After founding his own company, Personne Danse, last year, the finalist of the first season of Revolution Charles-Alexis Desgagnés comes to rub shoulders with the Agora de la danse stage with his solo The call of the embers. “A beautiful gateway”, according to the artist, to show his creativity to the public and easily export a first piece on tours.
” Thanks to Revolution, I know that I perform well solo and, mathematically, for a first piece, it also cost me less, so I wanted to challenge myself to keep the audience’s attention for 55 minutes, with only me on stage . A solo, in form, is more safe financially, but not necessarily artistically,” explains Charles-Alexis Desgagnés when we talk about his first desire to create solo.
This self-taught jack-of-all-trades has, in fact, an atypical background. After starting dancing at 17, he moved “on a whim” to New York. “I didn’t understand how the world of dance worked, I didn’t know the training, nothing. I just took a lot of classes there,” he remembers. After “learning the ropes” of dance, he finally enrolled in a “traditional” program, but dropped out after a year. “I felt like my creativity was being stifled. I always had difficulty finishing school programs, I dropped out of university several times. I have trouble being in a framework,” he says.
After spending time in Toronto, holding a series of precarious jobs and continuing to dance on the menu, Mr. Desgagnés finally begins, little by little, to earn a living through dancing. “I added lots of choreographers to my Facebook account in 2012 (laughs)! Then, [le chorégraphe] Harold Rhéaume writes to me and asks me if I want to come to Quebec for the play Invisible Paths — The Shed of the Forgotten, a Cirque du Soleil show with 50 outdoor shows in Quebec. It was a great first experience,” he recalls. Subsequently, Charles-Alexis Desgagnés worked for Destins Croissants, Le fils d’Adrien, Cirque Éloize, Les 7 Doigts. He also made some self-productions and taught dance. “After each refusal or setback, I get up and continue. I think I always had the guts to do things, to try. It does not work ? Too bad. The risk is worth it in the long term,” reflects the youngest creator of the multi-choreographic production. Midnight somewherea work which will be broadcast in 2024 by Danse Danse and produced by the Mickaël Spinnhirny agency.
With his company Personne Danse, he wants to offer a space of creation and freedom to people with atypical backgrounds like him, but not only that. “In addition to highlighting those who fall outside the institutional framework, I also want to celebrate the bodies and stories of sexual diversity and the queer community. Without being my hobby horse, it is part of my approach, a desire to break the heteronormative paradigm,” explains the one who wishes to question the relationship of the choreographer king. Mr. Desgagnés also plans to do group pieces, the first of which is currently at the research stage, and international tours with his company. “My dream would be for us to be two or three choreographers in rotation, which would allow us to put on the performing hat more often, as well as a portion for the next generation, a number 2 company for young people in a way” , imagine someone who still despairs of the “poor” working conditions in the dance world. Indeed, this year, multiple plays programmed with several broadcasters received very little, if any, funding from governments.
Although this first piece is a solo, Charles-Alexis Desgagnés considers it a collective work. “I am very much into circular creation with collaborators. This will also be the case with the performers for future creations. I’m always interested in hearing what the lighting designer, composer and rehearsal director have to say about the different departments,” he explains.
Popularize to emancipate dance
“I would really like people to have the same enthusiasm for going to see the latest big blockbuster from Marvel as the newest contemporary dance show! How can we get there? » asks the dancer. One of the solutions to achieve this accessibility of dance would be to find a balance between technical virtuosity and performative non-dance, according to him. “In this case, we might be able to be scheduled for three weeks, like the plays. If what we’re doing isn’t just for people in the dance world, but for ordinary people, without losing creativity, it would help the world, I think. But it’s harder work,” he observes.
Through this first solo, Charles-Alexis learned a lot, not only about the administrative and production side of a company, but also about himself. “A solo is long-term therapy, accelerated personal development. With the hat of choreographer and performer, you have to learn to receive comments, to forget the ego a little, but also learn to reconnect with it. It’s a beautiful mirror of life,” he confesses. For him, the physical movement of dance can be a real catharsis. “I love being on stage. It’s where I feel the best, like home. I hope to inspire people to reconnect with their creativity and sensitivity,” he adds.
With The call of the embers, Charles-Alexis Desgagnés offers a piece “with a complex, advanced dramaturgy, but accessible in the body”. “We go back to basics, there is no technology or artifice. He’s a guy who moves in light and to sound. My body is the reference point,” adds the one who would like to make experimental contemporary dance mainstream. In this sense, the dancer had received many messages after his appearances at Revolution. “Lots of people told me that they didn’t understand anything about contemporary dance, but that thanks to me, they had made connections and dared to buy show tickets,” he concludes. It’s part of our job, our responsibility, in my opinion, to make dance accessible. Popularization is part of the emancipation of our discipline and that is important to me.”