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Collaboration between RQD, L’Artère, Sursaut and Danse Laurentides

2025-2026 Fall and Winter Regional Classes

Elise Legrand in Dé-Reconstruire, AVEC Festival, Domaine Howard in Sherbrooke © Dominick Ménard

$10/class

Drop-ins are accepted, but only after you have registered for the session in advance. Classes are open to professionals only.

About enrollment in regional classes

David Rancourt

Laurentians

September 1, September 8, October 20, November 17, November 24, December 1, December 8
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Laurentians Dance Studio

Class description

David Rancourt‘s class offers a hybrid of dance techniques and bodywork. It incorporates principles and a quality of presence inspired by Qi Gong. You will explore forms derived from simplified classical, modern, and contemporary vocabularies with the aim of finding ease, agility, and integrity in your movements. Time is devoted to connecting your breathing with your body weight. The class then unfolds in space through various exercises, sequences, and improvised structures. The teaching focuses on a balance between respect for form and the pursuit of freedom. Alternating between subtle and more dynamic segments, the class aims to awaken your body in a sensitive and creative way.

About David
David Rancourt is a dance artist who has been based in Montreal since 1999. As artistic director of PPS Danse, he alternates between the roles of choreographer, rehearsal director, performer, and teacher. He is part of the team at the Fragments Libres school, where he has been teaching and practicing Qi Gong for some fifteen years. In dance, he teaches workshops focused on the creative process, performance, partner work, and technical training.

Elise Legrand

Laurentians
September 22, *September 29, November 3, November 10, December 15
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
*Starts at 6:15 PM on September 29
Laurentians Dance Studio

Québec
November 17 to 21
9:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Maison pour la danse de Québec

Class description
Drawing on her background in contemporary dance, circus arts, classical dance, yoga, and tai chi, as well as her training routines developed over the years, Elise Legrand‘s class combines different elements to maximize your body’s openness and preparation. The goal is to warm up your body and then engage in physical training through various exercises and movement sequences, both in space and on the floor. Attention is paid to energy flow, momentum trajectory, and joint awareness in different fields and textures of movement.

About Elise

A dancer and choreographer based in Sherbrooke, Elise Legrand has over twenty years of experience in contemporary dance performance and creation. A 2002 graduate of the Conservatoire de Danse de Montréal, she has worked with various choreographers and companies such as Sinha Danse, PPS Danse, and Sursaut, taking part in numerous tours across Canada, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. She has taught classes for professionals as well as introductory workshops in contemporary dance to various communities in Quebec and Puerto Rico. She has been creating and presenting her choreographic work since 2010, with a keen interest in site-specific and multidisciplinary creation.

Jamie Wright

Laurentians

October 6, October 13, February 9
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Laurentians Dance Studio

Class description
Pleasure, relevance, precision, participation, and… imperfection. These are some of the areas explored in Jamie Wright ‘s class which takes a biomechanical approach to the body with the aim of increasing awareness of movement. The focus will be on the tactile connection with the floor, strengthening deep support, the relationship between the central axis and space, and the balance between engagement, efficiency, and effort. Incorporating live music, his class is one of research and creation that focuses on coordination, precision, and the poles of slowness and speed.

About Jamie

A native of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Jamie Wright studied at York University in Toronto, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in 1997. Arriving in Montreal in 1999, she quickly established herself as a committed and charismatic artist. She danced for the Flak/José Navas company from 2002 to 2008, then for several choreographers such as Ginette Laurin, Estelle Clareton, Dana Gingras (2015), and Frédérick Gravel. She has been teaching dance professionals in Montreal and elsewhere in Quebec since 2003, and is proud to have been a member of the faculty at the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal since 2006.

Lina Cruz

Québec

October 20 to 24
9:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Maison pour la danse de Québec

Sherbrooke
November 11 to 14
9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Centre des arts de la scène Jean-Besré

Class description
Lina Cruz ‘s class focuses purely on ballet technique rather than classical style. She offers a personal, dynamic, and proactive approach that breaks down technique in order to provide concrete tools and results, regardless of your style.

About Lina

Originally from Colombia, Lina Cruz has been a dance teacher since 1983 and is known for her personal approach to teaching classical ballet, which is adapted to dancers of all styles. Trained in Spain and the United States, she collaborated with internationally renowned choreographers before joining the Montreal dance community in 1989. In addition to her choreographic work, Lina has been giving workshops for twenty years in professional training schools, as well as to professional artists and companies in Canada and Spain.

Sara Hanley

Laurentians

October 27, January 12, February 2
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Laurentians Dance Studio

Québec
December 8 to 12
9:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Maison pour la danse de Québec

Class description
Sara Hanley‘s Sensitive Bodies – Changing Environments class invites you to explore movement as a free and inhabited dance, guided by energy systems. The goal is to release tension, cultivate flexible intensity, and develop a presence that is sensitive to internal and external flows. Through cycles inspired by meridians, you will explore various qualities such as fluidity, radiance, precision, momentum, stability, and density. The approach is based on listening closely to your bodily systems (bone, muscle, energy, sensory), promoting an embodied and transformable presence. Various tools—improvisation, open scores, movement phrases, biomechanics, texture work, and imagination—will allow you to refine your perception, autonomy, and spontaneity.

About Sara

Sara Hanley is a Montreal-based artist who has been active in the contemporary dance scene for over 25 years. Trained as a performer, she has collaborated on the creation of works by numerous choreographers, most recently Sylvain Émard, Alexandre Morin, and Kimberly de Jong. Her work explores the relationship between the body and the environment, weaving sensitive links between the human, the more-than-human, and cycles of transformation. Since 2014, she has been developing co-creation projects with various communities, combining sensoriality, care, and poetic engagement. Sara teaches dance at Concordia University and UQAM and supports choreographers as an artistic advisor.

Geneviève Boulet

Québec
February 16 to 20
9:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Maison pour la danse de Québec

Class description
Geneviève Boulet‘s class combines various somatic approaches and techniques to awaken your senses and cultivate your enjoyment of movement. She invites you to ground yourself, align yourself, and connect with yourself. She begins with a warm-up combining Pilates, yoga, and mobility exercises, promoting the activation of your deep postural muscles and your physical engagement in complete safety. Gradually, the class evolves into technical exercises exploring spatial awareness, risk-taking, and musicality. Throughout the session, you will be invited to travel between your internal sensations and the surrounding space, awakening your proprioception.

About Geneviève

Geneviève Boulet has been active in Montreal’s dance community as a performer, choreographer, rehearsal director, and teacher for over 20 years. Trained at the École de Danse Contemporaine de Montréal, she continually enriches her artistic practice by exploring various physical, energetic, and esoteric approaches. She has collaborated with O Vertigo, Roger Sinha, Dany Desjardins, Fleuve|Espace Danse, and Roy Assaf. Since 2009, she has been a member of the Destins Croisés company, where she forges human and artistic connections that deeply nourish her universe. She has had the opportunity to learn from and be inspired by Margie Gillis since 2018, where she acts as a performer and artistic advisor. She is also the co-founder of the collective La Tresse, where she has been co-choreographer and performer since 2014.

The regional classes of the Regroupement québécois de la danse, offered in collaboration with Compagnie de danse Sursaut, L’Artère art de la danse et du mouvement and Danse Laurentides, are made possible thanks to financial support from the Quebec government through the Intervention-Compétences program of Compétence Culture.