2023-2024 Fall and Winter Regional Classes – Quebec

Pre-registration required

Erin O’Loughlin
September 18 to 22, 2023, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

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 © Valérie Boulet

Erin O’Loughlin’s class is interested in the tension created by dichotomies, and how states of controlled precision and chaos can be explored. She seeks a clarity that is not confining. Using a combination of structured and improvised exercises focused on alignment, articulation and release, Erin’s teaching demands versatility, dynamic change and playful exploration.

Coming from a rich and diverse background in modern dance, ballet, and music, her class draws on the principles of Limon, Horton, Graham as well as somatic practices, Release technique and sensory-based improvisation, to bring a nuanced and free approach to movement and form.

About Erin

Calgary-born Erin O’Loughlin is a performer, choreographer, teacher and founding member of LA TRESSE. In 2010, she graduated from the University of Calgary with a BFA in Dance and International Relations. Following her training at Alvin Ailey in New York, she continued her studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, where she learned the repertory of Forsythe, Kylián and Robert Moses. Participation in formative workshops such as Impulstanz, Gaga intensives with Compagnie Batsheva and Creative Gesture with Alan Lucien Øyen at the Banff Centre, have also contributed to her artistic development.

Her teaching experience includes McGill University, University of Calgary and École de Danse de Québec, as well as ballet academies, recreational dance schools, community programs, and several months at the Shiamak Dance Academy in Mumbai, India.

Kyra Jean Green
October 2 to 6, 2023, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

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 © Damian Siqueiros

Kyra Jean Green’s class invites participants to take risks and push their limits in a safe and encouraging environment. It emphasizes improvisation techniques and choreographic phrase work.

It begins with positive affirmations, which serve as a reminder that wellness and health begin in the mind. Then, the participants are guided through a warm-up and an exploration of the different planes of space inspired by the exercises developed by William Forsythe. Kyra then guides participants to explore floor work. Different ideas such as qualities of movement, textures, shapes and sizes are explored, starting with one idea at a time and ending by layering them.

In addition to these improvisation exercises, the class will focus on learning choreographic phrases that include the floor, dynamic movements and jumps.

About Kyra Jean

Kyra Jean Green is a Canadian-American dancer, choreographer and teacher with over 17 years of experience. After earning her B.F.A. in dance from The Juilliard School in 2006, she won the Hubbard Street II Choreographic Competition in 2007.

As a teacher, Kyra has given group lessons for renowned companies such as Cas Public, Hubbard Street II, Focus Cia de Dança and The 7 Fingers.

In 2017 she founded Trip The Light Fantastic, a dance company that combines contemporary and urban styles with structured improvisation to address social issues through dance and mixed media. Kyra’s work has been shown around the world and her company has won several awards, including the FQD Prix Coup de Coeur in 2016, 2018 and 2020.

Lucy M. May
November 13 to 17, 2023, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Registration opens on November 1, 2023

 © Calope

Lucy M. May begins with a dynamic warm-up for functional strength, power and endurance, based on self-weight exercises and whole-body movements.

Participants then use self-touch to increase the proprioception and anatomical awareness, while moving on the ground and in space. Locomotor explorations are used to prepare participants to think in three dimensions and to develop their kinesic ability to react to the unexpected.

The class then moves towards increasing dexterity and of expression. Particular emphasis is placed on relationships with music and other participants.

About Lucy

Improvisation and interconnection are central to Lucy M. May which has been influenced by her professional experiences with Marie Chouinard, Margie Gillis and 7Starr, but also through her practice of Krump – an intense and theatrical style of street dance – as well as her experiments with somatic forms such as Body-Mind Centring, Min Tanaka and Continuum. Her choreographic work explores the human materiality of attention and our relationship to place.

Lucy has led workshops across Canada, with organizations such as the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal (EDCM), Toronto Love-In, Studio 303, Kinetic Studio, Fluid Fest, DancEncorps, Empirical Freedom and Fada Dance. Seeking new ways to pass on knowledge about the movement, she co-created community gatherings such as Off_Script.

Marc Boivin
January 22 to 26, 2024, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Registration opens on November 1, 2023

 © Michael Slobodian

Marc Boivin’s contemporary dance technique class is inspired by the foundations of the Limón technique and the principles of ballet.

The dancer is called upon to develop a balance between strength and freedom, a clarity of impulse in their proprioceptive space, and a relationship of intention to their stage space through form and gaze.

This work process prepares the body for a dynamic and creative state, in addition to providing tools to physically articulate the performer’s artistic contribution according to their choices.

The course of the class begins with a warm-up on the ground followed by a class in the center, traditional progression, variation of bends, stretched, cleared, etc. leading to big jumps.

About Marc 

Dancer, improviser, teacher, Marc Boivin began his career at the Groupe de la Place Royale in Ottawa under the direction of Peter Boneham. In 1985, he joined Ginette Laurin and her young company O Vertigo Danse.

Since 1991, it is as a freelance performer that we find him in the work of several choreographers from here and elsewhere, namely Louise Bédard, Mélanie Demers, Sylvain Émard, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Tedd Robinson and Catherine Tardif .

Affiliated with L’École de danse contemporaine de Montréal since 1987, he regularly teaches and choreographs in various schools and organizations across Canada.

The Regroupement québécois de la danse’s regional classes in Québec are offered in collaboration with L’Artère, art de la danse et du mouvement. They are made possible thanks to financial support from the Gouvernement du Québec through the Intervention-Compétences program administered by Compétence Culture.