Bouge de là has adopted a creative means of introducing young audiences to the world of choreography, thus making dance accessible to children. With a contemporary approach that blends together various art forms, the company presents dance performances that are...
Bouge de là has adopted a creative means of introducing young audiences to the world of choreography, thus making dance accessible to children. With a contemporary approach that blends together various art forms, the company presents dance performances that are playful and topical. By fusing dance with other artistic disciplines, the choreographer Hélène Langevin ensures that the interdisciplinary nature of the experience makes for a show children will long remember. Young audiences of all ages have access to seamless, straightforward and vibrant dance, a major art form that appeals to their artistic sense and their imagination.
It was with the collective Brouhaha Danse that Hélène Langevin created her first performance for young audiences in 1996, Roche, Papier, Ciseaux. The remarkable success of that piece led her to establish Bouge de là in 2000, created from the ashes of the defunct collective. Bouge de là remains one of the rare professional dance companies in Québec devoted exclusively to creating dance presentations for children. It has eight works in its repertoire: La Tribu Hurluberlu (2000), Like the 5 Fingers on your Hand (2003), CHUT!! (2005), Ol (2008), The Studio (2010) and Bedtime! (2013), The 26 Letter Dance (2016) and Through My Eyes (2018).
Educating young audiences and heightening their appreciation of dance are at the very heart of the artistic mission of Bouge de là. With her extensive experience as a teacher of creative dance, Hélène Langevin offers children a wide variety of dance awareness activities.
At the start of each new dance creation, the choreographer conducts research by presenting dance workshops to children in primary schools. These sessions provide her with feedback as she listens to their ideas and observes their reactions. Hélène Langevin regularly invites school classes to creative residencies with professional dancers so that they too can observe the process of dance creation and respond directly to the choreographic sketch taking shape. This back-and-forth leads her to question her working hypotheses, and to have them either validated or refuted. It favours the creation of a piece that is in harmony with the feelings and experiences of the young spectators.
In conjunction with the Bouge de là performances, Hélène Langevin also designs creative workshops for each show linked to the theme of the work presented.
Through these multiple actions, Bouge de là achieves its objective of offering children an enjoyable contact with dance, an experience that stimulates an emotional response and instills a desire for movement and dance.
Acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, the company has received several awards. In October 2008, Old Thomas and the Little Fairy was nominated in the Young Audiences category for a Prix de la critique award from the Québec association of theatre critics. This dance piece, along with Like the 5 Fingers on your Hand, was also nominated for a RIDEAU Touring Award, which the company finally received in 2012 for The Studio.
Bouge de là has also established a strong reputation outside Québec. In 2012 and 2015, The Studio and Bedtime! were nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award in Toronto for Outstanding Production, Theatre for Young Audiences category, and again in 2019 with The 26 Letter Dance. In 2013 Bouge de là was among the finalists in the category Touring Artistic Company of the Year at the BC Touring Council Annual Awards.
In 2006 Bouge de là became the resident company at the Maison culturelle et communautaire in Montréal-Nord. Every year the borough offers the company use of its facilities to develop and create new dance works or to remount pieces about to go on tour. Bouge de là is proud to present the world premières of its shows to the citizens of Montréal-Nord.
26 Letter Dance’s march through the alphabet leaves kids spellbound.
Through My Eyes: Fruitful Solitude
On the stage, dance and play are but one, with jumps, pirouettes, and grands battements expressing first and foremost joy and freedom. Where imagination reigns supreme, nothing is impossible.
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