Artistic Direction and Choreography : Louise Bédard

Dance : Sophie Corriveau and Louise Bédard

Artistic Advisor : Ginelle Chagnon
Animated Film : Pierre Hébert
Music : Ana Lara
Remixing and Additional Music : Michel F Côté
Costumes and Make-Up : Angelo Barsetti
Lights : Sonoyo Nishikawa

Running Time : 78 minutes

A Louise Bédard Danse production, in partnership with Théâtre La Chapelle.

Elles previewed at the Centennial Theatre in Lennoxville, on Novembre 9th 2002, before premiering at Théâtre La Chapelle, from Novembre 20th to the 30th, 2002.

The production has since toured at the University of Calgary Theatre, at the Firehall Theatre in Vancouver, at the Théâtre Hector-Charland in l’Assomption, at the Milano Oltre Festival (Italy), in Monterrey and Guadalajara (Mexico), and finally in Edmonton, before closing in Montmagny in Spring 2004.

" Elles is revealed as a place of multiple geographies.

The movement of these two beings is read as a chapter marked by an uncommon musicality, where interior voices rebound in echoes, reaching beyond our expectations.

Elles reflects what other women were, are and will be."

Louise Bédard

Elles reflects Louise Bédard’s desire to be inspired by the artistic works of women from different cultural communities of the 1920-50s. This Louise Bédard Danse creation constitutes the first chapter of Itinéraire multiple, a project spanning several years and representing the continuation of previous pieces, each a choreographic portrait of women: Braises Blanches (1990), Vierge Noire (1993) and Cartes postales de Chimère (1996).

Elles expresses Louise Bédard’s need to nourish and impregnate herself with foreign culture. With this creation, the choreographer takes an inspired look at the work of creative women, and more particularly, that of celebrated photographer Tina Moditti. Louise Bédard pays homage to this remarkable artist whose magnificent work immortalized Mexico of the 1920s. More specifically, it was the social, political and artistic issues she defended through her work which caught Louise Bédard’s attention. Drawn by Modotti’s work, the choreographer aims to create a piece inspired by the sensations and images that Tina Modotti’s photographs evoke in her, as well as by the photographer’s intriguing trajectory, era and adopted country.

Elles was driven by Louise Bédard’s desire to unify two bodies in a duo. On stage together, Louise Bédard and Sophie Corriveau constitute an exceptional pair. The choreographer surrounds herself with talented collaborators, including Mexican composer Ana Lara for the original score, Montréal film director Pierre Hébert for the motion-picture set design, Sonoyo Nishikawa for the lighting design and Angelo Barsetti for the costumes and make-up.

Change of scenery is essential to the project’s creative process, a choreographic itinerary composed of several residencies outside Montréal. Thus, the creative voyage began with a residency at the Centre culturel Aragon, on the outskirts of Paris, France, in April 2000, continuing in Canada at the Centennial Theatre in Lennoxville, Quebec, in August 2000, and in Hermosillo, Mexico, with Producciones La Lágrima in January 2001. In November and December 2001, Louise Bédard undertook two further residencies in Mexico: one in Tlaxcala and another at Mexico City’s prestigious Centro Cultural Helénico.

Elles appeared at Montréal’s Théâtre La Chapelle from November 20 to 30, 2002. This production then moved on to the University of Calgary Theatre, Vancouver’s Firehall Theatre and Théâtre Hector-Charland in l’Assomption in January 2003. It was selected for a festival in Milano, Italy and went back to Mexico, in Monterrey and Guadalajara in the fall of 2003. More recently, in spring 2004, it was in Edmonton and then in Montmagny for another short series of performances.

Louise Bédard Danse, in collaboration with the Maison de la culture du Plateau Mont-Royal, also exhibited the works of photographer Tina Modotti. Organized by curator Lucie Bureau, this photo exhibit took place at the Maison de la culture du Plateau Mont-Royal from November 8 to December 8, 2002. The Tina Modotti photo exhibit accompanied the dance production during some of its touring.

In the media

«Louise Bédard has an extraordinary ability to generate movement that plunges the spectator into the depths of the unconscious, into that nebulous mass off fear, gaiety, fantasy and conflict.»
Frédérique Doyon, Le Devoir
Montreal, Canada

«The interpretation is remarkable, amazing. Seeing Louise Bédard dance is always deeply moving, and here, she is intense, fluid, strong, precise and meticulous.»
Aline Apostolska, La Presse
Montreal, Canada

«A virtuoso dance (...) inventive and cerebral at the same time.»
Josée Chaboillez, Montréal Express
Montreal, Canada

«Bédard and Corriveau have stage chemistry and their skill as dancers – they are beautifully adept at precise, supple movement – fits the choreographer’s compositional beat.»
Philip Szporer, HOUR
Montreal, Canada

«The dancer's art is motion; that is fundamental. The magic is in making ordinary gestures, as Bédard often does, become a poem.»
Philip Szporer, The Dance Current
Toronto, Canada

«In my mind, this show is like an Ikebana, in which flowers are arranged in much the same way as a samurai unsheathes his sword, with the same concentration, the same controlled energy, and a combination of violence and serenity.»
Michel Thion, Writer
Lyon, France