TO
RETURN TO THE BEGINNING
In her first creations, Montrealer Isabelle Van Grimde
explored the more theatrical facets of the body in dance.
For Van Grimde Corps Secrets, the company she founded
in 1992, she created Secrets Vestiges, Au sommet de tes
côtes and the film/stage work Par la peau du cœur.
These works, created through partnerships with Danse-Cité
and the Rendez-vous du cinema québécois,
have toured in several Canadian cities.
With À l’échelle humaine (1996), Isabelle
Van Grimde began investigating the power of physicality
and the body as communicator. At this time, she received
her first invitations to do creation residencies in Europe,
offered by Charleroi Danse and the Centre Klapstuk, in
Louvain, Dans in Kortrijk and the Manège-Scène
nationale de Maubeuge. The Centre chorégraphique
of Rennes will soon be added to the list of hosts and
co-producers.
On the international scene Isabelle Van Grimde has created
in swift succession, both in Montreal and abroad, May
All Your Storms Be Weathered (1998), Maisons de poussière
(1999), Pour quatre corps et mille parts inséparables
(2000), first presented as a version for three dancers,
and Trois vues d’un secret (2000). May All Your Storms
Be Weathered began as a commission from the Ensemble Ereprijs
of the Netherlands for a project linking four composers
and four choreographers from different countries.These
works have placed Van Grimde Corps Secrets among the most
watched companies in Montreal. Her repertoire is performed
in the Maisons de la culture, the Centaur and the Salle
Pierre-Mercure. The Agora de la danse, a facility devoted
to the production of contemporary dance and a committed
partner, has hosted and produced the most recent creations.
Touring is also increasing. In addition to Arnhem, Nijmegen
and Apeldoorn in the Netherlands, Maubeuge in France,
Anvers, Charleroi and Liège in Belgium, which welcomed
the first wave of works, there are now Potsdam,Dresden
and Leipzig in Germany, Breda in the Netherlands, Warsaw
and Lublin in Poland and Bratislava in Slovakia. Everywhere,
people are intrigued and moved by Isabelle Van Grimde’s
dance.
AWARENESS AND TRANSMISSION
OF KNOWLEDGE
An eloquent spokesperson for dance, Isabelle Van Grimde
has initiated and participated in many projects. She is
very active in the area of public awareness and, in collaboration
with Danse-Cité, developed the activity Anatomie
d’une création. She regularly integrates young
professionals into her creative projects, and her vast
experience makes her a highly prized and talented teacher.
Among the pupils and students who have benefited from
her instruction are those of Studio 303 which she co-founded,
the École supérieure de danse du Québec,
the Ateliers de danse moderne de Montréal, Danse
Partout in Quebec City and the Dance Department of Concordia
University. Abroad, she has directed workshops for the
Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem, the Netherlands,
Dance City in Newcastle, the United Kingdom, the Palucca
Schule in Dresden, Germany and the International Festival
of Dance-Theatre in Lublin, Poland.
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CHOREOGRAPHY/CONCERTS
In her most recent works, Trois vues d’un secret, Erosio,
Saetta and Les chemins de traverse,
the choreographer has directed her creation towards the
search for a new dialogue with contemporary music. She
integrates the musicians onstage using their presence
and the sounds they generate to recreate the space. In
2000, Apocryphal Graffiti was commissioned
from Isabelle Van Grimde by the Ensemble contemporain
de Montréal (ECM) for an event entitled Unions
Libres. The piece was choreographed to a score
by Sean Ferguson, and featured dancer Robert Meilleur
and the entire ECM sharing the stage. Shortly after, ECM
and Van Grimde Corps Secrets conceived a project together,
involving the creation of a single solo dance for three
original compositions by composers James Harley, Serge
Arcuri and Michael Oesterle. This gave birth to Trois
vues d’un secret, in which the choreographer
undertook a fascinating exercise in integrating musicians
onstage, and began thinking seriously about the impact
of music on her work. A choreography-concert for five
performers – three dancers and two musicians – Erosio
is a project initiated by saxophonist Rémi Bolduc to music
by Michel Frigon. Remounted in 2004, in a version for
two dancers and two musicians, Erosio
was warmly received in Montreal, the Netherlands and Germany.
In parallel, Isabelle Van Grimde elaborated a third choreography-concert
project, Saetta (2003), this time with
French composer Marie-Hélène Fournier. Inspired by Sagittarius,
the horse, Saetta (" arrow " in Italian)
evokes the precision of movement, of trajectory. Leaving
behind conventions of music and dance, Saetta
probes into the boundaries of musical composition and
movement.
In 2005, Isabelle Van Grimde created Les chemins
de traverse (literally, “Crossroads”), three
distinct performances in which contemporary dance encountered
three musical styles: contemporary jazz with Thom Gossage
Other Voices, contemporary music with Nouvel Ensemble
Moderne (NEM) and electro-acoustic music with Michel Frigon,
Jean-Marc Bouchard, Chantal Laplante and Julien Roy.
The concept behind Les chemins de traverse
is born of the conviction that the creation process is
as rich as the final result, and of Isabelle Van Grimde’s
desire to share this process, along with the improvisational
aspects of the work, with her audience, thus giving rise
to different forms of performance.
This series of performances specifically explores the
relationships between improvised music and improvised
dance. With Les chemins de traverse,
Isabelle Van Grimde lays the groundwork for her exploration
of the open creation, a concept that appears as a blueprint
for her future choreographic creations. The work with
Nouvel Ensemble Moderne in Les chemins de traverse
serves as canvas for the versions of Vortex,
a piece co-produced by Nouvel Ensemble Moderne-NEM, Arsenal
de Metz, the Canada Dance Festival and Agora de la Danse.
In Vortex, Isabelle Van Grimde pursues
her research into the elementary drives and visceral (physical)
tensions of the body, continuing a process she began with
Erosio and Saetta. The
performance space and the concept of « being in the space
» continue to fascinate her. As in some of her previous
works, the dancers will share the stage with the NEM musicians
and their conductor.
In 2006-2007, Isabelle Van Grimde continues her exploration
of the concept of « open creation » with three new versions
of Les chemins de traverse and a new
creation, Perspectives, which will be
created in collaboration with artists from other disciplines
and of diverse backgrounds.
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