École de danse contemporaine de Montréal
Marie Chouinard + Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
ÉDIFICE WILDER | Espace Orange
May 20-23, 2025 - 7pm
May 23, 2025 - 1:30pm
25$
Discussion with the artists on May 21
Marie Chouinard + Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Les danses de mai, Opus 2026
After three years of intensive training, and on the threshold of their entry into the professional world, the graduating students of L’École de danse contemporaine de Montréal will be featured in Les danses de mai, Opus 2026, under the direction of Lisa Davies.
Henri Michaux : Mouvements by Marie Chouinard
In 1980, Marie Chouinard discovered the book Mouvements by Henri Michaux (1899-1984). In 64 pages of India-ink drawings, a 15-page poem and an afterword, Mouvements presents multiform figures that Marie Chouinard took pleasure in reading literally, left to right and page by page, as a choreographic score. She then proceeded to decrypt the great artist’s drawings and set dance to these “movements of multiple inkjets, a celebration of blots, arms moving up and down the scales.” The book’s transition to dance has been done “word for word”, for even the poem in the middle of the book, as well as its afterword, are included in the choreography. The drawings are projected in the background, allowing audience members to do a simultaneous personal reading of the Michaux score. Echoing the visual presentation of a white page with black drawings, performers dressed in black dance on a white floor.
Noetic by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Noetic explores man’s instinctive need to structure every detail of our existence, and our longing to break free of the rules and discover what lies beyond them. The dancers’ movements in Noetic are mechanical and automated in appearance. Larbi wants to show the audience how we create structure for and with one another. They build, change and deconstruct reality. The word “noetic” comes from the Greek word noetikos, which means “intuitive mind” or “inner ability”. Edgar Mitchell, the American astronaut who founded The Institute of Noetic Sciences dedicated to research the role of consciousness in human evolution, revived the use of the word. The set is designed by widely acclaimed artist Antony Gormley. It gives the dancers both bodily extensions and the constructive elements to create a potential architecture for individual and collective action. The harmonic and emotional music is composed by Szymon Brzóska, with traditional Japanese music by percussionist Shogo Yoshii, and vocals by Swedish singer Miriam Andersén.
Artistic and program director Lisa Davies
Production manager Alice Renucci
Choreographies Marie Chouinard, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Creation and performance advisor Isabelle Poirier
Staging Stephan Laks, Isabelle Poirier
Lighting design Thomas Godegroid
Costume design Jonathan Saucier
Dancers Laurianne Bergeron-Routhier, Lilly Bouvier, Nathan Buldakova, Coralie Caloz, Xalbat Corret, Angélyk Delisle-Hevey, Julie Dupin, Livia Fortin, Elouan Gourvennec, Alikisia Ikauno, Mélhya Kilic-Pégourié, Stephania Koujelev, Fanny Labbé, Solveig Langlois, Fanny Laplanche, Mathis Mailloux, Elisa Martin, Oli Pedneault-Doucet, Olivier Péloquin, Noémie Pino-Buisson, Margaux Pommier, Marine Rausis, Regine Sénatus-Lange, Catherine Simard
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui defies easy description: dancer, choreographer, opera director, composer… After seven seasons as ballet director at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Cherkaoui now helms the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève and his own contemporary dance company, Eastman. Cherkaoui works across many forms of art and performance, including theatre (Bunkamura, Young Vic), opera (De Munt, Bayerische Staatsoper), ballet (Paris Opera Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo), film (Joe Wright, Marjane Satrapi), music (Madonna, Beyoncé), and circus (Cirque du Soleil). His honours include two Olivier Awards, the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities, and a Tony Award nomination. In 2024, the King of Belgium granted Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui the noble title of Baron.
Stephan Laks is a Canadian dance artist working with Eastman/Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui as an artistic associate. Formerly, Stephan was the artistic manager of Ballet Vlaanderen, at the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, and was a member of the curating council for Dansens Hus (Sweden’s International Scene for Contemporary Dance) in Stockholm. Before this, he was a frequent collaborator with the choreographers Alan Lucien Øyen, Fernando Melo, and Stijn Celis. Before this, he worked as rehearsal director with the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, and for shorter periods with the Royal Swedish Ballet, Sasha Waltz & Guests, and the Staatsballett Berlin. From 2016 to 2018, at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada, Stephan was the Program Head for the Creative Gesture dance program, in close collaboration with former artistic director of dance at the centre Emily Molnar. He lives with his family in Antwerp.
Marie Chouinard was born in Québec City. At the age of 16, she spent 4 months alone in Percé, a seaside village in the Gaspé Peninsula known for its iconic rock formation, an experience that would transform her life. As a choreographer, she traveled the world over as soloist for 12 years before founding the COMPAGNIE MARIE CHOUINARD in 1990. Her works, radical and deeply resonant, with a singular signature, have stood the test of time and are part of the repertoires of major international ballet companies. She is also a director (films, apps, virtual reality works), an author (Zéro Douze, Chantiers des extases), and a visual artist (photography, drawings, installations, performance). She creates choreographic works for site-specific installations, for the screen, and in real-time for the web. She was named an Officière des Arts et des Lettres in France, is a Bessie Award recipient in New York, and has a star on the Walk of Fame in Sibiu, Romania. She has received some 30 of the most prestigious awards and honours. In 2011, she founded the Prix de la Danse de Montréal and, from 2017 to 2020, she served as Director of Dance at the Venice Biennale. Marie Chouinard is currently preparing a solo exhibition of her visual and performance works (2027).
Isabelle Poirier danced with Compagnie Marie Chouinard for 8 years before becoming a rehearsal director and assistant artistic director in 2006. She has participated in several international touring productions, including L’Après-midi d’un faune, Le Sacre du printemps, L’Amande et le diamant, Les 24 Préludes de Chopin, Le Cri du monde, Chorale, and the retrospective Les Solos 1978-1998. She currently works as a freelance rehearsal director and performer, and restages works for the company for various companies and schools. Since the beginning of her career, Isabelle has danced for several independent choreographers. She won the Linda Rabin Award in 2003 for her exemplary career. In 2015, she performed the solo Cartes postales de Chimère by choreographer Louise Bédard and, in 2016, Les choses dernières by Lucie Grégoire. Both works were created more than 20 years ago and have been passed on to her. She then participated in writing the choreographic boxes for these same works for the Jean-Pierre Perreault Foundation. A graduate of École de danse contemporaine de Montréal with a major in art history from Université de Montréal, she now teaches dance at Concordia University and is artistic advisor for Danièle Desnoyers, Rhodnie Désir, and graduates of École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. She is the interim artistic and training director and dance artist for Mouvement de passage. She conducts dance and music visits in long-term care facilities to meet with people who have lost their independence and/or are living with neurocognitive disorders, and teaches workshops on nonverbal communication for caregivers and patient attendants: “Être proche avant tout” (Being Close Above All Else).
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