Quebec dance was not in the mood to celebrate on Monday. April 29, International Dance Day, was for some the equivalent of “celebrating your birthday when you have just been diagnosed with cancer”, as choreographer Mélanie Demers wrote. Statistics, surveys and studies show that the dance community is sick. Many artists responded on social networks to the invitation of the Regroupement québécois de la danse to bear witness to their reality. When the dancers speak.
Instead of celebrating, the Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD) denounced the fact that “the government is dismantling our entire vast community. While Quebec dance should be an object of pride, our momentum is broken.”
It was the artist Claudia Chan Tak who carried the words of the theater man Martin Faucher, for the RQD, in a video launching the campaign to collect testimonies I lose my momentum. Around thirty speeches from dance artists followed on Facebook and Instagram.
L’Agora de la danse, Karine Ledoyen’s Danse K par K company, choreographers Dana Gingras and Marie Béland are among those who have followed this movement of words. Some of these artists of the body and movement, like Louise Bédard, noted that it was rare for them to turn to the written word, and that the situation called for it.
Ballerina Sarah Maude Laliberté was concerned about the new generation, particularly the graduates of the École supérieure de ballet, who gave their end-of-year show last Friday. “I think about their entry into our community exhausted from this insufficient support, and it upsets me,” she wrote.
“When I see the times of creation dwindling more and more and they end up distorting what a creative process worthy of the name should be, it is impossible for me to celebrate,” also commented the choreographer and professor at UQAM Danièle Desnoyers. “When I see that emblematic performers of our art currently find themselves obliged to rethink their careers in dance, for lack of being able to make a decent living from it […] ; When I realize that we need and will increasingly have to cancel entire weeks of work due to lack of adequate support, it is impossible for me to celebrate,” she continues.
“But above all, when we end up believing that there are too many artists and that the solution lies in their elimination, it is impossible for me to celebrate,” continues Mme Desnoyers.
The young performer Gabrielle Bertrand Lehouillier, who this year turned more towards the theater, admitted for her part on Facebook to not having had the courage or the energy to apply for grants for her personal projects, “being already overwhelmed through my food work (also in cultivation).”
“I feel like dancing is slipping through my fingers,” she confides, “but I need it and I firmly believe that we change the world when we dance, whether alone or together. »
Less partying, more training
For the RQD, the budgetary constraints that threaten the dance hindered the very possibility of celebrating. “It was imperative to rethink our priorities. In this spirit of solidarity, we have reallocated the budget for the day of festivities to our training support program, which has been prematurely exhausted since last February. »
This program allows dancers to train at a lower cost, and thus helps them maintain their technical level and professional virtuosity.
The general director of the RQD, Parise Mongrain, told the Duty that “sharing personal stories is an opportunity to bring to light experiences and faces in the difficult economic context, and thus generate mutual aid and compassion”. “At the moment, we are talking a lot about organizations that are at risk of sinking into a structural deficit. Behind them are talented people who are wearing out and suffering. Who are losing hope of seeing their career evolve, of having the opportunity to integrate into a practice network, of seeing their working conditions improve. Who are plunged into an identity dilemma, where the artistic part of their professional life is diluted by food jobs. »
“I have supported enough artists in their career change to affirm that the conditions are currently ripe to give the final blow to artists and cultural workers and lead to their exodus from the sector,” says the former director of the Center. Quebec resources and transition for dancers.
The RQD also took advantage of this day to send a public letter to the Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe. “We must also admit that the dismantling [de la danse] is already underway, because by constantly sending back to the community the message of the poor value that the Quebec government grants it, disillusionment and the feeling of uselessness are gaining ground,” wrote the presidents, Sylvain Émard and Sophie Corriveau, as well that Mme Mongrain.
“Professional Quebec dance took decades to carve out a place for itself in public funding. If its structure is now attacked, the dance will take a long time to rebuild and it is a safe bet that the necessary costs will exceed the funds currently requested. »
The body as democratic practice
The choreographer and long-term performer Louise Bédard said for her part that “our dance suffers from not being able to develop, assert itself, display itself, surpass itself, breathe, exhale, imagine, create, live”. “Our dance suffers from hoping. And without hope what is left except a space very close to the heart, to our physique, to our mind, more than empty. How can we maintain our flamboyance, this taste for dreaming, for still imagining, and for hoping? »
Artist Lucy Fandel: “I would like society to understand that art is a healthy lifestyle as well as a civic responsibility. It is a basic practice for personal, social and democratic health. »
Mélanie Demers goes a step further: “It is now enough that our governments recognize the benefits of the body as an emancipatory tool. But a little reflex of rebellion tells me that perhaps it is to the advantage of the system that we are not connected to our bodies. »
“All systems of oppression begin with the oppression of the body. Attached to our smart devices, glued to our screens, fossilized on our sofas, soon controlled by artificial intelligence — artificially connected, but paralyzed by real contact. Maybe it’s easier to control a population that doesn’t want to dance. »
“On this Monday, April 29, as a protest, I am choosing dance again,” concluded M.me Demers. I suggest celebration, even if the heart is not in the party. I choose dance as the ultimate form of protest. »