Sylvain Émard Danse

Dear audience,

We are absolutely delighted to see you again after this extended break. We are ready, the dancers are ready and you are ready. Thank you!

At last, Sylvain Émard's Rhapsodie will be able to unfurl all its suppressed energy. The subject is right on target: the celebration of the body letting loose. We all urgently need to see these bodies, to admire these amazing artists as they convey the emotions of the human experience of vibrant life.

We hope this encounter with the living arts brings you joy, healing and solace. You deserve them.

Enjoy the show!

Pierre Des Marais – Executive Director and Artistic Co-direcor
Caroline Ohrt – Artistic Co-direcor ans Director of Development

Team

Executive Director and Artistic Co-director Pierre Des Marais. Artistic Co-director and Director of Development Caroline Ohrt. Director, Accounting and Administration Kim Hoang, CPA, CGA. Production Manager Hervé Holdrinet. Director, Sales, Marketing and Communication Hélène Nadeau. Coordinator, Communications Julia Giehler. Media Relations Sheila Skaiem. Social Media Ariane Laget. Manager, Digital Marketing Anthony Cavigny. Manager, Cultural Action and School Services Claire Oliver. Coordinator, Special Projects and Events Evelyne Fournier Manager, Philanthropic Development and Partnerships Mihaela Machiodache. Manager, Customer Relations, Ticketing and Administration Marie Laporte. Stage Technicians Le Regroupement des techniciens de scène du Québec.

Board of Directors

PRESIDENT Emmanuelle Poupart, Partner – McCarthy Tétrault LLP. VICE PRESIDENT Michèle Meier, MBA, ASC, Senior Vice-President, Global Communications & Marketing - SNC Lavalin. TREASURER Thierry Pejot-Charrost, CPA, CA, Vice-President, Internal Audit and Risk Management – Transat A.T. Inc. ADMINISTRATORS Anik Bissonnette, Artistic Director - École supérieure de Ballet du Québec, Chantal Bouvier, President and CEO - Le Cercle des présidents du Québec. Nathalie Brunet, Portfolio manager and Investment advisor - National Bank Financial. Julie-Anne Côté, Consultant in museology. Pierre Des Marais, Executive Director and Artistic Codirector – Danse Danse. Jonathan Lachapelle, CFA, Director, Portfolio Construction, Total Portfolio - Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Sebastien Leblond, President & CEO - Capital RainMKRS Inc. Lucy Riddell, Vice Chair - R. Howard Webster Foundation. Nathalie Seïde, MBA, Pl. Fin, Senior Advisor, Integration and Marketing Implementation - Desjardins.

ADVISORY COMMITEE, COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING
Michèle Meier, MBA, ASC, Vice President, Communications, Corporate Marketing and CSR and International Affairs - Ivanhoé Cambridge. Delphine Hareux, Director, Marketing and Client Experience, BDC Business Development Bank of Canada. Isabelle Brosseau, Program Director - Rouge 107,3.

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Photo Caroline Ohrt + Pierre Des Marais © Damián Siqueiros.

Since ancient times, dance has brought people together. It contributes to creating a sense of community, and even though it currently exists in a wide variety of forms, it is a human response to a need for communication and exchange that goes beyond the rational and the predictable; a need to access a more intuitive dimension that is much more open to sensory perception. Whether dancing at a party or anonymously in a night club, or even attending a dance performance, dance brings people together. That same need for transcendence through dance is as apparent now as it was for our prehistoric ancestors. Although the form and content might be different, the medium remains the same – the human body, bodies completely committed to physical expression that is both primitive and contemporary. Is that behaviour born of a need to preserve a certain humanity? An attempt to access a form of mysticism and sensuality while still part and parcel of modernity? Personally, the ritual aspect underpinning to varying degrees these acts of communion helps me understand the world, and reassures me of our ability to preserve and protect our humanity.

The dancing body does not lie, and truth is too rare to be ignored.

Sylvain Émard
Choreographer & Co-general Director/Artistic, Sylvain Émard Danse

Photo Sylvain Émard © Cindy Boyce.

Sylvain Émard Danse

A prolific and internationally respected artist, Sylvain Émard created his own dance company Sylvain Émard Danse in 1990, quickly establishing a reputation for a very original style. Highly theatrical at first, his work soon evolved into a more formal approach to dance. Ever since Ozone, Ozone (1987), his first solo, up to Preludes (2020), a site specific diptych for 20 dancers, he has been exploring the territory of human nature through the force and strength of the body. His repertoire now includes over thirty original pieces that have had a resounding impact all over the world.

Renowned for his refined style and precise movement, his presentation in 2009 of Le Grand Continental^® at the Festival TransAmériques must have come to some as a surprise. Inspired by line dancing and contemporary dance, this unique piece has featured 3,000 non-dancers in several performances across Canada, the United States, Mexico, South Korea, New Zealand, Chile and Germany, attracting some 120,000 spectators. In September 2017, Le Super Méga Continental boasted 375 dancers in Montreal to celebrate the city’s 375^th anniversary in a monumental fashion.

Sylvain Émard’s unique style has led to invitations to work as guest choreographer in theatre, opera and cinema. These collaborations include his joining forces with Robert Lepage in 2005 to work on the opera 1984 by Lorin Maazel, presented in Royal Opera House in London and La Scala in Milan.

Sylvain Émard has received numerous prestigious awards, such as the Jean A. Chalmers Choreographic Award (1996). He is also co-founder of the Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique.

Rhapsodie 

A tribute to the liberating force of dance. Sylvain Émard has imagined a performance event inspired by the ritualistic aspect of dance, exploring the trance states it can at times unleash in its raw, primitive state. Rhapsodie celebrates the wild, volatile twists and turns of bodies outside the self, plunged into fervent, swirling movement, capturing the life force and the sometimes subversive abandon of bodies in movement.

An astute observer of his contemporaries, Sylvain Émard has always been fascinated by night clubs and dance halls and the people who frequent them, seeing them as a form of pagan ritual. His objective is to capture the essence conveyed by these manifestations and to create an original work that presents a snapshot of a society in constant upheaval.

Choreography Sylvain Émard. 

Dancers Lou Amsellem, Sophie Breton, Charles Cardin-Bourbeau, Matéo Chauchat, Félix Cossette, Marilyne Cyr, Marie-Michelle Darveau, Janelle Hacault, Mathieu Hérard, Kyra Jean Green, Christopher LaPlante, Alexandre Morin, Erin O’Loughlin, Mateo Picone, Raphaëlle Renucci, François Richard, Cara Roy, Marie-Philippe Santerre, Lila-Mae Talbot, Camille Trudel-Vigeant.

Rehearsals Daniel Villeneuve. 

Music Martin Tétreault & Poirier.

Lighting Design André Rioux.

Costumes Marilène Bastien.

Production Manager André-Anne Garneau.

Technical Director Audrey Janelle.

A Sylvain Émard Danse and Danse Danse co-production, supported by the Canadian National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund. This creation is also made possible thanks to Secretaría de Cultura, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura, Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA), the Centro de Producción de Danza Contemporánea (CEPRODAC) of Mexico and the Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie. 

DANCERS

Lou Amsellem

Sophie Breton

Charles Cardin-Bourbeau

Matéo Chauchat

Félix Cossette

Marilyn Cyr

Marie-Michelle Darveau

Janelle Hacault

Mathieu Hérard

Kyra Jean Green

Christopher Laplante

Alexandre Morin

Erin O'Loughlin

Mateo Picone

Raphaëlle Renucci

François Richard

Cara Roy

Marie-Philippe Santerre

Lila-Mae Talbot

Camille Trudel-Vigeant

Photos

Portrait Lou Amsellem © Julie Artacho. Portrait Sophie Breton © Frédérique Bérubé. Portrait Charles Cardin-Bourbeau © Jonathan Malenfant. Portrait Matéo Chauchat © Cara Roy. Portrait Félix Cossette © Philippe Provencher. Portrait Marilyn Cyr © Hugo B. Lefort. Portrait Marie-Michelle Darveau © Marie-Ève Dion. Portrait Janelle Hacault © Damian Siqueiros. Portrait Mathieu Hérard © Julie Artacho. Portrait Alexandre Morin © Carl-Hugo Poirier. Portrait Erin O'Loughlin © Valérie Boulet. Portrait Mateo Picone © Frédérique Rosso. Portrait Raphaëlle Renucci © Maxim Côté. Portrait François Richard © Bobby Leon. Portrait Cara Roy © Ariane Famelrat. Portrait Marie-Philippe Santerre © Fannie Laurence. Portrait Lila-Mae Talbot © Jean Soreil. Portrait Camille Trudel-Vigeant © Yvens B.

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