History

The artistic mandate of the Compagnie De Brune, established in 1992, is to create, produce, and perform choreographic works on a provincial, national, and international scale. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynda Gaudreau, the company is actively involved in choreographic research, the development of teaching methods, and explorations in dance. To promote and finance its activities, the Compagnie De Brune relies on an efficient touring network. Its medium and long-term goals include the expansion of its audience base and touring on a regular basis.

Lynda Gaudreau's repertoire for the Compagnie De Brune currently includes ten works, in addition to choreographic commissions and other special projects carried out over the years for various artists and institutions.

Lynda Gaudreau's first piece, Des Centaines de fois mon cœur, was created at Espace Tangente in Montreal in the spring of 1991. During its presentation at the fourth Festival international de nouvelle danse (FIND) in Montreal in October 1991 and the Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa in June 1992, the work sparked the interest of such producers as Jack Udashkin, Chantal Pontbriand, John Ashford from The Place Theatre in London, and Bruno Verbergt from the Klapstuk in Leuven (Belgium).

The duet De Sang-froid, co-produced by the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa, was performed at the FIND in the fall of 1992. It was then presented on tours in Canada (St. John's, Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, and Regina) and, for the first time in Europe, at the Springdance Festival in Utrecht (The Netherlands) and the Turning World Festival organized by The Place Theatre in London.

Representing to some extent a preliminary work to Gaudreau's following piece – Construction – Étude de 100 can nevertheless be considered a choreographic work in its own right. It was presented at Espace Tangente during the Mue-Danse event in February 1993 and at the Springdance Festival in May of the same year.

In the fall of 1993, Lynda Gaudreau presented her trio Construction in its world premiere at the Klapstuk, which co-produced the piece together with the NAC, the Canada Dance Festival, and The Place Theatre. In the spring of 1994, Construction was presented in London, while its North American premiere was held at the Canada Dance Festival on June 12^th. A few days later, the Compagnie De Brune represented Canada at the Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Bagnolet Seine-Saint-Denis in Paris, where it won the ADAMI Award for Group Performance. The company then went on tour in Belgium in May 1995, performing in Tongeren, Lommel, and Gent.

In January 1995, in Montreal, Lynda Gaudreau created the duet Fascination, fascination, commissioned for dancers Heather Mah and José Navas for Danse-Cité's Volet Interprètes.

Gaudreau's next work, Anatomie – a clinical and sculptural observation of the human body featuring six dancers – was co-produced by the Klapstuk, the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine d'Angers l'Esquisse (France), the Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Bagnolet-Seine-Saint-Denis, and the NAC. The piece was created during residencies at the Yellow Spring Institute in Chester Spring (Pennsylvania, United Sates), the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine d'Angers l'Esquisse, and the Klapstuk. The premiere was held at the FIND in October 1995. Anatomie was performed thereafter on a larger stage at the Klapstuk in Leuven's Stadsschouwburg, before going on a four-week tour of Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland.

In the winter of 1996, Lynda Gaudreau began the preliminary research for Still Life N° 1 (1996). This work was the product of two creative residencies: one with DanceCity in Newcastle Upon Tyne (England) in June 1996, the other at Montreal's Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur in September 1997. Following her stint in Newcastle, Lynda Gaudreau was appointed as Associate Choreographer of the DanceCity Centre from September 1996 to December 1997.

As co-producer of the piece, the Klapstuk presented the world premiere of Still Life N° 1 in 1997. The piece was a resounding success. It was performed at several major festivals in 1998 and 1999, including the Nott Dance in Nottingham (England), the Canada Dance Festival, the Tanzwerkstatt in Munich, the Turning World Festival, the Choré-Graphique in Tours (France), the KIT in Copenhagen, the ImPulsTanz in Vienna, as well as in the Belgian cities of Lommel and Maasmechelen. In Canada, Still Life N° 1 was performed at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal as well as in Edmonton, Halifax, and Vancouver. The piece was then presented at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris in November 2000, at the luzerntanz – choreographic center at the luzernertheater in Lucerne in March 2001, and once again at the ImPulsTanz in Vienna in 2002. This creation was presented in October 2003 at the Italian festival Milano Oltre.

Another important project was completed in the summer of 1997: Lynda Gaudreau created 100 mouvements for Israel's Ensemble Batsheva, premiered in Tel Aviv on July 18^th. The work was co-produced by the Batsheva Dance Company of Israel, the Holland Dance Festival in The Hague, and the Klapstuk.

In 1999, Lynda Gaudreau began working on Encyclopœdia, a long-term project whose initial phase – DOCUMENT 1 to DOCUMENT 4 – is scheduled to extend over six years. The Compagnie De Brune presented DOCUMENT 1 in its world premiere at the FIND in October 1999. The FIND co-produced the work along with the NAC, where the piece was performed in the winter of 2000. The Théâtre de la Ville in Longueuil (Quebec), a partner in the project, also hosted DOCUMENT 1 in February 2000.

DOCUMENT 1 was performed extensively in 2000: at the Festival Internacional de Dança in Belo Horizonte (Brazil), the ImPulsTanz in Vienna, the Tanz im August in Berlin, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, and the KunstenFESTIVALdesArts in Brussels. The company's touring network has thus expanded, and the number of major presenters it includes is increasing consistently. The Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, moreover, presented Still Life N ° 1 only one month after performances of DOCUMENT 1, thereby helping Parisian audiences to better understand Lynda Gaudreau's work. DOCUMENT 1 was also presented in Weimar (Germany) and Lucerne in 2001.

The next instalment in the Encyclopœdia project, DOCUMENT 2, was presented in its world premiere in October 2000 as part of the Danses à l'Usine series organized by the FIND in Montreal. A co-production of the FIND, the luzerntanz, and Dans in Kortrijk in Courtrai (Belgium), the piece was featured on European tours in 2000-2001 (Erlangen, Weimar, and Düsseldorf in Germany, as well as Lucerne in Switzerland) and in 2001-2002 (Paris and Colmar in France, as well as Gent in Belgium). Together with Still Life N° 1, DOCUMENT 2 was part of the ImPulsTanz line-up in Vienna in the summer of 2002.

In September 2001, following an invitation by the FIND, Lynda Gaudreau gathered for the first time through a piece entitled Compilation part of the sections on feet and hands from DOCUMENT 1 and DOCUMENT 2, in addition to one excerpt from DOCUMENT 3, which was still in the course of creation. In February 2004, the company made its Spanish debut with a series of performances of Compilation at the Teatro Central in Seville and the Teatro Alhambra in Grenada. Further performances of Compilation will take place in January and February 2006 in Halifax and Vancouver.

DOCUMENT 3, the third chapter of the project, was created in the course of several residencies beginning in April 2001 at the Vooruit Arts Centre in Gent with the collaboration of many creators. The work was premiered on May 1, 2002, at the luzerntanz and was then presented at the Vooruit Arts Centre and the KunstenFESTIVALdesArts. The piece is a co-production of the KunstenFESTIVALdesArts, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Vooruit Arts Centre, the luzerntanz, and the FIND. In July 2003, the Compagnie De Brune kicked off the season in impressive fashion with performances of DOCUMENT 3 (2002) at the prestigious Venice Biennale and the opening of the Tanzwerkstatt Europa Festival in Munich. In October, the company presented this same work in its North American premiere at FIND. The company made it’s first visit to Eastern Europe in May 2004, where DOCUMENT 3 was presented at the Exodos Festival in Slovenia and the Dance Week Festival in Croatia.

In April 2005, Lynda Gaudreau premiered the fourth chapter of her Encyclopœdia series, DOCUMENT 4, in Belgium, after completing two research laboratories on the project in June 2003 (the sonographing installation, created in Copenhagen with sound artist Christof Migone during the D!STURBANCES symposium on sound, space and movement) and July 2004 (the Research-Labo DOCUMENT 4, Munich event developped with four German and two Canadian artists within the framework of the project "Choreographer in residence" organized by Joint Adventures in collaboration with the City of Munich). Conceived between January and April 2005 during a series of intensive residencies at the Vooruit Arts Centre (Ghent) and Dans in Kortrijk (Courtrai) in Belgium, DOCUMENT 4 was created with the participation of nine artists from Canada, Belgium, and other European countries. A choreography workshop with third-year students at P.A.R.T.S. (the school established in Brussels by choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker) brought further insight in the creation of this piece.

While working on the Encyclopœdia series, Lynda Gaudreau also developed a series of other artistic projects. During the summer and fall of 2001, she took part in a choreographic creation project with the fourth-year students at P.A.R.T.S. This creation was performed three times at the Théâtre de la Bastille in the Parts@Paris event at the Festival d'Automne in Paris.

Following an invitation by the Siemens Arts Program, Lynda Gaudreau participated in The 11th Hour, a project of American artist Davis Freeman. Simultaneously installation, performance, debate, and multi-media event, The 11th Hour was presented in Moscow on October 26, 2001, at the European Contemporary Dance Festival in Russia.

In November 2003, at the invitation of Chantal Pontbriand, director of Parachute magazine in Montreal, and Yves Robert, director of the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, Lynda Gaudreau presented an original video entitled Tu at the occasion of L'idée de communauté conference at Villa Gillet in Lyon. Under the scientific direction of Chantal Pontbriand, this conference brought together philosophers, art critics, and artists from various disciplines, including Alex Coles, Federico Ferrari, Bertrand Gauguet, Brian Holmes, Valérie Jouve, Stephen Wright, and Carlos Amorales.

As guest curator for the 11th edition of FIND in 2003, Lynda Gaudreau selected artists Meg Stuart, Jonathan Burrows, Jan Ritsema and Matteo Fargion for the festival, in addition to developing a public laboratory entitled Lucky Bastard, a series of evenings of performances and improvisations that involved more than thirty Montreal artists. A second production of Lucky Bastard was presented in Ajaccio (Corsica) in May 2004 during the Festival Ile Danse, with the participation of ten dancers, actors, musicians and guest artists.

The following month, Lynda Gaudreau presented her Time flies installation at Tanzquartier Wien in Austria, which she created in collaboration with scenographer-architect Pierre Jorge Gonzalez, in the context of the Wo sind wir, wenn wir reisen? 5 KünstlerExpeditionen an 5 Samstagen event. She invited 10 artists from Canada, Europe and Brazil to participate in this project by contributing sound and video material. A second version of the Time flies installation was presented at the Lakeside Arts Centre in Nottingham in May 2005 in the context of the Nott Dance festival.

The choreographer and her Compagnie De Brune have collaborated with some of the most prestigious artistic organizations in Quebec, Canada, and Europe. Lynda Gaudreau also frequently receives invitations from around the world to give workshops and lectures. She has taught in Canada, Brazil, Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Croatia, and Israel, as well as at the famous P.A.R.T.S. school (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios) in Brussels, Belgium.

In 2006 Lynda Gaudreau was artistic advisor for dance to the Festival TransAmériques (Montreal) for nine months. The same year, the choreographer launched her Clash project, an event on and for creation in dance, co-produced by the Compagnie De Brune and Tangente. 0101, her latest piece was presented for the first time in August 2006 at the ImPulsTanz Festival in Vienna, Austria. It has since toured in Italy and France.