In recent years, choreographer Louise Bédard has found inspiration for several of her creations in the lives and work of female visual artists from other cultures. Notably, it has been the case with her duet Elles, inspired by the Mexican-Italian photographer Tina Modotti and Ce qu’il en reste, influenced by the German collage artist, Hannah Höch. Elaborated with the assistance of artistic residencies in Mexico and Germany respectively, the projects also involved artistic collaborators from both countries within the production: the contemporary Mexican composer Ana Lara in the case of Elles and dancer Lea Helmstädter for Ce qu’il en reste. Finally, both creations included parallel visual exhibitions organized by the company and held jointly with the dance production.

For her new creation, Louise Bédard will once again take her departure point from a female visual artist, this time the Canadian painter of Hungarian origin, Marianna Gartner. Working in both Europe and Canada, this singular artist uses archival photos in combination with her painting to create hyper-realistic tableaux where her subjects reveal, literally and visually, their contradictions, their handicaps, and their own metamorphosis, directly confronting the viewer with the dilemmas of contemporary life. In her own creative process, Louise Bédard seeks to create moments of confrontation from apparently contradictory elements: interior versus exterior; beauty and ugliness; tenderness and violence; the stasis of images and painting with the body in movement. This new creation will result in a piece for six dancers.

Artistic Direction ans Choreography : Louise Bédard

Interpretation : Tom Casey, Jean-François Déziel, Marie-Claire Forté, Victoria May, Ken Roy and Sarah Williams

Music : Diane Labrosse

Costumes and Make-Up : Angelo Barsetti

Lights : Bruno Rafie

Video : David Fafard

Set Design : Geneviève Lizotte

World Premiere : September 25, 2008, Usine C, Montreal