A Montreal-based dance artist, Sebastien Provencher is first and foremost a genuinely good human being, which does not make him any less critical and astute in his choreographic work. He has the capacity of welcoming artists in his creative research with a lot of respect and enthusiasm, while offering a sharp gaze at current social and aesthetic issues. Whether in a site specific or stage context, he addresses questions around gender, equity, diversity, freedom of movement and speech, through a highly physical and sophisticated dance vocabulary. As a performer and a choreographer, Sebastien provokes the audiences’ kinesthetic empathy with his strong and generous artistic voice.
Since 2017, he has been touring his work Children of Chemistry in Canada for over 40 representations. He collaborates with Priscilla Guy for the piece Two Skeletons (Agora de la danse, MTL / 2019), Julia B. Laperrière for What Will Come (Made in Potsdam Festival, Potsdam / 2020) and Mathieu Leroux for Bones & Wires (Tangente, MTL / 2020).
He regularly performs in other choreographers’ work, notably Helen Simard and Louise Bédard, based in Montreal and Marie Lambin, Social Growl Dance and DA Hoskins/Dietrich Group in Toronto. Sebastien is also Jury for Danses Buissonnières at Tangente since 2017. He is a guest member of Lorganisme since 2020.
– Written by his friend and artist, Priscilla Guy
What Montreal ‘hood are you in?
I just moved to Plateau Mont-Royal in January, but I lived in Rosemont for almost 4 years, a neighboorhood that I love and one of the most “green neighbourhoods” in Montreal.
What do you do?
I am a freelancer, performer and a choreographer in contemporary dance, mostly in Montreal, but also sometimes in Toronto. I recently joined the company Lorganisme in January 2020, a structure for independent choreographers.
I also work a few weeks per year as an occupational therapist with children in Pakuashipi, an Innu community in Quebec lower North Shore (Basse Côte-Nord).
What are you currently working on?
I am working on two different productions, two co-creations that will be presented in Montreal in 2020.
“Bones & Wires”, co-created with Mathieu Leroux, will premiere from March 19-22 at Tangente. The piece is a meeting of two solos within a single space and time. One focuses on the genesis of an individual and the other on extreme technology and fixation of the future. It is a multidisciplinary production that combines text, movement and scenography.
“What Will Come” is the other piece that I am currently working on, created with Julia B. Laperrière, a Canadian artist now based in Berlin. The piece has been performed in December 2019 at the Festival Made in Potsdam, in Germany. It will premiere in Montreal next fall.
Where can we find your work
At The Citadel, at Parliament and Dundas! My piece “Children of Chemistry” makes its Toronto debut from Feb. 20-22 through Citadel + Compagnie’s Bright Nights series.
Information about my work and my calendar at lorganisme.com and at provenchersebastien.com
