Dieu ne t’a pas créé juste pour danser (2008-2018)
February 2018
The piece celebrated its 10th Anniversary in 2018. The piece had a 9-week re-creation residency in the Maisons de la culture network in Montreal, followed by a quebec tour in the spring of 2018, in the winter of 2019 and the spring of 2020.
Dieu ne t’a pas créé juste pour danser (God did not create you to dance) glorifies contemporary dance as it is, in all its plurality, with its strengths, idiosyncrasies and flaws. Through its mocking airs, the piece draws the portrait of that It factor, of these « je-ne-sais-quoi » (indescribable qualities) defining dance and what we enjoy in it.
Beyond its apparent lightness, Dieu ne t’a pas créé juste pour danser openly questions our tastes (even the supposedly indisputable ones), our expectations and our appreciations of dance shows. What touches us, entertains us, makes us think? Don’t our failures and mistakes sometimes reveal themselves as fragile, human, alive and moving?
Choreographer : Marie Béland
Dancers and collaborators to the creative process : Dany Desjardins, Zoey Gauld, Simon-Xavier Lefebvre, Anne Thériault
Musical selection and DJ : MC Gilles
Dramaturg : Katya Montaignac
Rehearsal directors : Marilyne St-Sauveur and Rachel Harris
Light designer : Alexandre Pilon-Guay Costume designer : Marie Béland, assisted by Sarah Dubé Technical direction : Mélanie Primeau
Length : 80 minutes (general audience version), 70 minutes (young audience version, 14 years old +) Premiere : October 16th, 2008 at Tangente, Montréal, Canada Premiere of the recreation version : March 21st, 2018 at Maison de la Culture Claude-Léveillée Direction of the diffusion : Art Circulation / maribé – sors de ce corps and Montréal Danse are associated to the companies Danse-Cité, MAYDAY and Par.B.L.eux.
Teaser of the 2018 version
For the re-creation, the show was subject to documentary capsules, piloted by Claudia Chan Tak. To view all capsules (a total of six will be published before the beginning of 2019), click here.
ABOUT THE SHOW :
“If you know people who’ve never been to a dance show, this is the one you need to bring them to and get them all caught up. How often do you see a contemporary dance show where the audience claps during the show?”
– Sylvain Verstricht on indyish.com 18 octobre 2008
“With three memorable creations, Marie Béland has established herself as one of the singular young talents of Québecois dance”
– Aline Apostolska, La Presse, 11 octobre 2008
“Marie Béland is already impressing us with the originality and audacity of her choreographic propositions. […] She possesses a sense of humour that echoes in the hearts of her spectators”
– Marie-France Garon, Musée Vivant, 23 octobre 2008
“Criticizing the hermitic nature of certain works, she avoids addressing herself only to an initiated audience” – Lili Marin, Le Devoir, 17 octobre 2008
VIDEOS :
Interview of the team, November 2018 :
PHOTOS :
maribé – sors de ce corps would like to thank the Conseil des Arts de Montréal, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, José Navas/Compagnie FLAK, the Cirque du Soleil, the Place des Arts and Jeunes Volontaires d’Emploi-Québec for their support.
Katya Montaignac / dramaturge
From 1995 to 2002, Katya Montaignac danced in Paris for the company La Gorgone directed by Vincent Lahache. Since 1998, she has contributed as a dance critic to several publications, including the journal JEU. In 2001, in Paris, she conceived the project Raymond, a solo for n interpreters that has brought together around fifty individuals, dancers or not. This project has been presented in France and Quebec more than thirty times. Member of La 2e Porte à Gauche since 2006, she regularly signs the artistic direction of her productions (Blind date,9 ½ apart., the pARTy, 4quART, Danse à 10, Rendez-vous à l’hôtel and Pluton). Since 2007, Katya has created «Unidentified Dancing Objects» (Danses invisibles in 2007, Corps anonymes in 2009). As dance doctor, she treats the ailments of choreographers as a dramaturge, notably with Marie Béland, Frédérick Gravel, Milan Gervais and Isabel Mohn. She teaches in the dance department of UQAM and is also involved as a curator, notably for the OFFTA during 7 years.
Simon-Xavier Lefebvre has always been prone to sports hyperactivity and developed an interest in movement and space from his first contact with martial arts. In his early twenties, when he was completing his undergraduate degree in biology, his thoughts were still rooted in the rehearsal studio. He decided to turn definitively towards dance following a meeting with Daniel Léveillé. After a year of study at the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, he was invited into the creative process of Un peu de tendresse, bordel de merde by Dave St-Pierre. To date, there have been numerous collaborations: Marie Béland, Andrew Turner, Anne Thériault, Virginie Brunelle, Sasha Kleinplatz, Estelle Clareton, Pierre Lecours, Hélène Blackburn, Estelle Clareton, Martin Messier, Milan Gervais, Frédérick Gravel and Parts & Labour. Simon-Xavier has also appeared on stage for some theatre projects, notably with Éric Jean, Mani Soleymanlou and Jérémie Niel. In 2020, Simon-Xavier participated in the revival of La vie attend (Parts and Labour), and was part of the touring team for Some Hope for the Bastards (DLD/Frédérick Gravel).
A graduated of the Cégep de Saint-Laurent and Université du Québec à Montréal, Marilyne St-Sauveur danced in the works of Marie-Julie Asselin, Marie Béland, Lynda Gaudreau, Frédérick Gravel, Emmanuel Jouthe, OSEZ! /Karine Ledoyen, Dean Makarenko, Andrew Tay and Katie Ward. These projects have taken her everywhere on the Quebec and Canadian stages, but also in the United States, France, England and Belgium. Marilyne has taught dance at UQAM, Collège Montmorency and has taught at the Dance Department of Cégep de Saint-Laurent since 2004. She also works as rehearsal coach in dance and theatre. Thanks to her Ageless Grace certification, she shares her dance with seniors with the company Danse Carpe Diem.
A singular creator and performer, Anne Thériault has been weaving collaborations with artists from multiple backgrounds for more than ten years: with composer Martin Messier, she co-created Derrière le rideau, il fait peut-être nuit (FTA 2011) and Con grazia (FTA 2016) ; the performance Doux (Actoral 2016) with visual artist Julie Favreau, and with the company BOP, Quatuor pour la fin du temps (OFFTA 2017) alongside Karina Champoux, Frédéric Tavernini and Dave St-Pierre. In particular, she approached the theatre on the occasion of Ainsi parlait… by Frédérick Gravel & Étienne Lepage, and La Fureur de ce que je pense by Marie Brassard. She is a founding member of Lorganisme, a structure for choreographers. She is also an associate artist at Usine C, where she recently presented her latest opus: Récital (FTA 2018). Currently, Anne Thériault is working on new research projects, collaborating with several artists as an artistic advisor and is invited to curate the COMPAGNONNAGE 21 event by Danièle Desnoyers/Le Carré des Lombes, which takes place in winter 2021. The artist is invited for a period of 3 years, as a researcher at L’L, an experimental research structure in the living arts, located in Brussels.
Photo : Lucie Rocher
Initiated into modern dance in London (Ontario), N. Zoey Gauld pursuited professional training at LADMMI in Tiohtià:ke/ Montréal (Québec). Zoey is a white Anglo-Canadian woman who lives, works and studies in the unceded territory of Kanien’kehá:ka. In parallel with the pursuit of her master’s degree in dance at the Université du Québec à Montréal, Zoey is currently collaborating with Audrée Juteau, Ellen Furey and Catherine Lavoie-Marcus/L’Annexe-A, Sasha Kleinplatz, Créations Estelle Clareton and Marie Béland/maribé – sors de ce corps, and co-produced with Emmanuelle Bourassa Beaudoin a series of videos documenting Angélique Willkie’s teaching practice. Over the past fifteen years, Zoey has worked with artists Marie Béland, Allie Blakley, Johanna Bundon, Estelle Clareton, Manon De Pauw, Paula De Vasconcelos, Deborah Dunn, Thierry Huard, Laurel Koop, Dean Makarenko, Pierre-Marc Ouellet, Bee Pallomina, Dominique Porte, Jacques Poulin-Denis, Harold Rhéaume, Michèle Rioux, Paul-Antoine Taillefer, Andrew Tay, Ashlea Watkin, Nate Yaffe. Zoey studied choreography with kg Guttman at Concordia University. She creates solos and dances in private, in public and on the Internet.
Dany Desjardins began his artistic approach at a very young age through drawing and theatre. After his studies in visual arts at Alma, he completed a dance program in Drummondville and continued his studies at LADMMI in Montreal. Since March 2007, Dany has worked for the company Marie Chouinard, PPS Danse, Dave St-Pierre inc, Bouge de là, KparK, maribé – sors de ce corps, and collaborated with choreographers Catherine Gaudet, George Stamos, Emmanuel Jouthe, David Pressault and Kathy Ward.
He composes Shitoi & Dordur for Danses Buissonnières 2007 les classes. With this same piece, he participated in the Festival TransAtlantique, Vue sur la relève and won the Cirque du soleil grant in 2008. He then presents his second piece All villains have a broken heart as part of Danse Buissonnière 2008_les gradués, and was part of OFFTA’s 2009 program. From CALQ, Dany received a residency grant in Berlin where he created the solo On Air presented at Tangente, Piss in the pool and the Transatlantique festival. Pow Wow was presented at Théâtre Lachapelle in October 2011 and his latest solo project Winnin’ in December 2014. As a movement consultant, he collaborates with the company La Tortue Noire and creates Daidalos in 2012.
Dave Ouellet alias MC Gilles / recherchiste musical et DJ
Titulaire d’un baccalauréat en science politique, Dave Ouellet est aussi connu sous le nom de MC GILLES. Il a entre autre géré deux radios FM durant 8 ans, soit CHYZ 94,3 Québec et CISM 89,3 Montréal pour ensuite se tourner vers l’animation radio et télé. Il anime une émission radiophonique satirique diffusée dans 7 villes au Canada, en France et dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest en plus de collaborer à l’émission de Paul Arcand Puisqu’il faut se lever . Il a participé aux émissions télés 5 à 7 francos , Gros Show , Oups 2007 , Musicographie Humour , Révolution Country , La Fureur en plus de Tévé Tourista et Oups 2007 qu’il a co-animé et co-scénarisé.
Il travaille toujours à titre de chroniqueur à l’émission Infoman sur la SRC. Son statut de maître de cérémonie (MC) et de disc jockey (DJ) l’amène à présenter et animer des spectacles humoristiques aux quatre coins du Québec, du Festival de la chanson de Granby aux galas de l’industrie indépendante de la musique. Il a été journaliste indépendant pour une dizaine de quotidiens et d’hebdomadaires dont je journal La Presse. Il poursuit également ses activités à titre de consultant radiophonique auprès du CRTC et d’Industrie Canada pour différents médias québécois. www.mcgilles.com
Graduated in 2003 from the Option-théâtre of Collège Lionel-Groulx, Alexandre Pilon-Guyay quickly joined the Montreal dance community. He has collaborated with choreographers such as Virginie Brunelle, Mélanie Demers, Frédéric Gravel, Antonija Livingstone, Les Sœurs Schmutts, Lynda Gaudreau and the Pierre-Paul Savoie dance company. His work does not end on premiere evenings, since he likes to follow the companies on tour and rework the lighting so as to make «tailor made» according to the different venues. For more than ten years now, he has been involved in the development of performances by choreographer Dave St-Pierre, whose creations have been seen in Montreal and across Europe. In theatre, Alexandre was part of the team for the adaptation of the Grand Cahier and Amuleto directed by Catherine Vidal. He has also worked with Emmanuel Schwartz, Alice Ronfard, Jérémie Niel, Justin Laramée, Momentum and Transthéâtre. He is, since 2012, associate artist at the Théâtre La Chapelle.
Artist in constant development, Alexandre Pilon-Guay is inspired by the performers’ gestures and their relationship to the surrounding space. It gives full space to the play of the body and the light. The light in the pure state, that is what could characterize its gait. No futility is allowed, the darkness and the black are not the result of an oversight or an error, but the complement of the directed light.
Native from Vancouver, Rachel Harris moved to Montreal in 1990 and continued her training at l’École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. Following her training, she joined Danse Partout in Quebec and co-founded Amorce Danse Théâtre. She collaborates, throughout her career, with the choreographers Blanca Arrieta, Marie Béland, Martin Bélanger, Sarah Bild, Sarah Chase, Estelle Clareton, Margie Gillis, Anne-Marie Giroux, Benjamin Hatcher, Avi Kaiser, Benoît Lachambre, Caroline Laurin-Beaucage, Helge Letonja, Jean-Sébastien Lourdais, Jean-Pierre Mondor, José Navas, Aurélie Pédron, Jean-Pierre Perreault, George Stamos, Mariko Tanabe and Paula de Vasconcelos. She created in 2002-2003 The Coyote Project, a work for four performers, in close cooperation with the Nlaka’pamux community of British Columbia. Since 2011, she has been teaching for women in shelters as part of the Dance Against Violence program..
