We know today Françoise Sullivan mainly as a visual artist. However, its influence on contemporary Quebec dance is major, if not masterful. Since his manifesto in Global denial — she is the only woman to sign a text there, the only one on dance — since her classic piece in situ Dance in the snow (illustrated in one) and her work at Groupe Nouvelle Aire, Sullivan is a pioneer. A “mother of freedom”, as choreographer Paul-André Fortier puts it.
Coming to dance and first trained in classical by Gérald Crevier (1912-1993), Françoise Sullivan finds her direction towards modern dance during her stay in New York, dancing with Franziska Boas. Back in Montreal, with the automatists, she formed a sub-group with the other women. They work, discuss, think together, and have a great influence on each other — with Françoise Riopelle, Jeanne Renaud and her sister Thérèse.
“Dancing, essentially the work of the women in the group, was for them the mode of expression that allowed them to find their autonomy and their amplitude as artists, and to have a certain form of recognition”, explains Josiane Fortin. , dance researcher at UQAM.
In 1947, Françoise Sullivan obtained permission to squat the Maison Ross, rue Peel in Montreal, which was then serving the Canadian army. She makes the officers’ mess her dance studio whenever she wants, except on the two days of the week when the place returns to its use for the army.
It was there that she presented, in April 1948, dance recital, with Jeanne Renaud. Jean Paul Riopelle is in charge, Jean-Paul Mousseau made some of the costumes and Maurice Perron is in charge of the lighting. Claude Gauvreau reads a text by Thérèse Renaud for a titled choreography I am of this red and thick race which brushes volcanic eruptions and moving craters.
Pierre Mercure plays the piano, Gérard Gagnon, the trumpet. Françoise Riopelle is also there. M’s fatherme Sullivan is made master of ceremonies. A lot of beautiful people, what. THE Recital lasts an hour and a half. Jeanne Renaud signs three pieces, Sullivan, five, including Maze, Black and Tan Fantasy And Duality, that they both dance. This last choreography exposes the “double personality of the same person, and each plays the dark side of the other. One wears a light dress, the other a dark dress, “says Mme Fort.
“We are moving away from the idea that a choreography must be structured or finished. They include improvisation, a lot of circular and instinctive movements, to express inner sensations,” recalls Ms.me Fort.
The style, continues the historian, is a precursor to today’s somatic dance. It was then based on feelings and emotions that want to spring. This whole evening “is now considered a bold event for contemporary dance in Quebec. It’s a pivotal moment,” as Claude Gosselin wrote in 2020 for the Center international d’art contemporain de Montréal.
Three of these works will have a sustained future, having been revived several times over the years: Deformityby Jeanne Renaud, then Duality And Ofdale by Francoise Sullivan. The latter, based on breathing, the pendulum of the arms, the inner necessity, in silence, will be taken up for example in 1978 by the young Ginette Laurin, the one before O Vertigo, and in 2008 by Mario Côté.
The influence of a dance
But “Sullivan’s most automatist piece is Dance in the snow », says Josiane Fortin. It is also certainly the best known. Outside, on uneven ground, Sullivan improvises in the environment, under the inspiration of the present moment.
“At the time, in situ dance was absolutely not developed, and the link between art, dance and the environment had not been considered at all in Quebec. Subsequently, several events brought this work back to life — reconstitution, transmission, recreation; whether by film The Sullivan Seasons in 2007 or by the queer version of Luis Jacob the same year, or even by a round table in 2016. “The play had a great impact also because it had a chain of documentation and reactivation. »
Later, at the end of 1970, the contribution of Françoise Sullivan to the Nouvelle Aire Group will also be very important. The artist “will have a solid impact on the first generation of independent choreographers in Quebec: Daniel Léveillé, Paul-André Fortier, Ginette Laurin, Michèle Febvre, Daniel Soulières”. She rubbed shoulders with them and created works with them, inspired them, adds Josiane Fortin.
The whirling dervishes also greatly inspired Françoise Sullivan for her dances, according to the analysis of Mme Fort. “The figure of the circle returns. In dance and hope, she also cites witch doctors and jugglers. I think any archaic community inspired him. She was looking for a certain spirituality through art, not linked to a religion, but universal, linked to the cosmos. A dance that is more than dance, in a way.