#BOXTAPE

After receiving his BA in Classics, Peter Trosztmer studied at the Concordia University Department of Contemporary Dance before moving to Toronto to complete the School of the Toronto Dance Theatre training program. Since then, he has distinguished himself as in interpreter of the highest caliber and has worked and continues to collaborate with many national and international choreographers. As a choreographer Peter has created five critically acclaimed solo works. His choreography was selected as a top 5 show of the year (La Presse 2006 and Voir 2012). As well he was recognized for the best performance – (The Hour 2006). His work on the multi media work Norman also received many accolades including an Angel Award at the Brighton Festival UK (2009). Peter continues to define his place as a creator who is invested in work that is sensitive, deeply researched and physically realized. His co-authored article “Collaboration as Practice The Winding Road” was presented at the Canadian Society for Dance Scholars Conference 2012. Peter is currently researching interactive movement tracking with sound and video at La Sociéte de les arts technologiques in Montreal, with Zack Settle, as well he is artist in residence at Techno Lith – New City Gas in Griffintown.

Montreal based Thea Patterson, works on a variety of projects as a choreographer, rehearsal director, dramaturge and collaborator with a group of colleagues that include Katie Ward, Audrée Juteau, David Pressault, Dean Makarenko, Bill Coleman, Wants and Needs Dance, Isabel Mohn, Sasha Kleinplatz, Jeremy Gordaneer and Lois Brown. Thea is a long time collaborator with Peter Trosztmer, for whom she has provided dramaturgical assistance on five critically acclaimed solos. Prior to this Thea created Rhyming Couplets (08) and A Soft Place to Fall (06) which was made into a BravoFACT film directed by Philip Szporer and Marlene Millar, and continues to screen at international film festivals. She was also co-choreographer for Norman produced by Lemieux.Pilon.4Dart, (08) which had extensive international exposure. She is currently practicing a new solo work entitled the dance that I cannot do which was presented at Movement Research at the Judson Church in New York as part of the F OFF (microfest) and Third Floor Series in Montreal, as well as in Halifax and Parrsboro Nova Scotia. It will also be presented in Munich this coming May. Thea is pursuing a Masters in Choreography at the Amsterdam Theatreschool for the Arts (AHK) 2014-16 and is in residence with Montreal Danse.

Jeremy Gordaneer ‘s work is deeply influenced by his participation in the Chapman Group, a collective of artists located in Victoria during the 1990’s. Originally a dialogue between senior painter James Gordaneer RCA (Jeremy’s father) and philosopher/theologian Raymond Llorens (1933-1999), the group grew into a circle of young artists working to develop a new artistic idiom. He continues to draw from the ideas developed in the Chapman Group by merging the mediums of sculpture and painting to blur the traditional dichotomies inherent to visual art. Gordaneer divides his time between the visual arts and theatre where he has worked as a scenic painter, set designer and properties builder since 1999. Jeremy Gordaneer trained in Victoria, BC, attending Camosun College’s visual art program (1992), as well as obtaining a BFA from Uvic in scenic design for theatre (1999). He is now based in Montreal where he finds continual inspiration in the rich urban environment and cultural life. Presently working on Nufonia must fall for Kid Koala building puppets and sets.

Sonya Stefan‘s dance films have been exhibited in Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Les Rendez-Vous du Cinéma Québécois, SAT and International Festivals in Asia, Europe and South America. She is co-founder of Groop*Index a Montreal-based collective of filmmakers and visual artists and has just completed a residency/performance in Poitiers, France with Nyktalop Melodie. Sonya’s work was presented at Agora de la Danse in Oct 2013. Presently she is editing her first full-length dance film “Living Room Dances” which will be completed in 2014. Her most recent achievements include directing and performing in a 5-screen installation winning the Mel Hoppenhiem Cinema Award as well as being named in Fabienne Cabado’s 2013 Bilan danse for her vlog in cinédanse. Professional dance career began in 1996, Toronto Dance Theatre and Dance Theatre David Earle Dana Gingr, Fondation Jean Pierre Perreault, Cas Public and Montreal Danse. She is currently persuing her Masters in Film studies at Concordia University.

Lois Brown studied Improvisation at The University of Alberta, and holds a Masters from Memorial University. In 2005, she was awarded The Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award by The Canada Council, and recognized by NLAC for her contribution to the arts in Newfoundland and Labrador. She worked with Peter on Broken Accidents, Eesti Myths and Machines, #Boxtape and DNA. Her writing on dramaturgy in Peter’s work was published in CTR. From 2011-2014, Lois was artist/dramaturg-in-residence at Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal under the direction of Emma Tibaldo. Her most recent project was Injury Illness Pain Sadness Grief and Performance.

Elinor Fueter has participated in various dance, street theatre, film, improvisation and performance art projects. She was, or is an interpret for Montréal Danse, Benoit Lachambre, Mobile Home, Lina Cruz, George Stamos, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Peter James, Natalie Morin, Alain Francoeur, among others. Since two years Elinor teaches in different women shelters thanks to the organization of Montréal Danse and “Danse contra la Violence”. She has also taught workshops for children. Boxtape opens up a whole new way of working and performing, and it is with great pleasure that Elinor joins this wonderful group to create yet another net.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Nathan Yaffe received his BFA in Dance from Purchase College in New York. During that time, he also trained at Codarts in Rotterdam and worked at Le Groupe Dance Lab in Ottawa. In 2008 he found himself in Montréal, and has since worked on both sides of the border with artists such as, Sasha Kleinplatz, Mollye Maxner, Brian Brooks, Hélène Langevin (Bouge de Là, Inc.), Sonya Stefan, Les Imprudanses, Peter Trosztmer, Dorian Nuskind-Oder, Audrée Juteau, Katie Ward, Kate Hilliard, Kimberly de Jong, and Georges-Nicolas Tremblay. Nathan’s own choreography has been presented in New York, Ottawa and Montreal. His newest piece, The Johnsons, was presented by Tangente in Montreal as part of Danses Buissonnières_Classe 2014 at le Monument National. The_Johnsons 00:21:51, a dance-film installation he created in Los Angeles with Elisha Yaffe, will be presented as part of the Cinedans festival in Amsterdam in March 2015.

Winnie Ho is a movement artist who is drawn to finding various experiential, intimate and intuitive ways to fully immerse personal and collective bodies in space. Her current research involves exploring somatic and cultural boundaries through embodiment of organic materials within ritualistic practices that serve as a frame whereby boundaries between spectator and performer can be dissolved and redefined according to the felt presence of immediate experience. Her durational and site specific works and performances have been shown in various places in Europe (Germany, Sweden, Finland), Canada (Calgary, Montreal) and U.S. (Austin, New York City, Philadelphia).

Choreographer, dancer, bachelor in danse at l’UQAM and recipient of William Douglas price (2011), Emmalie Ruest was invited, in 2012, to choreograph a Bal moderne for La 2e Porte à Gauche. It’s during her studies that she met Karenne Gravel, with whom she created the collective Dans son salon. The duet created three pieces to this day : Et si tu n’existais pas variations (2010), Parce qu’on sait jamais (2012) and Fin de party (2013). Their works have been presented at several venues : Zone HOMA (2011-2013), OFFTA (2013), Festival Accès danse (Châteauguay, 2012) and Dance Matters, (Toronto, 2012). The two girls were also invited to choreograph and dance for the band Misteur Valaire, at the International Jazz Fest of Montréal, (2011). During spring 2012, Emmalie danced for Manon Oligny, in the project Où est Blanche-neige ? She also participated in the film making of Aurore 2 (2013), as a dancer, movie by Vincent Olivier and Guillaume Lambert, and she was part the last art film of Dominique Sirois, Alarm songs (2014). At present, Emmalie is an active collaborator as interpreter for Peter Trozstmer’s boxtape and for Helen Simard multiple projects : NO FUN !, 21 Angus Young et Mouvement 100/Sans manifestes.

Karen Fennell is a contemporary dance artist originally from Newfoundland, and now based in Montreal. Driven by a passion for movement, a love of performing, and a fascination with the human condition, she has pursued a double-career in interpretation and choreography since graduating from the contemporary dance program at Concordia University in 2007 (BFA). As a dancer, she has had the privilege of working on a diversity of projects with choreographers Dana Gingras, Sasha Kleinplatz, Susanna Hood, Maria Kefirova, Erin Flynn, Eroca Nicols, Allison Nichol, and Peter Trosztmer, among others. As a choreographer, her own short works have been presented on a variety of stages in Montreal, Quebec City, and Halifax. Since 2013, she has collaborated regularly with musician Jackie Gallant, and their interdisciplinary co-creations have been presented in Montreal (Phenomena Festival, Edgy Redux, Short & Sweet, Words & Music), and in Toronto at the 2015 Rhubarb Festival. In addition to her work as a choreographer and dancer, Karen produces and hosts the open performance night, So You Think That Was Dance? at Mainline Theatre, and is a certified instructor of the GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® Methods.

Sigrid Patterson is currently living in Montreal and is studying in the trade of glass at l’Espace Verre, a school affiliated to the CEGEP du Vieux Montreal. Last autumn she worked on #boxtape as a photographer. She collaborated once again as a photographer with the boxtape team, this time at Fabrik in Potsdam, Germany (February of 2015). Later that year, in late may, she organized and curated the F-OFF 2nd edition, an inter-generational performance event with both emerging and established artists such as Sonya Stefan, Eric Craven, Jeremy Gordaneer and Sasha Kleinplatz. She has worked as a performer in three Coleman Lemieux on site performance events as well as a dancer in their re-adaptation of the Dome by Ted Shawn, which was performed at Jacobs Pillow Dance (2007).

Chi Long grew up in Australia. She moved to Montreal in 1990 to pursue her career as a contemporary dancer. In 1991, she joined the company O’vertigo Danse performing and touring with them for a total of 15 years. She took part in the creation of La Chambre Blanche, Deluge, La Bete, En Dedans, La Vie qui Bat, Luna and Onde de Choc. From 2002-2006 she danced and toured internationally for the Compagnie Marie Chouinard. She now works on independent projects, and appeared most recently in Goodbye for the company Mayday.

Audrée Juteau is a dancer and choreographer based in Montreal. As a dancer, she has worked with many choreographers including Deborah Dunn (cie Trial & Eros), Katie Ward, Sonya Biernath, Dean Makarenko, Caroline Laurin-Beaucage, the foundation Jean-Pierre Perreault. As a member of the collective The Choreographers, she presented the pieces Man & Mouse, Oh! Canada. Recently pushing the depth of her own choreographic work, Audrée presented her works Poisson, created in residency at Mains d’oeuvre (Paris), Studio 303 and Pigeons International (Montréal), Youme, as part of the event Piss & The pool, and Proposition duo, part of Festval ArtDanse, and the piece Sam affecte. She completed her training at LADMMI in 2003 Audrée was the recipient of the Impulstanz Danceweb 2010 grant given by Jardin d’Europe. She is presently completing her MA at the Université de Québec à Montréal.

After a Master in mathematics at UQAM, Gabriel Painchaud started his dance studies at Ballet Divertimento. During those years he worked with Edgar Zendejas, Dave St-Pierre, Sonya Stefan, Rayco Cano Cortez and many others. Since the end of his studies, he has danced for Fleuve Espace Danse, Ballet Ouest, David Pressault, Sonya Stefan, Anne-Flore de Rochambeau and Peter Trosztmer.

Robin Pineda Gould was born in a forgotten south. A self-taught musician, video artist & composer, it was abandoned buildings, dried lakes and lonely forests that first haunted the landscapes of his mind. That and the cinema. The body creeped into his understanding of time and now he finds himself at home in Montréal wresting fragments of duration out of stubborn images, a perpetual exercise of negotiation and endurance, be it through collaborations or his own practice.