PPS Danse - L'École buissonnière - Dany Desjardins © Rolline Laporte

L’École buissonnière’s Acadian Tour

L’École buissonnière — produced by PPS Danse in co-production with DansEncorps — finished a successful first run of 28 performances in New-Brunswick this fall. Performed by Moncton-based DansEncorps, this 60-minute show for youth audiences already received a successful reception at Montreal’s Petits Bonheurs Festival in May 2015 and was showcased more recently at ROSEQ in October 2015.

PPS Danse will perform l’École buissonnière in the province of Quebec as of Fall 2016. An English version, called Playing Hooky is also in the making.

L’École buissonnière
2015 New Brunswick Tour 
Performed by DansEncorps, Moncton

Grand Sault: 18 October
Edmundston: 20 October
Moncton: 22 October
Dieppe: 27 October
Shédiac: 29 October
Miramichi: 30 October
Caraquet: 2 November
Shippagan: 3 November
Tracadie: 4 et 5 November
Néguac: 6 November
Bathurst: 9 & 10 November
Campbelton: 12 November
Saint-Jean: 16 November
Frédéricton: 17 November
Dieppe: 18 November

A great reception by audiences and critics alike

BAGNE Re-création received a enthusiast reception by its audience and by the press. PPS Danse would like to thank its team of artistic collaborators for the excellent work done.  Mission accomplished!

 

The Globe and Mail

“Time has passed, conditions have changed, and so have we — though scenes from this hard and touching show will stay with me, like memories refreshed and old nightmares renewed.”

— Robert Everett-Green    [read the entire review]

Le Devoir

« … Actuel, brûlant et percutant. Avec lui un pan de la mémoire chorégraphique de Montréal en renaissance à travers lui. »
« … la pièce évoque surtout nos prisons intérieures, notre incapacité à briser les chaînes de nos ego, notre difficulté à nous tourner vers l’autre. »

La Presse

« Crée en 1993 , Bagne demeure une pièce forte et percutante. La physicalité de Hall et Savoie est intense et radicale à l’image de leur quête artistique … Spectacle fort réussi. 4 étoiles. »

BAGNE Re-creation: Premiere in Montreal

Presented in co-production with Danse Danse and in collaboration with Place des Arts, PPS Danse is pleased to announce the international premiere of BAGNE Recréation.

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More than 20 years after its original premiere, co-creators Pierre-Paul Savoie and Jeff Hall have reworked one of their most acclaimed creations, Bagne. In this work where theatre and dance merge, the raw force of performers Lael Stellick and Milan Panet-Gigon yields to a universal tenderness. The bodies imprisoned, equally clash and converge in bold and sensitive movement, creating a hymn to freedom and the power and majesty of love.

October 21 to October 31, 2015, 8:00 p.m.
Cinquième salle, Place des Arts
Montreal
For more informations or to buy tickets : click here ! 

Retrospective Exhibition – PPS Danse 25 years

“Looking back to better grasp the distance covered and the countless inspiring encounters along the way. A look back to light the way ahead… ” – Pierre-Paul Savoie

PPS Danse is pleased to invite you to a retrospective exhibition of the company at the Espace culturel Georges-Émile-Lapalme of Place des Arts from September 4 to October 10, 2015. This special event showcases our artistic heritage and pays tribute to the company’s invaluable collaborators. Our retro-video gives an overview!

Pierre-Paul Savoie also invites you to a guided tour of the exhibition on September 26 and 27, 2015 during the Journées de la Culture at Place des Arts, retracing highlights of his career through artifacts, photos and video clips of outstanding works from his repertoire.

This exhibition received support from the Place des Arts and the Conseil des arts de Montréal.

Danse Lhasa Danse … under the trees

PPS Danse and Coup de cœur francophone are delighted to announce that Lhasa de Sela’s vibrant music will again resound on August 11 in the heart of La Fontaine Park.

Conceived and staged by Pierre-Paul Savoie and co-produced by Coup de cœur francophone and PPS Danse, this special tribute performance of Danse Lhasa Danse will be adapted for the occasion. It will bring together on stage Alexandre Désilets, Karen Young and Alejandra Ribeira, accompanied by 5 musicians and 5 dancers in choreographies by Hélène Blackburn, David Rancourt, Edgar Zendejas, Pierre Lecours, Myriam Allard and Pierre-Paul Savoie. A magical encounter of music and dance expressing with passion and humanity the songs and soul of Lhasa de Sela.

Created in 2011 for the 25th edition of the Coup de cœur francophone, Danse Lhasa Danse is an original work dedicated to Lhasa De Sela, whose soul remains deep in our hearts. Following 28 performances in Québec and Canada the show has now reached more than 16,000 spectators. Here’s another chance for Montrealers to see Danse Lhasa Danse before it embarks on an international tour.

La Fontaine Park – Montréal
August 11, 2015 at 8:30 pm
http://www.accesculture.com

PPS Danse receives the Cultural Mediation Award 2015

TEXT À TRADUIRE — C’est avec grand plaisir que Pierre-Paul Savoie et l’équipe de PPS Danse se sont vus décerner le Prix de l’Action culturelle 2015, pour le projet « Les chaises, de l’idée à la création »  réalisé en partenariat avec la TOHU, remis par madame Manon Gauthier, membre du comité exécutif de la Ville de Montréal, en présence d’une centaine de représentants du milieu culturel.

Ce prix souligne l’engagement des artistes et organismes culturels auprès des populations montréalaises plus éloignées de l’offre culturelle. Avec ce projet, PPS Danse et la TOHU ont impliqué aînés et élèves du primaire du quartier St-Michel dans le processus de création du spectacle Les chaises, inspiré de l’œuvre d’Eugène Ionesco. « Cette année, j’ai le plaisir de remettre le Prix de l’Action culturelle à un artiste et chorégraphe dont le talent et l’engagement ont marqué de façon exceptionnelle la vie culturelle montréalaise depuis 25 ans : Pierre-Paul Savoie. Pour le projet exemplaire qu’il a mené auprès des jeunes et des aînés, et pour l’ensemble de son œuvre », a affirmé Mme Manon Gauthier.

PPS Danse celebrates 25 years

PPS Danse is marking its 25th anniversary with an outstanding program of activities that pays tribute to the remarkable and many-faceted talents of its founder and Artistic Director, Pierre-Paul Savoie.

In this perspective, to highlight the company’s artistic vitality and its shared pleasure in being part of the fresco of contemporary dance in Québec, the PPS Danse team is planning two major events:

Bagne Recréation

The re-creation of Bagne, one of its most acclaimed works, will be presented by Danse Danse in co-production with Place des Arts, from October 21 to 31, 2015, at the Cinquième Salle of Place des Arts.

In re-creating and passing on the choreographic score to a new generation of dancers, co-creators Pierre-Paul Savoie and Jeff Hall promise a gripping and powerful work, expressing the essence of humanity and a timeless theme intensified by the strength, energy and sensuality of the movements.

PPS Danse – Exhibition

A retrospective and themed exhibition at the Espace Georges-Émile-Lapalme of Place des Arts, from early September to mid-October 2015. This special event will showcase the company’s artistic heritage and pay tribute to our invaluable collaborators.

BAGNE

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More than 20 years after the original creation of Bagne, the co-creators and dancers Pierre-Paul Savoie and Jeff Hall revisit their most acclaimed success. Confined in a huge metal structure, two men embrace under the watchful eyes of captivated spectators. In this intense and moving amalgam of dance and theatre, a humanly brutal force transforms to a universal tenderness. The imprisoned beings entwine in raw and sensitive movement. It is a hymn to liberty and the power of  love.

In offering this creation to a new generation of male dancers and inviting the first-time collaborators to revisit the work, a fresh reality and timelessness is achieved, infusing the original statement. A re-creation whose universality profoundly touches the audience while being discovered by a new public and new generations.

« Un must et ce, que vous aimiez la danse, le théâtre, la vie… Une œuvre universelle, qui pourrait être présentée absolument partout et toucher à peu près tout le monde.
Chapeau. » Anne-­Marie Lecomte, La Presse (1992), Montréal

Production Credits

  • Original version (1998) : Pierre-Paul Savoie and Jeff Hall
  • Re-creation (2015) : Pierre-Paul Savoie and Jeff Hall
  • Dancers: Lael Stellick and Oliver Koomsatira
  • Music: Bernard Falaise
  • Sound Design: Larsen Lupin
  • Set Design: Bernard Lagacé
  • Light Design: Marc Parent
  • Costumes: Linda Brunelle
  • Make-Up: Florence Cornet

 

Documents to download

Founder’s Message

25 years. Most of all, it’s a look back to light the way ahead.

Looking back to better grasp the distance we’ve covered and the countless inspiring encounters along the way. In my mind are the managers, collaborators, dancers and actors, all the works and individuals who were there on this long and winding road.

25 years. It’s a time to take stock, to reflect and recall the hits, and the misses too — those that spurred us forward, that helped us to hone our skills, the ways we work, our artistic language. Through all these years, I’ve tried to take the pulse of happenings, to express what stirs me personally as it may also each of you. The works of my own artistic path have formed a human connection. I’ve been able to perceive the humanity, to see the light in the wondering eyes of children. And so I too am given wonder to see the world and to reach and reveal my deepest soul.

Looking back, these 25 years have been an amazing journey, one that inspires and impels me, and gives me faith in the future. May this journey light the way ahead.

In closing, here are 25 candles to mark so many memorable encounters with individuals, artists and outstanding works. May I light one for each of the following:

Jeff Hall, Francine Arseneault,  Bernard Lagacé, Claude Poissant, Michel Lemieux et Victor Pilon, André Montmorency, Jasmine Dubé, Jacques Prévert, Eugène Ionesco, Lhasa de Sela, Dario Fo, Molière, Berthold Brecht, Lise Vaillancourt, Jocelyn Proulx, André Gingras, Luc Dunberry, Alain Chartrand, Marie-Josée Chartier, Benoit Côté, Ginette Bertrand, Richard Morin,  Arnold Brookhuis and Christine Cyr.

Wishing you a pleasant journey through the pages of this website, and I hope we will cross paths at a creative performance or workshop.

Playing Hooky

A meeting of dance and song (age 4 and up)

Dedicated to the poetic universe of Jacques Prévert, Pierre-Paul Savoie’s new creation is called Playing Hooky (French title: L’École buissonnière).

Through a cycle of song and dance celebrating childhood and its effervescent imagination, Playing Hooky takes place in the playground and classroom, finding what’s fun and poetic for some kids but also a marginality for others. The lively, light-hearted choreography spurs the quartet of versatile dancers to sing too.

For this project, Pierre-Paul Savoie continues his fruitful collaboration with composer Benoît Côté who wrote the music for Tales for Naughty Children and The Chairs. Based on poems and texts by Jacques Prévert, Côté’s original music for Playing Hooky will be performed by singers Alexandre Désilets and Amylie.

Production Credits

  • Texts: Jacques Prévert
  • Conception, staging and choreography: Pierre-Paul Savoie
  • Dramaturgy: Lise Vaillancourt
  • Music: Benoît Côté
  • Performers (Québec cast): Mathilde Addy-Laird, Dany Desjardins, Amélie Rajotte, Chantal Beaudin
  • Performers (Acadian cast): Chantal Cadieux, Chantal Baudoin.
  • Stage set and lighting: Jocelyn Proulx
  • Costumes: Linda Brunelle
  • Length: 50 minutes