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Le Piaf (1998) - painting by Richard Morin
New creation – Tales for Naughty Children
In January, Pierre-Paul Savoie and Marie-Josée Chartier began choreographic research for their most recent creation for young audiences: Tales for Naughty Children (Contes pour enfants pas sages). This piece, based on the tales of Jacques Prévert, fuses dance, theatre, music and song.
477 students from underprivileged neighbourhoods in Montreal followed the first phase of research, by attending three workshops, each one marking a distinct stage in the adaptation process of a work from literary form into scenic and choreographic form.
First of all, readings given by actresses Françoise Faucher and Sophie Faucher introduced the students to Prévert’s texts. The students then participated in a creation laboratory. A final meeting took place in April, during which these students were able to re-discover some of the Prévert tales, this time in choreographic form.
These activities benefited from the support of Conseil des arts de Montréal’s Libres comme l’art program and of the Ministère de l’Éducation du Sport et du Loisir (MÉSL) and its support program to Montreal schools (PSÉM), as well as the collaboration of the Maisons de la culture Frontenac, Mercier and Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
The première is scheduled for November 2010 as part of
the Festival
Les Coups de Théâtre in Montreal.
. and the air felt like it would burst into flames. (Pierre-Paul Savoie)
Photo : Alexandre Pilon-Guay
Ado’danse - a cultural mediation project
Continuing its collaboration with Agora de la danse and Ecole Saint-Louis, PPS Danse participated for a second year running in a cultural mediation project in the school milieu.
Over 200 people, adolescents in the third and fifth years of high school and their teachers, participated in several activities: conference-demonstrations of the works of PPS Danse, public rehearsals and performances of works from the Diasporama cycle, workshops combining dance and school curriculum content, choreography and creation workshops.
Close to thirty activities in all took place in the context of Ado’danse, giving rise to a documentation of the overall experience by Mrs. Hélène Duval.
20th anniversary festivities
Last November (2009), PPS Danse celebrated its 20th anniversary at Agora de la danse (Montreal) with an array of activities: a forum on exile and creation moderated by René Derouin, a third edition of Rencontres interdisciplinaires (‘Interdisciplinary Encounters’) and, of course, nine performances of the complete Diasporama cycle featuring the works of Canadian artists living abroad. Many thanks to all those who participated and collaborated in these events, and who contributed to their success.
Through the Rencontres interdisciplinaires benefit event, PPS Danse was able to collect over $10 000. The Placement culture program of Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec allows the company to triple these donations by placing them in an endowment fund. These funds will later be re-invested in our future creations.
Alexandre Désilets, Susie Arioli, Thomas Hellman, Jordan Officer
Many thanks to the musicians Alexandre Désilets, Thomas Hellman, and to the Susie Arioli band featuring Jordan Officer, who lent themselves to the game of sharing the stage during their songs with dancers Carol Prieur, Luciane Pinto, David Rancourt and the dancers of Sinha Danse and PPS Danse.
These encounters between music and dance made for a unique evening, punctuated by surprises, wonderment and humour. We also wish to extend our warmest thanks to the funding committee, SAQ, Bistro etc., Agora de la danse and of course to our generous donors, for this third edition of Rencontres interdisciplinaires.