Lauranne Faubert-Guay + Nindy Banks

Lauranne Faubert-Guay is a contemporary dance choreographer and performer based on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabe Nation, known as the colonial Outaouais. Lauranne is a committed artist who is interested in the subversive power of bodily and material self-sufficiency. She tries to shed light on our relationship with the world and our fundamental need for emancipation. Her work is distinguished by a sustained movement at the crossroads of effort and ecstasy, as well as by strong scenographies that encourage a shared intimacy. Since 2019, Lauranne has received support from several institutions in the arts community to produce and present her choreographic creations: Ponos –  à l’épreuve du poids (2019), D’une montagne sans sommet (ponos II) (2022), ZAD (ponos III) (2023) et Tu es le vent (co-creation 2021-2023). She holds a bachelor’s degree in visual arts and a master’s degree in sociology from Université du Québec à Montréal. She is also the founder and general/artistic director of the organization Devenir(s) corps, a space for research and creation in the performing arts located in Outaouais.

Catherine Lavoie-Marcus is an interdisciplinary artist and performing arts researcher based in Tiohtiá:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal. Crossing the fields of choreography and political thought, she is interested in devices that restrict or increase freedom of movement. Since 2009, her works, presented in a variety of contexts (on stage, in situ, in art galleries and museums) have been probing the forces, forms and discourses that exert control over the body. She shares her thoughts on dance through articles, chronicles, and essays. Catherine is a professor in the Department of Dance at Université du Québec à Montréal.

A choreographer, performer and teacher for 25 years, Caroline Laurin-Beaucage has a repertoire of a dozen works, including installations, site-specific performances, an architectural projection work and a virtual reality film. Her work has been presented in Montréal (Danse Danse, Agora de la danse, Tangente, Festival TransAmériques, OFFTA), as well as in Canada, France, Spain, Hungary, Germany, South Korea, Switzerland, and Israel. In 2019, her work Intérieurs received the Prix du CALQ for the best choreographic work 2019-2020. As a performer, she has worked with Ginette Laurin (O Vertigo), Jacques Poulin-Denis, Paul-André Fortier, and Jean-Pierre Perreault. She is co-founder of the choreographer structure Lorganisme – of which she is still an artist-member – and, in 2022, she joined Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique. Trained at the beginning of her career at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, she also obtained her Master’s degree from Concordia University’s INDI program in 2022. Caroline taught in Concordia’s Department of Contemporary Dance as a lecturer from 2005 to 2019. She joined the faculty of UQAM’s Department of Dance in 2020, where she is currently developing the field of dance and new technologies.

N NAO, also known as Naomie de Lorimier, is a Montréal-born and based artist. For millions of years, she has explored experimental romance by way of music, performance, and video. Her compositions employ an ecofeminist approach inspired by dreams and daily rituals. Her latest full-length, L’eau et les rêves, (Mothland, 2023) pushes the boundaries between acoustic and electronic songwriting. Well received by the public and the industry alike, the album was long-listed for the 2023 Polaris Music Prize. Noticed for her magical stage presence, she has taken part in events such as Suoni Per Il Popolo, FME and M for Montréal, more recently traveling to Calgary, Paris, Berlin, and Texas to perform at SXSW. Over the years, she has opened for Patrick Watson, Jessica Moss, Klô Pelgag, Sarah Pagé and Water From Your Eyes, amongst others. In 2024, N NAO came back with Miroir, an EP in the form of a tryptic piece around the themes of witchcraft, secrecy, and spirals.

​​Tiffanie Boffa is a lighting designer, scenographer, and performer. She works to create sensorial and visual atmospheres informed by her background as a contemporary dancer. As a lighting designer, she collaborated with multiple artist in theatre, dance, and the performing arts, like Gabrielle Lessard, Guillermina Kerwin, Jon Lachlan Stewart, Hanna Sybille Müller, Simon Renaud, La Tresse, Véronique Giasson, Marie Béland, 100Lux, the company We All Fall Down, and Sébastien Provencher.

While I had been carrying out theoretical and choreographic research for several years on what links the ordeal to emancipation, I went through one of the most significant ordeals of my life, childbirth, a rite of such intensity that sweeps away all forms of intellectual research. Convinced that I had to focus on it, I started working on this piece a few days after learning that I was going to give birth a second time. It was with fatigue, nausea and raging hormones that this project first took shape. The path turned out to be winding because it was very intimate, very confronting. Time has passed. My children are now 1.5 and 4 years old. This journey into the folds of childbirth has become a point of support for exploring the power and sensuality of a body that freedom takes hold of for a moment; for recognizing all gestures of hyper-relationship to oneself, to bodies and to the world as being both private and political.

Nindy Banks is a dancer and dance instructor based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. She had the privilege of learning from hip hop pioneers in Montréal and the United States, and also practices krump under the mentorship of Vladimir “7Starr” Laurore. In 2015, she completed her Bachelor’s degree in Contemporary Dance at UQAM. With practices rooted in freestyle and her collaborations with various choreographers, Nindy developed a particular interest in exploring dance as a vehicle for emotions and sensations. Nindy accumulates experiences as a performer, notably with the dance company Ebnflōh and the interdisciplinary creation company We All Fall Down. She juggles with hip hop, krump and contemporary dance through various projects that allow her to travel around the world and to develop her artistic expression.

From Montréal, Delande “Djungle” Dorsaint is a professional dancer with the Ör Pür and Ebnflōh companies. He has touched several different styles, but specializes in house and hip hop. His skills have allowed him to take part in the Just For Laughs festival, Breaking Convention, 100Lux, World of Dance Qualifier, Dance to Win, Summer Dance Forever, and many more. Djungle has also worked with great choreographers in the field, such as Cindy McAuliffe, director of the Ör Pür company and the Urban-Element Zone studio, Andy Michel, Handy Yacinthe aka Monsta Pop, Alexandra “Spicey” Lande, and Angélique Willkie. For Djungle, dancing is much more than a hobby or a field in which he excels; it has become a way of life that allows him to continue to grow. In a quest for infinite fulfillment, the culture of street dance allows him to maintain the integrity of his person and his dance.

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 Montréal and New York. She is currently a dancer for the Ebnflōh dance company, led by Montréal 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 Philippe Boutin (The Rise of the BlingBling – 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 in 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 streetdance values remain an integral part of her artistic development.

Alexandra “Spicey” Landé is a Montréal choreographer and a major figure in hip hop dance in Québec. Her passion for this art began in the 80s, when she was very young. The symbiotic relationship she maintains with hip hop culture in her choreographic work constitutes the essence of her artistic signature. In 2005, she created the Bust A Move Festival, which has become the largest street dance competition in Canada. TOHU became its co-presenter. Spicey has also been a hip hop dance performer and teacher for almost 20 years. Wanting to push her artistic aspirations and shine the spotlight on street dance creation on contemporary stages, she founded the company Ebnflōh in 2015. She surrounds herself with accomplices and peers who fuel her creative process. Today, with Ebnflōh, Spicey builds a choreographic language specific to her vision. Her artistic signature, her involvement in the community and her contribution to the artistic community make her a driving force behind street dance creation in Canada.

This process originated from my interest in how clothing affects my movement. I noticed that the way I dressed significantly influenced how I felt about my dance. Initially, I approached this as a methodical research project, almost like a scientific equation: clothes + body = dance. It was about gathering data with a structured, research-driven mindset. However, I soon realized that it isn’t an objective matter. While a community might have a common understanding, the symbolism of a garment is deeply personal to the wearer. My interest evolved into exploring the effects of clothing on self-image and self-expression, and how these elements are conveyed through dance. So, yes, it’s about clothing and movement; but, fundamentally, it’s about me, in the clothes, in the dance.