Sylvain Émard Danse

Good evening, everyone,

it is with great pleasure that we welcome to this stage the Sylvain Émard Danse company, whose Artistic Director and Choreographer, Sylvain Émard, never ceases to amaze us. We remember his most grandiose group works, such as Le Grand Continental, where he brought entire crowds to dance. His collective pieces highlight his choreographic ingenuity and incredible talent for bringing people together. But we are also deeply moved by his more intimate works, always full of humanity. Sylvain has a unique gift for creating a strong and authentic connection with his audience.

This is why we are particularly honored to present his latest creation, Les Champs Magnétiques – a world premiere marking the 35th anniversary of his company, Sylvain Émard Danse. Featuring six performers of remarkable sensitivity, this piece explores the energy of bodies and the invisible forces that connect us.

We wish you a wonderful evening.

Enjoy the show!

Pierre Des Marais — Artistic and Executive Director, Danse Danse.

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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.

It was during the serendipitous reading of a book gifted by a friend that I stumbled upon a passage referencing the ideas put forth by physicist David Bohm. According to him, there are fields of energy, waves that, despite being distant, can communicate with one another. These energetic resonances act as a force to which the universe must constantly adjust. His observations even led him to discover that particles far apart could interact with each other at speeds surpassing that of light. The world, he proposed, is an infinite structure of waves in which everything is interconnected—living beings and matter alike. This concept became the starting point for my creation, Les Champs Magnétiques.

The correspondence between these scientific theories and our human behaviors opened up a vast space for exploration, perfectly suited to inspire a movement in constant transformation. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are continuously traversed by these waves, and they are, in part, what unites us. Big or small, every gesture, every movement reverberates through an environment, near or far. We are all interdependent, and even when we withdraw from a group, we can never fully extract ourselves from it.

Sylvain Émard – Choreographer and Artistic Director, Sylvain Émard Danse.

A sextet launches a dance in which each gesture resonates in the space, influencing the group. Movements respond to each other, fluidly or in total rupture. They are both source and continuation. Chaos is as natural as order. Both result from the spontaneous organization of life in this small community, these Magnetic Fields. This microcosm strikes a chord, vibrating from stage to audience, revealing that everything in this world is interconnected, that our slightest actions have an impact.

After exploring the ritual aspect of dance and its ability to modify our states of consciousness, Sylvain Émard now seeks a connection to the complexity of the universe. The piece is inspired by the observations of the physicist and philosopher David Bohm, namely on the interaction of particles and the interpenetration of energy fields, regardless of the distance between them. Echoing those ideas, the choreographer presents bodies attuned to what's going on, both inside and outside the present moment. Returning to the origins of dance, he lets individuality shine through, weaving a web of humanity in search of harmony.

“An entirely different sort of basic connection of elements is possible, from which our ordinary notions of space and time, along with those of separately existent material particles, are abstracted as forms derived from the deeper order” – Theory of the implicate order (David Bohm).

Choreography Sylvain Émard.

Performers Sophie Breton, Charles Cardin-Bourbeau, Marie-Michelle Darveau, Mathieu Hérard, Christopher LaPlante, Erin O'Loughlin.

Understudy Benjamin Harvey.

Rehearsal coach Lucie Vigneault.

Music Poirier.

Lighting André Rioux.

Costumes and Set Design Marilène Bastien.

Production manager Andrée-Anne Garneau.

Technical director François Marceau.

Les Champs Magnétiques benefited from a creative residency at La petite Place des Arts as part of the CONTACTS project, in Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc in November 2023.

Sylvain Émard Danse gratefully acknowledges support from the Canada Arts Council, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Conseil des arts de Montréal.