Festival TransAmériques
Montréal - May 22 to June 5, 2025
page for programmers only
Is it possible to collaborate with someone even after they’re gone? If so, how can we continue that conversation? Can art help us process grief? Choreographer Thea Patterson tries to answer those questions in Un-nevering, created after her life partner and artistic collaborator Jeremy Gordaneer died suddenly, a victim of a still-unsolved homicide.
Patterson, working with Rachel Harris and Elinor Fueter, presents a performative installation that’s both visual and sonic. The three performers' presence is complemented by various objects that seem endowed with life: pulleys, rope, wooden tiles, microphones, boxing gloves… as they beckon us into a seemingly inanimate world, inviting us to see it differently. Together, they live alongside absence. Un-nevering is more than a tribute; it is an adventure in caring, in luminous listening, and in shared joy.
Originally from British Columbia, Thea Patterson is a Montreal-based choreographer, performer, and dramaturge, and a doctoral candidate in Performance Studies at the University of Alberta. Her approach to dance is broad and varied, and develops her proclivity for interdisciplinarity and the use of multiple artistic forms. Patterson cofounded and was a member of The Choreographers artists’ group from 2007 to 2015. She has worked extensively with dancer and choreographer Peter Trosztmer; she also collaborated with visual artist Jeremy Gordaneer, who died in 2021. More recently, she has acted as dramaturge to a number of artists, including Andrew Turner, Nate Yaffe, Sasha Kleinplatz, Lois Brown, and Susanna Hood.
Throughout her career, Patterson has fostered relationships of listening and complicity with objects, opening up to the potential of a vast, less subjective, and decentred intelligence. She values the movement of matter and all the possibilities of interrelationship it offers. Patterson nurtures indeterminacy, microevents, doubt, and the potential found in failure. She seeks neither efficiency nor productivity, privileging instead an aesthetics of conversation: Thea Patterson lets the things do what they have to do. Un-nevering is the first part of a triptych created in response to her partner’s death; an earlier version of the piece was presented at the 2023 edition of the OFFTA Live Art Festival in Montreal.
A performance by Thea Patterson – Conceived and choreographed by Thea Patterson in collaboration with Rachel Harris + Elinor Fueter – Performed by Thea Patterson + Rachel Harris + Elinor Fueter – Dramaturgy Lois Brown – Phenomenological Coach Peter Trosztmer – Sound Design David Dubline – Lighting Design Paul Chambers – Assistant Lighting Design Tim Rodrigues – Technical Direction Iohanne Wakal – Death Doula and Facilitation Ellen Furey – Voice Coach Susanna Hood – Artistic Consultation Nate Yaffe – Video Jeremy Gordaneer – Executive production Parbleux Distribution CAPAS • Label de danse – Coproduced by Festival TransAmériques – Creative residencies and supports Inception Parbleux + Studio 303 + La petite Place des Arts (Saint- Mathieu-du-Parc) + Festival OFFTA 2023 (Montreal) + Centre de création O Vertigo - CCOV + Mile Zero Dance - MZD (Edmonton) – Special thanks to ATLAS Program Impulstanz - Vienna International Dance Festival + Guy Cools + Mario LaMothe + Camille Renharhd + Winnie Ho + Neighbourhood Dance Works – NDW (St-John's) – Presented in collaboration with Espace Libre – Premiered at Mile Zero Dance (Edmonton), on April 18, 2025 – Written by Enora Rivière - Translated by Katia Grubisic.
Millepertuis is both a journey and a moment of blooming. Shifting between exuberance and surrender, this solo piece was created by choreographer Sovann Rochon-Prom Tep to showcase the personality, charisma, and boundless energy of his friend and collaborator, the exceptional street dancer Walid Hammani. Recklessness and euphoria gradually give way to calmness and gentleness, revealing the depths and contradictions within us along the way.
A master of popping and electro dance, Walid—a.k.a. Waldo—passes through a series of emotional trance states. The flamboyant costume, lighting effects, music, and demonstrations of skill, often used to conceal vulnerability, gradually drop away as he reveals himself, allowing us to see and view him differently: an act of disclosure reminiscent of the millepertuis plant (St. John's wort), whose dazzling yellow flowers contain a startling red oil.
Sovann Rochon-Prom Tep, aka Promo, has been immersed in the hip-hop scene since childhood. He joined the group Sweet Technique, with whom he participated in numerous breaking competitions and perfected his skills over the years. He has accumulated more than thirty victories to date and is regularly invited to participate in competitions around the world, sometimes as a participant, sometimes as a judge. Passionate about body control, he began training at the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, from which he graduated in 2015. Since graduating, he has worked with Animals Of Distinction, Wants & Needs, Castel_Blast, the RUBBERBANDance Group, 14 lieux, Lilith & Cie, and Susanna Hood. Eager to continue his artistic research, Sovann refines his approach to dance through his own creations and the various workshops he teaches. Now a member of Lorganisme, he has set up several stage creation projects featuring artists from various artistic communities: Un temps pour tout (2019) – presented at La Chapelle, Festival TransAmériques, Furies festival, Musée d'Art de Rouyn-Noranda – and Sam & Angèle (2022).
Produced by Sovann Rochon-Prom Tep – Choreographed by Sovann Rochon-Prom Tep – Performed by Walid « Waldo » Hammani Music Vithou Thurber-Prom Tep + Shash'U (Richard St-Aubin) – Lighting Design and Technical Direction Jonathan Cleveland – Costume Jasmine Lebel – Juste du feu (Artistic Direction) + Camille Thibault-Bédard (Design) + Guillaume Plourde (Textile Design) + Heirloom Hats (Hat) + Pénélope Dulude-de Broin
Artistic Advisors Marie Claire Forté + Handy « HYA » Hyacinthe – Executive Producer Lorganisme – Distribution CAPAS • Label de danse - Production Manager Maurice-G. Du Berger – Co-produced by Festival TransAmériques + Agora de la danse – Creative residencies Agora de la danse + Studio La Lola - Créations Estelle Clareton – Co-presented by Agora de la danse – Premiered at Festival TransAmériques, on May 23, 2025 – Written by Karine Denault – Translated by David Dalgleish.
Melt
Le Patin Libre
In a scorching future where ice, music and civilization no longer exist, a group of desperate yet happy skaters live on. Faced with the perils of a chaotic world, they survive together using their ingenuity, humor and love. Their friendship is only matched by their athleticism, as the four skaters glide, jump and dance their way to dizzying heights. From acrobatics to pirouettes, the performers take us into an ingenious reflection on what is precious in times of climate emergency. When ice caps, storms and fires will end, there will still be someone's hand to pull us towards the future.
With this choreographic project on roller skates, Le Patin Libre brilliantly transposes its ease from the ice to the stage, amazing young and old alike. Combining the athletic virtuosity of figure skating, the depth of contemporary dance and the sparkling joy of intelligent stage humor, Melt reminds us that there's no obstacle big enough to stop hoping.
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