The dance sector REFUSes to work more for less

Montreal, October 31, 2023 – On October 26, the dance sector mobilized in large numbers for the annual general meeting of the Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD). Presenting the demands made during the year, the economic survey of professional dance and structuring projects for the recovery, as well as electing members to the Board of Directors, the day ended with a workshop on future actions. Members of the dance sector worked together and presented possible next strategies to ensure that the dance sector is heard and adequately funded.

The main message of the ideas presented by the members is the REFUSal to work more for less. Governments and funders are saying it: the 2024 budget won’t meet our needs, so we’re being asked to self-organize. But the dance sector is already working in precarious conditions, with invisible labor and underpaid professionals. So the sector REFUSes. We refuse to continue producing more with less funding. We refuse to continue asking our employees to do the work of two or three. We refuse to cut wages. We refuse to pay fewer or lower fees. We refuse to create big with small budgets. If funding for dance doesn’t increase in line with its needs, we’ll have to expect a decline.

Another resounding message was that dance should be recognized as a socio-economic vector, and that its professionals should be able to make a living from their profession, at their fair value. The sector is demanding that we stop “$ou$-estimating” it. Failing to invest in dance means encouraging poverty, and the members of the professional sector are going to repeat this loud and clear.

Sophie Corriveau and Sylvain Émard as RQD presidents

After a healthy electoral competition between candidates for six positions – a sign of the commitment and vitality of professionals within the association – a co-presidency was proposed and elected. The new co-presidents are Sophie Corriveau and Sylvain Émard.

Sophie Corriveau

Sophie Corriveau has been Artistic and General Director of Danse-Cité for the past four years. Originally from Quebec City, where she took her first ballet classes, she has danced with a variety of companies and choreographers, created three choreographic works, initiated several artistic projects and taught extensively, with great pleasure. She has also accompanied a number of artists as artistic advisor or rehearsal director.

Sylvain Émard

Sylvain Émard founded his company in 1990. From his first solo, Ozone, Ozone (1987), to Rhapsodie (2022), the choreographer explores the territory of human nature through the power of the body. Sylvain Émard excels in the art of moving crowds. For over 10 years, the irresistible wave of Le Grand Continental has taken him to the four corners of the globe, where he has directed hundreds of amateur dancers.

A Board representative of the dance ecosystem

To carry out its new mandate, the co-presidency will be able to count on a Board of Directors (BOD) representative of the sector’s regional, cultural, artistic and organizational diversity.

Elected for the College of Professional Individual Members are Jean-François Duke (Performer), Amandine Garrido (Performer and Choreographer) and Sasha Kleinplatz (Choreographer); and for the College of Professional Corporate Members are Sophie Corriveau (Artistic and General Director of Danse-Cité), Pierre Des Marais (Artistic and General Director of Danse Danse) and Sylvain Émard (Co-Artistic and General Director of Sylvain Émard Danse).

The dance sector is ready to continue mobilizing all the necessary players to ensure that it is adequately financed in an increasingly difficult economic context. Through concerted collective action and official representations, the dance sector will continue to raise awareness among the public and authorities alike, and to demand that it be funded at its fair value.