ODE

Rodrigo Alvarenga-Bonilla began dancing at the age of five, when he joined a Salvadoran folk dance troupe. He learned Hip-Hop, Popping and Breaking in youth centres as well as on his own. He then took classes at Studio Party Time in Québec City and joined PNT Dance Company. In 2013, he formed the group MARVL, taking part in the TV show Révolution and with whom he toured the show JAM across Québec.

A 2019 graduate of the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, Rodrigo continues to develop his personal style, blending Break, contemporary and acrobatics. He collaborates with various choreographers and contemporary dance companies such as Destins Croisés, Sylvain Émard, Marie Béland, Hèlene Simard, Catherine Gaudet and Tentacle Tribe. He is also working on a few projects with Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Éloize.

 

 

 

Stacey Désilier is passionate about movement, the possibilities of the body and is fascinated by dance. She realized early on that she wanted dancing to become her profession. She pursued professional studies at the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, which led her to collaborate with choreographers Tentacle Tribe, George Stamos, Nord Nord Est company and the show Après la nuit, the Opera of Québec City, Cirque Éloize and Helen Simard. In 2018, Stacey joined Dana Gingras’ company Animals of Distinction. Following these fruitful years in large-scale shows, she was drawn into the rich world of Mélanie Demers. As soon as she joined Mayday, she expanded her knowledge through several challenges, two films, a podcast, a solo extracted from the Icône Pop repertoire and two new creations: La Goddam Voie Lactée and Cabaret Noir.

Her first choreographic work, Pythagore mon corps, won the Coup de Coeur Award at the Festival Quartiers Danses in 2018. Her choreographic adventure continues thanks to Montréal Danse, which invited her to do Research event in 2023. She believes in the meeting of cultures through dance and nourishes the desire to continue sharing artistic experiences.

 

 

Originally from the small town of Pembroke, Ontario, Clara Biernacki began her artistic journey at a young age. She completed her secondary education studying dance at Alberta Ballet School’s Professional Division and is a graduate from École de Danse Contemporaine de Montréal. Clara has had the opportunity to perform the works of choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Shahar Binyamini, Sylvain Émard, Sofia Nappi, Dana Gingras, and many others, working professionally with Compagnie Catherine Gaudet and Lucie Grégoire Danse. Driven by the exploration of sensation, she utilizes the body as a landscape for abstraction and mutation, engaging with
both physically rigorous and intimate movement.

 

 

 

 

Aurélie Ann Figaro is a performer originally from Haiti. In addition to training in traditional Haitian dance with Shérane Figaro and classical dance technique at the Académie du Ballet Métropolitain, she graduated from the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal in 2022.

She has since worked with Sylvain Émard Danse, RD Créations, WAFD Interdisciplinary Creations and Catherine Gaudet. Ancestrality, eclecticism and versatility guide Aurélie on her path as a dance artist.

 

 

 

 

 

Introduced to dance from a young age, Charlotte Mégardon began her training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, before continuing at CobosMika SEEDs in Spain, where she collabo- rated with artists including Akira Yoshida, Jos Baker and HUMANHOOD. There, she discovered a deep interest in fluidity, flow and the textural nuances that define her movement. In 2024, Charlotte graduated from École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, performing works by PARTS+LABOUR, Dorotea Saykaly, Stephanie Lake and Ohad Naharin. She now collaborates with choreographers including Lucie Grégoire, Mark Sampson and Catherine Gaudet.

 

 

 

 

 

Jimmy Gonzalez began juggling as a self-taught artist before training at the École nationale de cirque in Châtellerault, France, and later in Montreal. Co-founder of Et des Hommes et des Femmes, he won gold at the Sol y Circo Festival (2013) and the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain (2015), and went on to tour internationally with Les 7 Doigts, Cirque Éloize, and Cirque du Soleil.

Since 2018, he has developed interdisciplinary projects with Erika Nguyen and collaborated in contemporary dance with Daniel Léveillé Danse, Dana Gingras, and Catherine Gaudet.

 

 

 

 

Chi Long began her professional dance career with the Canberra Dance Theatre in Australia. In 1990, she moved to Montréal and joined her heartthrob company O Vertigo for whom she danced for over a decade. In 2002, she joined the Compagnie Marie Chouinard, a dream come true. She now works as a freelance artist, and has worked with many diverse choreographers. She continues to collaborate closely with Compagnie Virginie Brunelle and Mayday.

 

 

 

 

James Phillips completed the professional training program at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. In 2005, he completed the professional program at the School of Contemporary Dancers and then moved to Ottawa where he spent four years as a company member of Le Groupe Dance Lab under the direction of Peter Boneham. James moved to Montréal in 2009 to join Ginette Laurin’s company O Vertigo. After six years, he performed his last show with O Vertigo in November 2015. For the 2015/2016 season, James was a guest artist at Toronto Dance Theater taking part in creations by Christopher House, Alyssa Martin, Alex Napier, and Andrew Tay. James also took part in Toronto Dance Theater’s Singular Bodies project. In February 2016, James returned to Winnipeg to work with Freya Bjorg Olafson and Lise McMillan in Olafson’s new creation C.P.A (Consistent Partial Attention) for the newly formed Collective Corps. James joined Toronto Dance Theatre as a company member for the 2016/2017 season, dancing in works by Christopher House and Ame Henderson. In recent years, James has collaborated in the research and creation projects of Catherine Gaudet, Emmanuel Jouthe, Louise Bédard and Virginie Brunelle.

 

 

 

Motrya Kozbur is a Montréal-based dancer and teacher. She began her training in ballet and Ukrainian folk dance in Chicago, Illinois, and went on to earn a BFA from The Boston Conservatory. Between 2012 and 2016, she worked in New York City with Lee Sher and Saar Harari. From 2017 to 2024, she was a member of Compagnie Marie Chouinard. Since 2019, Motrya has co-taught Body Time, an open-level movement practice, in collaboration with Scott McCabe. As an independent artist, she has worked with Andrea Miller, Shannon Gillen, Carol Prieur, Annie Rigney, Elle Barbara, Catherine Gaudet, and Vías. Motrya was a 2026 Inception resident at Parbleux, during which she explored slowness and subtle embodied transmissions to enrich her teaching practice. She is currently completing a Master of Information Studies at McGill University, where her research focuses on performance archives.

 

 

 

 

Based in Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal, Ariane Levasseur uses the body as her primary artistic vehicle. She trained at UQÀM, earning a bachelor’s degree in dance, where she was awarded the William-Douglas Prize in 2022. In 2021, she participated in Caroline Laurin-Beaucage’s project Habiter nos mémoires. In 2023, she began working on the new creation by Le Carré des Lombes under the direction of Danièle Desnoyers. Her piece this is not moving, co-created with Rozenn Lecomte, was presented at Danses Buissonnières (Tangente). In 2024, she joined Compagnie Catherine Gaudet for the piece ODE, presented at the FTA. As a performer-creator, she continues to explore resistance, the allure of protest, and fragments of intimacy through movement in various performative contexts.

 

 

 

 

After practicing competitive artistic gymnastics for eight years, Lou Amsellem discovered dance and decided to dedicate herself to it fully.

Based in Montréal, she began her training in the scholarship program at École de danse Louise Lapierre (Montréal), where she studied ballet, contemporary, tap, hip-hop, and jazz. She also performed with the school’s competitive hip-hop and contemporary dance teams. Lou graduated from École de danse contemporaine de Montréal in 2021, where, over the course of three years, she collaborated with choreographers such as Heidi Strauss, Riley Sims, Sébastien Provencher, Virginie Brunelle, and James Viveiros.

Shortly after graduating, Lou joined Sylvain Émard Danse to perform in Rhapsodie. In 2023, she collaborated with choreographer Yesenia Fuentes on a future creation. Since 2024, Lou has been touring internationally as one of the four performers in Daniel Léveillé’s Amour, acide et noix, with performances in Italy, Montpellier, New York, Vancouver, and Toronto.

A model as well as a dancer, Lou has appeared in several music videos, commercials, and television programs and productions, including TVA, Oikos Danone Canada, Casino du Lac-Leamy, Chanteurs masqués, and Planet Giza.

In 2020, she co-founded the Horizons collective, through which she creates and performs works characterized by animalistic, instinctive movement that remains sensitive and human. She is particularly interested in taking risks through the use of objects in space. Since 2018, Lou has been sharing her passion for dance by teaching contemporary and commercial dance.