Fortier Danse-Création

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Paul‑André Fortier has made an immense contribution to contemporary dance in Canada as a pioneering creator, performer and teacher. He has created some 50 choreographies, including solos, group pieces and site-specific works. A performer with a striking presence, this self-described “man who dances” challenges himself by imposing spatial, time and technique constraints that push his own limits and those of his art. Inspired by the crossover of various artistic disciplines, he has collaborated with other leading artists, including Françoise Sullivan, Betty Goodwin, Rober Racine, Alain Thibault, Robert Morin and Malcolm Goldstein. 

Paul‑André Fortier began his performance career in the 1970s as a member of Le Groupe Nouvelle Aire, dancing in some of the first works of his peers (Edouard Lock, Daniel Léveillé). In 2010, he was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. In 2012, he received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award and was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2018, he received the Ordre national du Québec. At the age of 70, Paul‑André Fortier is still performing, offering audiences a unique take on dance polished by maturity.

A passionate activist, a partisan of movements and ideas, Étienne Lepage made a splash as a playwright shortly after graduating from the National Theatre School of Canada with Rouge gueule. Premiered in 2009, the play drew attention for its ferocious tone and ruthlessly precise language. L’enclos de l’éléphant (Festival TransAmériques 2011) was the recipient of the AQCT award for best original script. In 2012, the Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui presented Robin et Marion, a cruel questioning of love. Ainsi parlait… (FTA 2013), a radical, provocative play that marked the first collaboration between Étienne Lepage and Frédérick Gravel, went on to tour in Canada, France and the Netherlands.

A screenwriter and translator, Étienne has also successfully ventured into theatre for young audiences, notably with Histoires pour faire des cauchemars, premiered in Brussels and presented at the Coups de théâtre festival in 2012. More recently, at the Maison Théâtre, he reimagined the fairy tale The Snow Queen as a puppet show entitled Le cœur en hiver.

From the outset, Étienne Pilon has worked with such leading directors as Alice Ronfard, Claude Poissant, René‑Richard Cyr, Yves Desgagnés, Louise Laprade, Michel Nadeau, Jean Leclerc, Geneviève Blais, Maxime Denommée, Philippe Ducros and Olivier Kemeid. Performing in both classics of the repertoire and new works by Quebec playwrights, he carved out his place in the Quebec theatre community and appeared in numerous productions in Montreal and Quebec City. In 2015, he was part of the cast of Richard III, directed by Brigitte Haentjens for the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde.

Étienne made his screen debut in the TV series Nos étés, directed by Francis Leclerc. In La Promesse, he played Charles in the show's last three seasons, and joined the cast of Destinées (as Simon) for its last two seasons. In film, he was featured in recent projects by groundbreaking director Olivier Godin; Nouvelle Nouvelle was ranked one of the top 30 films of the year 2014, in all countries, by Panorama Cinéma magazine; and Boutique de Forge was named best Canadian short film at the Festival du nouveau cinema in 2012.

Jackie Gallant is a musician, performer and videographer for dance, video, theatre and film. She began her musical career as a drummer for several Montreal rock groups. Since then, she has toured internationally with performers as diverse as La La La Human Steps and Lesbians on Ecstasy. As a solo artist, she performs sample-based improvised sound pieces featuring electronic drums and other instruments. Most recently, she has worked with choreographers George Stamos and Julienne Doko, dancers Sarah Williams and Karen Fennell, and actor/director Marie Brassard, among others.

Jock Munro has enjoyed a long and varied career lighting all genres of the performing arts. Lighting designs in theatre, dance and opera include: the NAC (over 60 productions), the Stratford Festival (15 seasons), the Shaw Festival, the Canadian Opera Company and most regional theatres in Canada. 

Mr. Munro’s dance lighting career began with Jean‑Pierre Perrault at Le Groupe de la Place Royale. As Resident Lighting Designer for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal: eleven premieres from 1996 to 2001. With Édouard Lock: Étude (GBC), Éxaucé/Salt, Amélia, Amjad (La La La Human Steps), Touch to Include (Nederlands Dance Theatre), André Auria (Opéra de Paris). With Guillaume Coté and the National Ballet of Canada: Dark Angels. With Jean Grand‑Maître and Alberta Ballet: Caelestis. With Emily Molnar and Ballet BC, Keep Driving, I’m Dreaming. 

Jock Munro wishes to thank Paul-André Fortier for so many wonderful collaborative opportunities over the years. With Paul-André Fortier at Fortier Danse-Création: Tension, Risque, Lumière, Cabane, Vertige, Misfit Blues, Solo 1X60 (Yamaguchi, Japan), and Spirale (Ballet de Lorraine, Nancy).

Marc Séguin was born in Ottawa on March 20, 1970. He obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University and currently divides his time between Montreal and New York. His works can be found in the collections of renowned museums and galleries around the world, including the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. His prints and paintings can be found in numerous Canadian corporate collections and those of major private Canadian and American collectors. Marc has held more than 20 solo shows and participated in group exhibitions and art fairs around the world, including in Madrid, Barcelona, Venice, Berlin, Cologne, New York, Miami, Chicago, Brussels and Namur. The bulk of his artistic production consists of large-format works of astonishing proportions, where the abstract and the figurative coexist within the same frame. He offers a social and human critique on the recurrent themes of destruction, life and death. His works are often controversial, both for their subject matter and for the media he uses (pigments made with human ashes, for instance, or stuffed animals), and leave no one indifferent. Marc is a talented printmaker as well as a prolific painter, and his prints constitute a large proportion of his artistic output. 

He is also a writer: his debut novel, La foi du Braconnier (2009), won the 2011 Prix des Collégiens, and his two subsequent novels, Hollywood (2012) and Nord Alice (2015), garnered rave reviews from literary critics. Like his paintings, Marc Séguin’s novels invite us to reflect on life, death, love and destruction.