérémie Niel, and for visual artist Nadia Schnock. Oscillating between the fixed image and movement, her practice concentrates on what live art can offer the living tableau on a dramaturgical level. She dives into this exploration with her project atomisation dramaturgique, which premiered in Brussels in 2014, and on her most recent projects: cet intervalle (Espace Go 2017, La Chapelle 2020, Montréal); atlas , presented during her Masters at UQAM; and bobo et momo, presented at the ZH Festival in 2019.