Nuit - Jean-Pierre Perreault
The theme of the group as a microsociety is one of Jean-Pierre Perreault's leitmotifs. In Nuit, we find often anonymous yet endearing beings which win their freedom at the expense of separation from the group. Duets, solos and ensembles are alternated to form a mosaic of the multiple individual aspirations within a collective. Time is collective, cadenced by the simplicity of the steps.
Fluide - Harold Rhéaume
According to sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, the 2000s are the years of "liquid modernity", whereby network connections have replaced the overly stable concept of structure. This fluidity, which enables connection as much as disconnection, is explored in the choreography of Rhéaume. The social metaphor returns the focus to the individual. It is not so much the place of the individual within the collective community that is explored, but rather society built as a flexible and mobile network between individuals.
Rapaillé - Frédérique-Annie Robitaille et Dominique Desrochers
With its very personal way of interlacing individual and collective destinies, Gaston Miron's L'Homme rapaillé is considered one of the most important Quebecois novels of the 20th century. Like any language, dance relies on orality to remain alive. By setting their jig to the verses of Miron, the urban folklore collective Zogma literally puts the issue of identity in movement. Incarnated in the rhythms and bodies, the texts acquire a new sensuality. By incorporating the rhythms of language, dance becomes living memory and unleashes its entire range of meanings.
Gravel Works - Fredéric Gravel
A series of small choreographic scenes woven together into a quilt. It also brings to mind photographs taken with a polaroid camera; snapshots which are not necessarily refined but which attest to slices of life that one might put together to make a memory album of our multiple identities. A "trashy" aesthetic but without any serious weight, a nonchalant, postmodern community.
Mozongi - Zab Maboungou
This powerful, deeply rooted group piece uses the technique of loketo, which allows the breath to travel through the body in order to generate a rhythmic and postural engagement in movement that gives new energy and dynamism to the weight of the body. This comfortable, shared relationship with weight underscores the expression of Mozongi, in which the group is experienced as a network of individual roots. Onstage, dancers from different origins reunited by the breathing of the drums make full use of the floor into which it anchors a communion between humans and territory.
Grand continental - Sylvain Émard
For Sylvain Émard, Grand continental is a means of getting back to basics and restoring a sense of collectivity by breaking down the barriers between formal and popular dance. By involving non-professionals in his festive choreographic gatherings, the boundary between audience and participants is blurred, and dance becomes a place for conviviality, shared identity and common territory. The two prior months of rehearsals have created a strong sense of belonging within the group.