Marie Claire Forté

Biography, 2025

The relational, experiential, and experimental power of dance and language inspires me. Based in Montréal/Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang, I dance, choreograph, translate, write, teach, support and love. My child is a clarifying force. My career has been nourished by long-term creative relationships with artists from different generations and aesthetics, all sharing a love of process, rigour and exploration. Important influences include Peter Boneham, artistic director and master teacher of the now-defunct Le Groupe Dance Lab in Ottawa; Toronto-based choreographer Ame Henderson; Gatineau-based visual artist Sophie Bélair Clément; Montréal-based choreographer Louise Bédard and multidisciplinary performance group PME-ART. I create art—in choreography, language, video and sound—and work with artists whom I love, recently Catherine Lalonde, Louise Bédard, Katie Ward, Sovann Rochon-Prom Tep, and Priscilla Guy and Émilie Morin. I was Artist in Residence at Concordia University in 2024 and Dancer in Residence at l’Agora de la danse from 2017 to 2019. I regularly work in different capacities in the arts: editor, translator, writer, outside eye or artistic support, post-performance talk host, and conversation facilitator. I am currently working on a book about Peter Boneham’s teaching practice.