Winner of the Grand Prix de la danse in 2021, Mélanie Demers shone again during the 12e ceremony of the Prix de la danse de Montréal, for his piece Public confession, a solo performed by Angélique Willkie, who received an award for her performance. The two put their scholarships totaling $20,000 on the ballot, a cry from the heart addressing the issue of the distribution of works from here on our territory.
This is not her first honor at the Prix de la danse de Montréal for choreographer Mélanie Demers. She therefore hesitated before accepting the award for best choreographic work in Quebec, accompanied by a $10,000 grant, for her work Public confessionpresented in 2021 at La Chapelle, then this year at the FTA.
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Mélanie Demers put her $10,000 scholarship on the “wasting”, hoping that her work Public confession be broadcast again in Quebec.
Since we are only talking in terms of capital and neoliberal thought, I would rather exchange the market value of this $10,000 for the possibility of presenting this work in Quebec, here, on our territory, anywhere.
Mélanie Demers, choreographer
How to allow the nested works to “come out of their niche” and meet the Quebec public? How to solve the “burden of the distribution of works on our territory”? These are the questions posed by Mélanie Demers, who deplores the fact that Public confession will soon be touring abroad, but that no performance is planned on Quebec soil.
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Anik Bissonnette, who hosted the award ceremony, congratulates Angélique Willkie, winner of the Performer award.
Moments later, it was the turn of multidisciplinary artist and playwright Angélique Willkie to take the stage to accept the award for her masterful performance of stripping naked in the autobiographical solo Public confession. The latter added her $10,000 purse to Demers’ offer. “It’s not even a joke!” “, she launched, adding: “This piece represents everything that I am as an artist. »
Choreographer Catherine Gaudet received top honors with the Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal, along with a $25,000 grant, for the high quality of her work in her three most recent creations, Pretty Things, Dissolving and The fading of the marvelous.
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Catherine Gaudet received the Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal 2022.
A prize that she received with “a lot of humility and recognition”, underlining the essential contribution of her collaborators, “beauty igniters”, in particular for their “refusal of compromise”. Among them, Sophie Michaud, dramaturgical advisor, and the dancers who have performed her pieces over the years, whom she has taken care to name all of them.
Emotions and diversity
This 12e The award ceremony was moving, with several heartfelt speeches and loud applause from a community that has suffered greatly from the consequences of the pandemic. Several women and people from diverse backgrounds are among the winners.
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Claudia Chan Tak, recipient of the Flight Prize
Recipient of the Envol prize for cultural diversity and inclusive dance practices, Claudia Chan Tak was very moved. Instigator of the Artistic and Asian Directory in Quebec, in response to the racism experienced by members of her community, the choreographer, performer, diversity curator of the Phénoména festival and collaborator of the Asian Coalition for an Empowering Succession (La Caré) pointed out that this prize “will soothe the tears, the rage, the dark times and also illuminate the path ahead”.
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Paul Chambers won the Revelation award.
For the Révélation prize, which can reward a performer, a choreographer or a performing arts craftsman, the jury was unanimous in its decision to highlight the essential contribution of the light artist Paul Chambers to many choreographic works from here.
Two well-known figures in the industry have had their decades-long work highlighted. Lucie Boissinot received the Outstanding Contribution award, having been a charismatic performer for more than 20 years and who today directs the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. Ginelle Chagnon, coach, assistant, “outside eye” (three of the many titles she has held over the course of her rich career), accepted the Ethel-Bruneau prize to put the spotlight on all those who work behind the scenes to shaping the living arts.
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Lucie Boissinot, winner of the Outstanding Contribution award
Étincelle, a new prize, was created in tribute to the creator Pierre-Paul Savoie, who died in 2021. It aims to highlight the work of artists who provoke encounters around dance. By contributing to the democratization of dance off the beaten track and in rural areas in Marsoui, Gaspésie, choreographer, curator and arts researcher Priscilla Guy caught the jury’s attention.
Mickaël Spinnhirny and Lydie Revez, who co-direct the young Agence Mickaël Spinnhirny, received the Cultural Manager prize, in particular for the responsiveness and innovative approach they demonstrated during the pandemic.