Le Patin Libre (Montreal)

Founded in 2005, in Montreal, by a group of rebellious high-level figure skaters who wanted to get away from sparkles and stereotypes, Le Patin Libre proposes a contemporary reinvention of the ice show, using their athletic virtuosity to create something legitimately artistic and truly cool.

Since 2014, the company tours the international contemporary performing arts network with pieces described as contemporary skating by dance critics. Speed, virtuosity and fluid choreography characterize their sophisticated yet accessible style that charms as much as it questions and inspires.

The company turns ice arenas into pop-up theatres, inviting everybody in public infrastructures normally reserved to exclusive sport clubs. Le Patin Libre constantly invests itself in efforts to make both skating and performing arts accessible to more people.

Alexandre Hamel
Founder, Artistic Director, Choreographer, Skating-Artist

Alexandre Hamel originally trained as a figure skater. He competed on the international circuit, was once on the Canadian championship podiums, and accumulated a few provincial champion titles. He then skated professionally for Disney On Ice. He founded Le Patin Libre in 2005 and still directs the company, while staying as involved as always with performance and creation. He is very committed to the importance of creating depolarizing cultural experiences gathering general audiences with art aficionados. Hamel is also a filmmaker, his documentaries winning awards and being presented in international film festivals.

Pascale Jodoin
Production Director, Choreographer, Skating-Artist

Pascale Jodoin originally trained as a traditional figure skater. She avoided a large part of the formatting imposed on young figure skating ladies because of her free-spirited attitude. She joined Le Patin Libre in 2009 after seeing a performance, auditioning, participating in workshops offered by the founding artists and dancing in underground ice parties organized by the collective. Beyond her implication as a creator and a performer, she manages a large part of the activities of the company.  Before being completely mobilized by Le Patin Libre, she also ran a small jewellery business and performed as a circus artist in Montreal.

Samory Ba
Choreographer, Skating-Artist, Market Development Agent

Samory is a skating-artist based in Paris, France. Formerly trained as a figure skater, he competed nationally and internationally for over 10 years. He then pursued a career as a professional skater, performing leading roles within several major “On Ice” productions. In 2010, after 5 years spent in the industry, interested in exploring skating as an artistically relevant art form rather than a popular entertainment, he decided to quit his career and joined Le Patin Libre. Samory has been exclusively involved with the company ever since. He is considered as one of Le Patin Libre’s founding members.

Haley Alcock 

Haley is an ice dancer and micrometeorologist based in Montreal, Canada. After a decade-long hiatus from figure skating, Haley was thrilled to rediscover their love for the ice through contemporary skating. She joined Le Patin Libre in 2021. Haley holds a B.Sc and M.Sc. in atmospheric science from McGill University. A data scientist by day, they work at the University of Montreal researching how rapidly changing boreal forest, peatland, and tundra ecosystems function as an integral part of the climate system.

Samory Ba

Samory is a skating-artist based in Paris, France. Formerly trained as a figure skater, he competed nationally and internationally for over 10 years. He then pursued a career as a professional skater, performing leading roles within several major “On Ice” productions. In 2010, after 5 years spent in the industry, interested in exploring skating as an artistically relevant art form rather than a popular entertainment, he decided to quit his career and joined Le Patin Libre. Samory has been exclusively involved with the company ever since. He is considered as one of Le Patin Libre’s founding members.

Jacqueline Benson 

Jacqueline is a contemporary skating artist, choreographer, and dancer based in Phoenix, Arizona. She has been skating with Le Patin Libre since 2021. Her current professional engagements include her roles as Vice President of American Ice Theatre and Treasurer of the Figure Skating Diversity & Inclusion Alliance. She is a USFS triple gold medalist and a Professional Skater’s Association Master-Rated coach & choreographer. She is trained in multiple styles of dance and has performed with several Phoenix-based contemporary dance companies. Jacqueline graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State University and has experience in marketing, communications, and nonprofit advocacy work.

David Billau

David is a skating-artist from Armentières, France. David trained as a mechanic before discovering ice skating at the age of 18, after which he began practicing freestyle on his own. These years of practice allowed him to present personal artistic research and short performances throughout France. In 2018, he met and auditioned for Le Patin Libre. He has performed in Murmuration since its premiere in 2022.

Sophie Blomqwist

Sophie is a freelance skater and dancer from Sweden. She has been working with Le Patin Libre since spring 2018. Sophie started her career as a competitive skater in Sweden and later moved to Russia to pursue ice dancing. Sophie eventually shifted her focus to coaching and choreographing for figure skaters while studying choreography, composition, improvisation, and pedagogy at the Stockholm University College of Music Education. At the time she also began to explore her own movement research on ice, which led her to discover Le Patin Libre and join the company for the creation of Murmuration.

Imogen Croft

Imogen started skating at the age of 8 and though she competed a little, she never really enjoyed the world of competitive skating although skating and movement played a large part in her life. At University she studied Fine Arts and Art History. Whilst studying, she explored and researched the history of Modern Dance, specifically in the UK alongside the use of video, sculpture, and painting to explore movement itself. In her second year, she re-discovered her passion for skating and began to train daily, alongside developing a love for contemporary dance. Imogen began working with Le Patin Libre in 2018.

Taylor Dilley

Captivated by gliding, and a member of Le Patin Libre since 2011, Taylor is proud to have been a creative part of several wide-touring LPL productions. Previously, Taylor competed as an ice dancer and martial artist, and worked with the National Ice Theatre of Canada. The movement discipline of all those practices clearly shaped his distinctive skating style. His current projects include exploring the modern performance potential of rock climbing, and cofounding the Outdoor Artist Collective, which is spearheading an arts festival in northern British Columbia. Taylor believes sharing the things you love with your community has power to uplift.

Jenn Edwards

Jenn is a contemporary dance and skating artist/ educator based in Labrador, Canada. Originally from Vancouver, she was a competitive figure skater before earning a BFA in dance from Simon Fraser University. She has danced in work by Flowmotion Dance Company, Tauschfühlung, Polynomials, and Valence Movement among others. Her choreography has been presented at festivals and mixed programs such as Dance: Made in Canada, Fusion Festival (Berlin), 12 Minutes Max, and Vines Art Festival. Jenn also plays keys in an alt rock band, Ptarmageddon, and writes for Dance International Magazine. She was thrilled to join Le Patin Libre in 2018.

Alexandre Hamel

Alexandre originally trained as a traditional figure skater. He competed on the international circuit, was once on Canadian championship podiums, and accumulated a few provincial champion titles. He also skated professionally for Disney On Ice. He founded Le Patin Libre in 2005, desiring to use his passion for skating outside the constraints of competition and “On Ice” show-business. In the company, he holds several roles: Artistic Director, choreographer, and performer. He is very committed to the importance of sharing contemporary performing arts with general audiences. Alexandre is also successful as a documentary filmmaker, his documentaries winning awards and being presented in film festivals in several countries.

Pascale Jodoin

Pascale Jodoin originally trained as a traditional figure skater. She avoided a large part of the formatting imposed on young figure skating ladies because of her free-spirited attitude. She joined Le Patin Libre in 2009 after seeing a performance, auditioning, participating in workshops offered by the founding artists and dancing in underground ice parties organized by the collective. Beyond her implication as a creator and a performer, she manages a large part of the company’s activities. Before being completely mobilized by Le Patin Libre, she also ran a small jewelry business and performed as a circus artist in Montreal.

Garrett Kling

Garrett has skated with Le Patin Libre since 2019 and was part of the Paris opening of Murmuration in the summer of 2022. He has toured as a professional figure skater for 11 years performing with companies such as Holiday on Ice, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and Stageworks Worldwide Productions. He is the Co-Executive Director of American Ice Theatre and as a choreographer, received a master rating from the Professional Skaters Association choreographing for skaters across North America, Europe, Brazil and South Africa. Living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA he also teaches and regularly practices yoga.

Isaac Alan Lindy

Isaac is a Philadelphia-based figure skater and contemporary dancer. He began working with Le Patin Libre in 2018 and is thrilled to be on tour with Murmuration. Professional skating highlights include Holiday on Ice European tours (Line Captain, Ensemble), Nathan Birch and Tim Murphy’s The Next Ice Age (soloist), and site-specific performance with IceLab Leipzig. As a dancer, Isaac has worked with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Philadelphia, the Putty Dance Project, Ruckus Dance, and has performed at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Isaac holds a BA in Urban Studies from Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY, USA).

Kristýna Mikulášová

Kristýna grew up in the Czech Republic, trained there as a traditional figure skater and competed at national competitions. She also trained as a dancer and became a member of Dance Theatre Maximvs in Brno. In 2012, she graduated from Trinity Laban in London with BA(Hons) Dance Theatre, and from 2013, she started assisting at dance workshops of Joe Alegado at Impulstanz Festival and across Europe. Since 2018 she has been working with Le Patin Libre on Murmuration. Kristýna currently lives in Switzerland where she works as a dance, skating coach and as a ski instructor.

Maude Poulin

Maude is an artist and skater, born in La Tuque, QC, Canada. She trained for nearly 12 years as a figure skating athlete. In 2008, she joined Le Patin Libre for a show in Vancouver, as part of the inauguration of the Olympic Ice Oval. She continued her competitive career for a few years before turning to studies in visual arts. In autumn 2021, following a call for auditions, she laced up her skates again and joined the troupe for their new creation Murmuration.

Oktawia Scibior 

Oktawia is a professional skating artist and choreographer, born in Warsaw, Poland. For 14 years, she was a competitive figure skater (bronze medal of the Polish Nationals in 2003). After finishing her career, she performed in various commercial ice shows. Passionate in dance, she obtained certification as jazz dance instructor. In 2013, she met Le Patin Libre and discovered contemporary skating. In 2016, she founded in Paris an association Slippery Art Project to promote contemporary skating. Since 2018, she has been collaborating with Le Patin Libre on the show Murmuration. In 2021, she created an award-winning video dance Rêverie.