NIEBO HOTEL
Intimate encounter
An immersive experience, NIEBO HOTEL takes the audience on an extraordinary journey into the heart of a hotel, a microcosm where touching scenes of life distil the poetry of the everyday.
Itinerary performance.
All the rooms will have seating for the public. However, you may have to stand. People with reduced mobility or issues that prevent them from standing can be accommodated.
French choreographer Christophe Garcia and Ballets Jazz Montréal invite the public to experience dance in a different way through this fascinating, site-specific immersive work, in association with Le Germain Hotel Montréal. NIEBO HOTEL is designed for the intimacy of a hotel room, a place of transience, impermanent and anonymous. From room to room, a handful of spectators, sometimes complicit voyeurs, sometimes witnesses, find themselves drawn into the pulse of life at the NIEBO HOTEL. In this confined space, stories large and small are played out, fragments of existence where time stands still. Danced moments, stolen moments, fragile dreams, solos or duets that speak of inwardness, the search for love, solitude, desire, sensuality, healing tranquillity… No two people will see exactly the same show. From well off the beaten track comes this invitation to a surprising voyage to the heart of intimacy. Not to be missed!
A Word from Danse Danse and CAPAS
Welcome to NIEBO HOTEL,
Tonight, we open not just the doors of a hotel, but those of a universe where every room whispers a story, and every corridor becomes a thread stretched between intimacy and the unexpected. With the dancers' breaths and movements at your fingertip, you will be immersed in an extraordinary experience where virtuosity brings to life the memories engraved in the walls of these places of passage.
In this suspended moment you are about to step into, we celebrate more than just a performance—we celebrate an encounter. An encounter between Danse Danse and CAPAS, the former having given wings to the latter’s exciting vision. An encounter between the bold artists of Ballets Jazz Montréal—drawn to the daring concept of dance within a hotel—and the poetic vision of Christophe Garcia. An encounter between places and dreams, where Hôtel Le Germain transforms into a living showcase for art.
We are honored to welcome you to this unique adventure and invite you to let yourself be carried away on this timeless journey.
The teams of Danse Danse and CAPAS
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Territorial Acknowledgement
Danse Danse acknowledges that we are gathered on the traditional and unceded territory of the Kanien’keha:ka Nation. We honour the continued presence of Indigenous peoples on the Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal) territory, which has long served as a meeting place for exchanges between nations. With respect for the links to the past, present and future, we thank the Indigenous peoples for reminding us of the importance of living in harmony with ourselves, with each other and with nature, and we are grateful for the opportunity to present works of living art at Tiohtiá:ke.
A Word from the Choreographer
NIEBO HOTEL was born from a dream: to make a magical place dance, to make the invisible visible—the breath, the skin, the tears, the shivers. Today, this dream comes to life with you, and it is an immense joy to share it here, in Montréal, the city of my heart.
From France, this performance has traveled to meet extraordinary dancers in breathtaking settings. With them, and within this space, every movement, every breath, every tear, and every note of music leaves its mark on our senses.
Tonight, you will encounter the tableaux that make up this journey: budding love, burning passion, solitude, the noise of the world, and the spirit of the place. So many stories that move me deeply and allow me to speak of love with intensity.
Thank you for staying at NIEBO HOTEL.
Christophe Garcia – Choreographer and Artistic Director, La Parenthèse.
A Word from Ballets Jazz Montréal
Dear Friends,
It is with immense joy and great anticipation that I invite you to discover NIEBO HOTEL, an extraordinary immersive creation by French choreographer Christophe Garcia. This groundbreaking work marks a bold and transformative step for Ballets Jazz Montréal, seamlessly blending dance, theatre, and storytelling into a captivating experience that blurs the boundaries between audience and artists.
Set within the elegant Hôtel Le Germain Montréal, NIEBO HOTEL transforms ordinary spaces into realms of magic, emotion, and discovery. As you move from room to room, you are transported into fleeting yet profoundly moving moments of human connection, highlighting the talent, beauty, and disarming vulnerability of the performers. Through the universal language of movement, fragments of life—love, solitude, desire, and sensuality—unfold, inviting you to reflect on the shared emotions that shape our common humanity.
More than just a performance, this is an invitation to become part of the work itself. Each audience member becomes a privileged witness to fragile dreams and hidden desires brought to life before their eyes. No two journeys are alike, ensuring a deeply personal and unforgettable experience for each spectator.
We are thrilled to offer you this unique opportunity to step into a poetic universe where intimacy and creativity intertwine. We are also delighted to perform such a beautiful and moving piece in our hometown of Montréal and to collaborate with incredible local talents such as Philippe Dubuc and Sarah Pacini. This is truly a labor of love, and we are honored to share it with all of you. Thank you for supporting Ballets Jazz Montréal as we continue to explore new horizons in the art of dance.
Warmly,
Alexandra Damiani — Artistic Director of Ballets Jazz Montréal.
The story behind the creation
A few years ago, while Christophe Garcia was on tour, he found a letter in his hotel room. It was written by a woman named Magda, and addressed to the next person to occupy the room. In these few lines, she shares the happiness she experienced during her stay, where she could live at her own pace, move around in whatever clothes she wished and shower as long as she liked. She also enjoys imagining a life for the lonely man in room 438, the young couple in 502, the jaded lovers in 112... This vast imagination inspires the choreographer, who keeps the letter, waiting for the right moment to include it in a future project.
A number of years later, in order to inspire the creative fibre of his artistic team, Christophe suggests the exercise of brainstorming together on a show that would never take place. That's when Magda's letter came to mind. Together with his team, he envisions a creation in which the audience could meet fictional figures in the privacy of their hotel room, and thus gain access to their most intimate secrets. This utopian show allows him to dream of a sensual, close-up movement.
While the creator consigns this idea to the realm of fantasy, a change of guard is taking place at the Centre dramatique national le Quai in Angers. Its new artistic director, Thomas Jolly (whom you may know from his staging of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games), caught wind of the bold project Christophe was considering. Together, they defined a framework for turning this dream into reality. Thus was born the first version of NIEBO HOTEL, presented in October 2022 at the Hôtel Saint Julien in the heart of Angers (France)
Artists
In 1996, he entered the highly selective Rudra Béjart workshop school. Those two years of multidisciplinary training alongside Maurice Béjart were a true revelation for him. The practice of drama, music and martial arts enriched his repertoire and he became accomplished in such a climate of permanent artistic excitement.
Company
Founded in 1972 by Geneviève Salbaing, Eva Von Genscy, and Eddy Toussaint, Ballets Jazz Montréal is a contemporary dance repertory company which, under the artistic direction of Alexandra Damiani, creates, produces, and presents on local, national, and international stages. The company collaborates with internationally renowned choreographers who develop their own research to generate a repertoire that reflects BJM's identity and is accessible to all audiences.
Producers
CAPAS
CAPAS produces shows with rigorous and unique movement to bring artists closer to their audience. Founded by Lydie Revez and Mickaël Spinnhirny, CAPAS is Canada's first dance label. Proudly French-speaking and independent in North America, CAPAS represents, produces, promotes and supports professional dance, spreading its excellence worldwide. The label defends talents whose creations aligns with its artistic vision, offering them production, marketing, promotion and touring services to bring their creativity to their audiences. CAPAS is committed to representing the interests of the artists it defends in an ecosystem that it helps to develop, by supporting dance institutions in their strategic, promotional and administrative needs.
Danse Danse
Danse Danse, an associate presenter at Place des Arts, invites dance lovers to discover the best of contemporary dance from here and abroad in the heart of the Quartier des spectacles.Each season, Danse Danse presents a program of some dozen productions in the Théâtre Maisonneuve, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier and Cinquième Salle, proudly contributing to Montréal’s international reputation as a metropolis of movement. Since 2022, Danse Danse has coproduced a uniquely unifying event as a season opener: the JOAT International Street Dance Festival. This week-long program of free events and activities on the Place des Arts Esplanade features more than 200 artists who immerse the public in the world of street dance.
Danse Danse brings together the great names and new voices of dance in a program that constantly seeks to push the boundaries of the artistic experience to make it ever more unexpected, surprising, and rich in discovery. Celebrating dance in all its forms and diversity, Danse Danse opens the doors of choreographic art to a wide audience and forges special connections between artists and their audiences. In addition to its performances, Danse Danse offers a wide range of ways to experience dance: off-site activities, encounters with artists, dance workshops for the general public, school programs, and much more.
Credits
NIEBO HOTEL
An event presented by Ballets Jazz Montréal, CAPAS, Danse Danse and La Parenthèse - Christophe Garcia
in collaboration with Le Germain Hotel Montréal.
Concept and choreography Christophe Garcia.
Music Laurier Rajotte.
Lighting design Simon Rutten.
Sound design Bruno Brevet.
Stylist Philippe Dubuc.
Clothes Sarah Pacini.
Creative assistance Marie-Eve Carrière and Idir Chatar.
Performers Gustavo Barros, Millie Brinck-Dubuc, Yosmell Calderon Mejias, Abby Castora, Marcel Cavaliere, Astrid Dangeard, Kyle Davis, Shanna Irwin Calderon, Miu Kato, DaMond LeMonte Garner, Marcel Mejia, Zack Preece, Madeleine Salhany and Silje Vereide.
Visual design Thomas Roy Bourdages.
Performers
From the clouds to the depths of the ocean, the adventures of two illusionist dancers. A poetic coming-of-age story imagined by choreographer Philippe Saire, a pioneer of Swiss contemporary dance.
The new darling of the European dance scene, Portuguese choreographer Marco da Silva Ferreira presents his most ambitious work, celebrating the contemporary body with phenomenal intensity.
A monumental work, Ihsane is a stunning initiatory quest featuring some twenty performers, a vocal duo, and an instrumental ensemble at the crossroads of the Middle East and the West.
Acclaimed time and again by Danse Danse audiences, Hofesh Shechter and his formidable tribe take us on a dizzying dive, headfirst, into a fantasy world where dreams and reality collide. Quite an event!
At the forefront of European dance, Sofia Nappi displays her talent in an initiation rite with an irresistible groove, inspired by the famous puppet that has enchanted our childhood.
