SUPPORTED ARTISTS

Lyzah / Alyssa is a dance artist of Philippine and Italo-Alsatian descent, moving through the world with curiosity and love. They approach creation with ambition but without expectations, letting the process lead. They also practice slowing down, inspired by Tricia Hersey and the importance of rest.

Based in Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal, Ariane Levasseur and Rozenn Lecomte are graduates of UQAM, where they trained as performers and choreographers. They have been collaborating since completing their studies, focusing on feminist and queer issues. Their first co-creation, this is not moving, was presented at Danses Buissonnières in the fall of 2023. They are currently working on their next creation, la prétention d’exister.

Influenced by 1980s rock, punk, and anti-conformist circles, Rozenn Lecomte creates political dance that celebrates rebellion and bodily solidarity. Combining improvisation, original texts, soundscapes, and relational movement, she highlights bodies in protest. Active on the Montreal and underground scene, she also hosts the podcast Fil conducteur on contemporary dance issues.

Émile Pineault is a choreographer, performer, and curator based in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal. Blending dance, performance, writing, and sculpture, his visceral and unruly works explore vulnerability and shame as forces of emancipation. Since 2018, his creations have been presented in festivals and venues across Canada, Europe, and internationally.

Léo “Hit” Coupal is a multidisciplinary artist working in dance and slam poetry. He is a breakdancer and contemporary dance performer. A two-time national slam poetry champion (2016 and 2022), he also performs as a guest poet in schools and various events. Since 2023, he has been integrating these practices into a live arts creation project.

Originally from the suburbs of Paris, Julianne Decerf trained in classical and contemporary dance in France before joining the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal (2020). She explores the intersection of choreography and visual arts, creating colorful, collaborative visual works that have been presented in Quebec and internationally.

Driven by a shared aesthetic and a common desire to reclaim the female body, Maéva Cochin and Jacynthe Desjardins form a duo of performers and creators. Trained in France and Quebec, their first joint creation provides an opportunity to bring their worlds together and open up a lively, sensitive, and committed space for exploration, driven by visceral physicality and organic body language.

Driven by a shared aesthetic and a common desire to reclaim the female body, Maéva Cochin and Jacynthe Desjardins form a duo of performers and creators. Trained in France and Quebec, their first joint creation provides an opportunity to bring their worlds together and open up a lively, sensitive, and committed space for exploration, driven by visceral physicality and organic body language.

Elahe Moonesi is a multidisciplinary artist, director, and choreographer from Tehran, now based in Montreal. She holds a BA in Theatre Directing and has deepened her practice by exploring contemporary dance styles through training in Europe. In Iran, she played a key role in shaping the contemporary dance scene through her original creations.

Choreographer, performer, and committed educator, Alexandre Morin actively contributes to contemporary creation and professional dance training. The 2023-2024 season marked a turning point for his company Other Animals with Anatomy of an Engine, Cutting Through the Noise at Agora de la danse, and Plasticity/Desires co-produced with MAI and La Chapelle.

Originaire du nord de l’Alberta, Jake Poloz est danseur et chorégraphe basé à Montréal. Il a été danseur au sein de la compagnie ProArteDanza de 2018 à 2022, puis au Ballet Kelowna de 2022 à 2024. M. Poloz a également performé avec Anne Plamondon Productions, Alysa Pires Dance Projects, et a fait partie de l’ensemble nommé aux Dora Awards pour la production Resonance de Human Body Expression.

Inès Chiha is a self-taught Franco-Tunisian artist with a background in martial arts. She discovered theater and then dance as an adult, developing a practice that combines physical intensity and social engagement. As a community worker for several years, she creates projects to empower marginalized youth while continuing her growth as a performer and choreographer.

Morgane Guillou is a performer and choreographer based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. She holds a dance degree from UQÀM and studied literature in Paris. She has worked with Daina Ashbee, Emmanuel Jouthe, and other artists attuned to deep states of the body. Her practice is marked by breath, ambiguity, contact, and physical intensities, exploring what movement reveals about the human experience.

Based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, Catrine Rouleau holds a degree in contemporary dance from UQÀM. As a choreographer and performer, she develops a sensitive practice inspired by philosophy, anthropology, gothic culture, and human fragility. She explores a gentle madness in her work and is currently interested in the phenomenology of the body and memory.

Krystina Dejean (Mystique) is a dancer specializing in improvisation within street dance and club styles (waacking, hustle, hip-hop). She is currently developing her choreographic method, strongly influenced by research on empathy, through research residencies and presentations of works-in-progress during cabaret-style events.

Kim L. Rouchdy is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal. She works interchangeably as a choreographer, performer, illustrator, and more. Her work is influenced by her studies in scenography (Cégep de St-Hyacinthe, ÉNT). She holds a Bachelor’s degree in dance from Concordia University. Her piece Lumen Extra Terram, featuring illuminated skirts, was presented at Phénoména in 2015.

Entering the world of dance through House Dance in 2017, Achraf “Eywaa Nur” Maadaoui Terrab is an exploratory artist and designer of movement and sound. He nurtures his curiosity for ancient arts and their resonance in modernity, weaving a sensitive language where love, harmony, and beauty guide every gesture. His work is built as a living connection between heritage and becoming.

Emine Adilak, (she/they), is a dance artist based in Tiohtia:ke/Montréal. She made her professional debut as an interpreter in “Multitud” by Tamara Cubas at the FTA (2024). With support from Circuit-Est’s Bancs d’essai residency, Emine presented her solo “Gut rot” in April 2025. They will be presenting a duet for Danses Buissonnières at Tangente in September 2025.

Originally from Biarritz, Iban Bourgoin trained in dance at the Maurice Ravel Conservatory and then at the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. Alongside his career as a performer, he has developed his own choreographic projects and organized interdisciplinary jams. His dance explores pure movement as a universal language, between rigor, instinct and collective commitment.

Originally from Halifax, Gabrielle Kachan has developed her practice across various disciplines of contemporary dance. Active in Montreal since 2018, she has been collaborating professionally since graduating from EDCM in 2021 with Andrea Peña and Artists, Le Carré des Lombes, and ZIMMERDANS. She is proud to be supported by Circuit-Est this year.

Originally from the Paris region, Clara Truong is a dancer trained in France and at the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. Her choreographic language, marked by intensity and contrasts, explores dance as a visceral and instinctive dialogue. Her career is guided by a constant search for authenticity and a deep commitment to the body in motion.

Hannah Surette, performer-creator and graduate of UQAM’s Dance Department (2025), develops a somatic approach to performative choreography. She is co-artistic director of Projet Ambidanse, winner of the Jury Prize at ON THE EDGE Fringe 2023.