DanceWorks Presents Sylvain Émard Danse With FRAGMENTS, 3/3

DanceWorks, Toronto's longest-running contemporary dance series, presents Sylvain Émard Danse with the Toronto premiere of Fragments - Volume I, four dance works set in four contrasting worlds, choreographed by the award-winning Sylvain Émard of Montreal. Fragments - Volume I runs for ONE NIGHT ONLY - Saturday, March 3, 8PM - at Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre.

The first part of a diptych that places the dancer at the very heart of creation, Fragments - Volume I is a collage of miniatures - a veritable patchwork of insistent urgency with three solos and a duo conveying the complexity and vulnerability of the individual.

Intense and often surprising, veteran actress Monique Miller slips majestically into this work. Her minimalist movement is touchingly eloquent, offering a troubling counterpoint to the raw energy of dancers Laurence Ramsay, Manuel Roque and Catherine Viau.

"As a choreographer, Émard never disappoints, and his latest piece Fragments - Volume I is a masterpiece."
- Paula Citron, www.paulacitron.ca

Sylvain Émard first distinguished himself as a dancer working with renowned choreographers such as Jean-Pierre Perreault, Jo Lechay and Louise Bédard before he formed his own company in 1987. Winner of numerous prestigious awards, Émard is recognized for his fluid, energetic and refined choreographic vocabulary. His repertoire of over 25 pieces explores the territory of human nature through the power of movement. Émard is also a proponent of mixing genres, he navigates with ease from one milieu to another - film, theatre, the visual arts and opera, as seen, by his collaboration on Lorin Maazel's opera 1984 (2005), directed by Robert Lepage and presented at Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan and at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, Spain.

Monique Miller, a stage, film and television actress, is one of Quebec's foremost performers. She began her career on radio at age 11. She established a reputation for talented acting with her role as Ciboulette in Marcel Dubé's play Zone in 1953, for which she received the Festival d'art dramatique de Montréal award for best actress. Officer of the Order of Canada 2001, Mme Miller was nominated in 2011 grande officière de l'Ordre national du Québec, the highest honour of the Province of Quebec.

Laurence Ramsay, a Vancouver Island native, began dancing at the age of 17, before attending The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Upon graduation in 2008, he received training at the École nationale de cirque in Montreal. He has danced with companies such as the Canadian Opera Company (Death in Venice and La Cenerentola), Sinha Danse, Pigeons International Théâtre Danse, and Sylvain Émard Danse.

Manuel Roque, after receiving a Diplôme d'études collégiales for theatre studies in France, followed by further studies at the École nationale de cirque in Montreal, began his career as an acrobat with Cirque Éloize before turning to dance. Several choreographers have called on his talents, including Dominique Porte, Hélène Langevin, Peter James and his psychotic cabarets, Paul-André Fortier and Sylvain Émard.

Catherine Viau, since 1995, has collaborated on numerous works by Montreal choreographers, performing roles created for her. She has danced with Danse Partout, Sursaut, Sinha Danse, O Vertigo and Bouge de là, among others. With Danièle Desnoyers and Le Carré des Lombes, she performed in Play It Again! (2006) and collaborated on the creation of Là où je vis (2008). For ten years now, Catherine has been collaborating regularly with Sylvain Émard Danse.