During a series of residencies in Montréal in 2019, choreographer Lesandra Dodson, dancers Marc Boivin and Elise Vanderborght, and songwriter Christine Fellows inhabited a fantastical visual world where axolotls swim through dreamscapes, centipedes metamorphize into windshield wipers, and sighs become signs. With a pair of sharp scissors and an eye for the surreal, Winnipeg songwriter Christine Fellows generated a series of paper collages that became the key inspiration for both choreography and music. Aquarium contains creatures both real and imagined, longing for connection, transforming before our very eyes.
Marc Boivin
Dancer, improviser, teacher and choreographer Marc Boivin began his dance career at Le Groupe de la Place Royale in Ottawa under the directorship of Peter Boneham and in 1985 joined Ginette Laurin and her newly formed company O Vertigo Danse. Since 1991 he has worked as an independent dancer, performing among others for Louise Bédard, Mélanie Demers, Sylvain Émard, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Tedd Robinson and Catherine Tardif. Affiliated with L’École de danse contemporaine de Montréal since 1987, Boivin guest teaches and choreographs in schools and professional organizations across Canada. He has been president of the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault since 2006, was president of Regroupement québécois de la danse (2010-2014), and a member of the Montreal Arts Council board (2005-2010). He is the recipient of the Canada Council’s Jacqueline-Lemieux prize (1999) and the Dora Mavor Moore award (2014) for interpretation, in Mélanie Demers’ WOULD, alongside Kate Holden.
Christine Fellows
Christine Fellows finds music in sounds we tend to take for granted: the voices of the people we love, the sounds of the spaces we move through as part of our daily lives. Although she identifies primarily as a songwriter and performer, her practice includes poetry, spoken word, paper collage, stop-motion video, sound design, and composition. Fellows is based in Winnipeg, Treaty One Territory, where she collaborates with artists from all disciplines to create and produce performance works and recordings. She first collaborated with Lesandra Dodson in Winnipeg in the mid-1990s, and has maintained a strong connection to and appreciation for contemporary dance—Lesandra’s extraordinary work in particular—throughout the years. She is thrilled to be collaborating with Elise and Marc for the first time.
Elise Vanderborght
Elise studied ballet in Belgium and Paris before moving to Montréal in 1997 to study at the École Supérieur de Danse du Québec. Between 1998-2005, she worked with numerous Montreal-based choreographers and companies, including: Marie Chouinard, Jean Grand-Maître, Lucie Grégoire, la Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, Montréal Danse, Deborah Dunn and Danièle Desnoyers. In 2005, Elise moved to Halifax where she worked with Lisa Phinney Langley, Ruth-Ellen Kroll Jackson, Mocean Dance, Verve Mwendo, and SINS Dance. Elise returned to Montréal in 2016 and is currently working with Daina Ashbee. Her eleven years in Nova Scotia fostered unbreakable Atlantic bonds and she revels in her interactions with the East Coast dance community. This is her first collaboration with Lesandra Dodson and she is very excited to premiere this work in St.John’s.
Lesandra Dodson
Lesandra Dodson is a former dancer from Vancouver, now based in Fredericton NB. Her experiences at Simon Fraser University, the Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers Professional Program, Le Groupe Dance Lab, WCD, Trip Dance Company, and performance work with various luminous Canadian choreographers galvanized her interest in symbiotic creation. As a choreographer, she draws inspiration from individual performers, working collaboratively to find different means and perspectives of approaching theatrical ideas and themes. Over 30 years, she has performed and created many works nationally and internationally. She counts herself lucky to have worked with an impressive array of remarkable artists, including long-time collaborator Christine Fellows.
Lesandra is the Program Director at the Fredericton Playhouse. She oversees six different education, residency, and outreach programs, and curates a multidisciplinary presenting series.
Throughout her cross-country career she has been committed to creating key initiatives and opportunities that support and mentor emerging artists.
Performers/collaborators: Marc Boivin, Elise Vanderborght
Director/choreographer: Lesandra Dodson
Music and sound design: Christine Fellows
Paper collages/stop motion animation: Christine Fellows
Video: Lesandra Dodson
Text excerpts: ‘Axolotl’ by Julio Cortazar; text voiceover Camille & Clara Caskey Vanderborght
Costume design: Lesandra Dodson and Christine Fellows
Lighting design: Brian Kenny
Stage Manager: TBD (same as NDW)
Funding acknowledgments to the Canada Council for the Arts, Winnipeg Arts Council
Thanks to Studio 303 for the residency, Montreal Arts Council studios, La Poele, Lucie Gregoire, and Circuit-Est
Special thanks to NDW, Calla Lachance, Santiago Guzmán, LSPU Hall crew, and our families.
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