
Roger White
Helen Simard
- Artist-in-residence, Contemporary Dance
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Biography
Helen Simard is a choreographer, rehearsal director and dance dramaturge. Originally from Kingston, Ontario, she relocated to Tiohtiá:ke/ Montréal in 1996 to pursue a career in the arts.
Simard collaborates with musicians and dancers to create visceral interdisciplinary shows. Her work uses repetition, complex spatial patterns and techniques of sensory overwhelm to create hypnotic, dreamlike performances that blur the boundaries between conscious and subconscious spaces. Past works such as NO FUN (2014), IDIOT (2017), Dance Side of the Moon (2018), REQUIEM POP (2019), and PAPILLON (2020) are joyfully chaotic and complex in their simplicity, walking a fine line between the real and the imaginary.
Simard holds a BFA (Concordia University, 2000) and MA in Dance (Université du Québec à Montréal, 2014). She is currently Artist-in-Residence in the Department of Contemporary Dance at Concordia University, and has also taught at l'École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, l'École nationale du cirque, and l'Université du Québec à Montréal. Her research explores themes relating to loss, memory, nostalgia, and intergenerational exchange.

Because You Never Asked (2023)
Photo: Do Phan Hoi

PAPILLON (2020)
Photo: Do Phan Hoi Interpreters in the photo: Victoria Mackenzie, Nindy Banks, Mecdy Jean-Pierre

When Your Baby Dies (In Development)
Photo: Do Phan Hoi. Interpreter: Lucy May
Artistic performances
CHOREOGRAPHY
Tout s’effondre (In development)
Financial Partners: Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Conseil des arts de Montréal
Residencies: Cas Public, Centre de Création O'Vertigo, École de danse contemporaine de Montréal
When Your Baby Dies (In development)
Financial Partners: Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal
Residencies: Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal, Agora de la danse, L’Annexe-A, Théâtre du Tandem, Musée d’art de Rouyn Noranda, Studio Flak, Diagramme gestion culturelle
Quand je ferme mes yeux (2024, forthcoming)
Financial Partners: Agora de la danse, Canada Council for the Arts, Cas Public, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
Residencies: Agora de la danse, Cas Public, Diffusion Hector-Charland, Créations Estelle Clareton
Premiere: Agora de la danse, Montréal, QC
Because You Never Asked (2023, forthcoming)
Financial Partners: Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts de Montréal, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
Residencies: Segal Centre for Performing Arts, Montreal Arts Intercultural, Cas Public
Premiere: Montréal, arts interculturels, Montréal, QC
Papillon (2020)
Financial Partners: Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Conseil des arts de Montréal, Danse-Cité, Diagramme gestion culturelle
Residencies: Centre de Création O'Vertigo, Carrefour culturel Notre-Dame-des-Prairies, Danse à la Carte, La Chapelle, Maison de la culture Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Playwrights' Workshop Montreal, Théâtre Hector-Charland
Premiere: La Chapelle, in coproduction with Danse-Cité, Montréal, QC
REQUIEM POP (2019)
Financial Partners: Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Agora de la danse, Studio 303, Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal
Residencies: Agora de la danse, Studio 303, Université du Québec à Montréal, Mainline Theatre
Premiere: Agora de la danse, Montréal, QC
IDIOT (2017)
Residencies: La Chapelle, Université du Québec à Montréal, Mainline Theatre
Premiere: La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines
NO FUN (2015)
Residencies: Université du Québec à Montréal, Mainline Theatre
Premiere: Tangente