Celebrating Dance at home!

Main text of post

April 29 will be completely different this year: you’ll have to celebrate International Dance Day from the comfort of home. No problem! Quebec’s artists are quickly expanding their online presence, and there’s plenty of great contemporary dance available. Here are five ways to mark the day at home!

Dance like Les Grands Ballets Canadiens

Home workouts and short videos
On Grands Ballets Canadiens Instagram

Athleticism, precision, energy and passion! At Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, they’re making the most of isolation by staying fit and practicing their classical dance moves. The famous Quebec company also gives you a novel way to rediscover its dancers: check them out in their new role as Instagram-based teachers and coaches! This is your chance to take a beginners’ ballet course, a barre course or special cardio and strength training. The dancers are committed to the project, and they’ll even answer all your questions live.

On ice with Le Patin Libre

Vertical Influences
Le Patin Libre

Contemporary skating is a cross between contemporary dance and figure skating. The brand-new discipline was invented by the creative choreographers of Le Patin Libre, a Montreal-based company with a worldwide following. Obviously, you can’t recreate your local rink in your living room, but there’s nothing stopping you from (re)discovering the sublime skating in the Vertical Influences. Watch the show online on the Mickaël Spinnhirny agency’s website, which presents a complete dance performance each week for you to enjoy at home

30 days with Paul-André Fortier

30x30
Paul-André Fortier

Now 71 and more than 50 years into his career, dancer and choreographer Paul-André Fortier is a living legend of Quebec contemporary dance. One of his more inspiring recent projects was 30x30, a solo show that he performed in public spaces each day at the same time for 30 consecutive days, treating passers-by to his refined yet unpredictable movements. One of those performances – recorded during the 2008 Dance Biennale in Lyon, France – is available for you to enjoy on numeridanse.tv. You can learn more about his art thanks to his performance on the Esplanade du Trocadéro in Paris.

Danse Danse as if you were (nearly) there

Streaming recordings of shows
On Danse Danse Facebook page

The world’s biggest names in contemporary dance and the leading lights of the Quebec dance scene always find their way to the stage at Théâtre Maisonneuve, where the Danse Danse organization presents them for appreciative Montreal audiences. These days, Danse Danse is holding court on Facebook, where it’s streaming recordings of shows by its guest companies. From Belgium’s Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui to home performances by the dancers of the Nederlands Dans Theater, the selection is top-notch.

En ces lieux, ils danseront, A PARTICIPATORY CHOREOGRAPHY PROJECT

En ces lieux, ils danseront (5 episodes)
La Fabrique Culturelle

Every body can express itself, dance, move. That’s the challenge set by Émilie Demers and Simon Ampleman, the choreographers behind these four short pieces created in collaboration with a group of CHUM patients suffering chronic pain. They change our outlook and bring some poetry to the hospital, some softness to illness. The project, called En ces lieux, ils danseront, is supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, in partnership with Télé-Québec’s La Fabrique Culturelle and the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM).