Back to programming
Close
What are you looking for?

RD Créations

Symphonie de cœurs
Rhodnie Désir
With Orchestre Métropolitain
Show
Montreal
Performance partner

Rhodnie Désir, laureate of the 2020 Grand Prix de la danse and associate artist at Place des Arts, takes up the challenge of a large-scale show for 11 performers and the 60 musicians of the Orchestre Métropolitain led by Canadian conductor Naomi Woo. A truly special event!

To a valiant heart, nothing is impossible! For Rhodnie Désir, human connection and oral tradition are fundamental to any project. After the extraordinary trajectory of BOW’T TRAIL, which took her to seven different regions in the Americas, she tackles another major challenge, the result of a large-scale collaboration with composer Jorane; beatmaker and sound designer Engone Endong; RD Créations’ “house band,” the Orchestre Métropolitain. The heart, with all its imbalances and upheavals, fascinates this “keeper of memories.” Drawing on testimonials by specialists and patients from the Montreal Heart Institute and from Istituto Cardiocentro of Ticino, she will translate the heart’s polyrhythmic pulsations, along with its turmoil and weaknesses, into movement, echoing the defects in our society. A symphony of dance between the heart, the body, physical objects, video, light, music, and Afro-contemporary rhythms.

Media partner
A radiant artist who, one dance step at a time, brings light out of chaos.
Châtelaine

Artists

Choreographer
Rhodnie Désir
Rhodnie Désir's signature documentary and Afro-contemporary choreography is rooted in African and Afro-descendant rhythmic languages. A performer of remarkable power and uncompromising integrity, she continually surprises with her great connectivity to humanity.
Read more
Conductor
Naomi Woo

The current Assistant Conductor and Community Ambassador of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Naomi is frequently in demand as a guest conductor across Canada.

Read more

Company

RD Créations

Since 2017, RD CREATIONS (RDC) produces and presents creative projects by artistic director and choreographer Rhodnie Désir. Simultaneously authentic and contemporary, the Montreal-based organization operates internationally using an innovative artistic approach that questions socio political trends, explores movement, defies the imagination, engages citizens, transmits knowledge while archiving the memory of its people.

Read more

Credits

CREATIVE TEAM

Creative Director (choreographer, documentalist, artistic director, vocal composer) Rhodnie Désir.
Conductor
Naomi Woo.
Musical and vocal composer
Jorane.
Beatmaker and Sound Designer
Engone Endong.
Costume Designer
Mélanie Ferrero.
Scenographer
Olivier Landreville.
Lighting designer
Chantal Labonté.
Video and digital designer
Chélanie Beaudin-Quintin.
Creative support
Isabelle Poirier.
Dancers
Marilyne Cyr, Mara Dupas, Camille Gendron, Aly Keita, Luce Lainé, Emmanuelle Martin, Mya Metellus, Carlos-Alexis Mendoza-Bustinza, Ernesto Queseda Perez, Greg «Krypto» Selinger, Abe Simon Mijnheer.
Musicians
Orchestre Métropolitain.
Orchestrator
François Vallières.
Percussion arrangements
Rhodnie Désir and Jahsun.
Artistic consultant
Philip Szporer.
Researcher
Pascale Bilodeau (NFB).

PRODUCTION TEAM

Main producer RD Créations.
Associate producer
Frédérick Lalonde - JKFL Production.
Production director
Cécile Doo-Kingué - RD Créations.
Technical director
Bruno Lauzon.
Stage manager Julie Abran.
Communications officer
Caroline Rousseau - RD Créations.
Consultant Production and Touring
Corinne Jozsef.
Representation agency
Avec Sheila (Sheila Skaiem).

PARTNERS

Principal producer RD Créations.
Co-producers
and presenters Danse Danse, National Arts Centre, LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura.
Majors partners
National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund, Canada Council for the Arts.
Main partner
Fonds de Recherche du Québec.
Creative partners
Montreal Heart Institute (MHI), Istituto Cardiocentro Ticino, National Film Board (NFB), Place des arts, Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, Conseil des Arts de Montréal.
Artistic associate
Orchestre Métropolitain.

SONGS

1. Neïa’yanga / Vocal composition: R.Désir, Interpretation: R.Désir, A.Keita / 2023.
Fwô / Vocal composition: R.Désir, Interpretation: R.Désir, A.Keita, Arrangements: Engone Endong / 2023.
3. Bognè / Vocal composition: A.Keita, Interpretation: A.Keita, R.Désir, Arrangements: Engone Endong / 2023.
4. Nanayeom / Vocal composition: R.Desir, Interpretation: R.Désir / 2024.

MUSICAL SCORE

Symphony of Hearts
Work composed for the choreographic production Symphony of hearts by Rhodnie Désir.

Composition Jorane, Engone Endong, R.Désir, A.Keita.
Percussion arr.
R.Désir, Jahsun.
Orchestration
F.Vallières.
©2024 All rights reserved.

THANK YOU

RD Créations would like to thank all the heart health specialists, patient-partners at the Montreal Heart Institute and the Istituto Cardiocentro Ticino in Lugano, the young people at Collège Jean-Eudes, and all the people who agreed to testify during the Symphony of Hearts documentary research begun in 2022. Your powerful testimonials on the heart and cardiovascular system brought the work to life.

Developed with the support of the National Creation Fund of the National Arts Centre.

Do not miss
Show
Far From the Norm
BLKDOG
Botis Seva
Show 2024/2025
Far From the Norm
BLKDOG
Botis Seva

Electrifying and utterly spellbinding, the award- winning BLKDOG explodes with rebellious energy in a dance that questions our capacity for resilience. An uncompromising view of the world.

Activity
Awareness-raising activity
Blanket exercise
History of indigenous peoples
With John Henri Commanda
Activity
Awareness-raising activity
Blanket exercise
History of indigenous peoples
With John Henri Commanda

The Blanket Exercise is an awareness-raising activity designed to increase knowledge and understanding of the colonial history and experience of dispossession experienced by the Indigenous peoples of Quebec and Canada.

Dance workshop
Public Dance Workshop
Krump
With Jr Maddripp
Dance workshop
Public Dance Workshop
Krump
With Jr Maddripp

Kevin Gohou, aka Jr Maddripp, invites you to explore krump.

Show
Dancers of Damelahamid
Raven Mother
Margaret Grenier
Show 2024/2025
Dancers of Damelahamid
Raven Mother
Margaret Grenier

A vibrant tribute to Margaret Harris, an Indigenous elder who devoted her life to keeping her culture alive. A colourful multimedia narrative, a stream of images, dance, song, carved masks and sumptuous regalia.

Show
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
Lunar Halo
Cheng Tsung-lung
Show 2024/2025
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
Lunar Halo
Cheng Tsung-lung

Back in Montreal, much to our delight, Asia’s leading contemporary dance company takes us on a dizzying sensory journey inspired by a mysterious lunar phenomenon.

Show
Andrea Peña & Artists 
BOGOTÁ
Andrea Peña
Show 2024/2025
Andrea Peña & Artists 
BOGOTÁ
Andrea Peña

A skilful fusion of dance, industrial design and queer aesthetics, Andrea Peña & Artists’s BOGOTÁ opened the 17th Venice Biennale. A large-scale work, radical and innovative.

Show
Travis Knights
The Mars Project
Travis Knights
Show 2024/2025
Travis Knights
The Mars Project
Travis Knights

Charismatic tap dance legend Travis Knights takes on Mars! Four musicians, two singers, and five dazzling dancers defy gravity at a furious pace.