Dave St-Pierre, Virginie Brunelle and Frédérick Gravel dance on the edge in new documentary

Although filmmaker Guillaume Paquin doesn’t come from a dance background, he was initiated to the art when his girlfriend started taking him to student shows at L'École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. From then on, he developed an interest and began filming dance.

His documentary, Aux limites de la scène, which makes its world premiere this week, and is in competition at the Festival international du film sur l'art, follows three young Montreal contemporary choreographers who have carved out their signature styles in the Montreal dance scene.

english trailer AUX LIMITES DE LA SCÈNE from AUX LIMITES DE LA SCÈNE. on Vimeo.

 

“My reaction to dance at the beginning was: 'Wow! I don’t understand anything,'” recounts Paquin. “I hear a lot from people who don’t really know about dance, but say something like, ‘I don’t know this, so I don’t understand it’. Now I find I am repeating the same thing: You don’t have to understand it.  The most important thing is that it touches you somehow.”

Through interviews, stage performance excerpts, and three striking outdoor dance shorts set on a quay, in an overgrown field and in a drippy tunnel, a trio of distinct personalities (Dave St-Pierre, Virginie Brunelle and Frédérick Gravel) open up about their art. Paquin gives us a glimpse into what makes these movement makers tick and the commonalities between them in the subjects they tackle.

ISABELLE ARCAND, SIMON-XAVIER LEFEBVRE // PHOTO : INA LOPEZ

Check out the world première at FIFA, March 21 at the Place des Arts' Cinquième Salle, which includes a special performance by composer Stéfan Boucher and dancers Jamie Wright and Ivana Milicevic at the ARTV studio.

auxlimites.ca

 

MORE FIFA DANCE
If you saw Entity last year by Brit choreographer Wayne McGregor, be sure to check out Wayne McGregor- Going Somewhere, which opens the door to his creative process. The film is paired with the refreshing 1, 2, 3 Dance! The Life of a Dancer, directed by injured dancer Julien Ringdahl, and focuses on three performers at the Royal Danish Ballet. Also, discover the first feature length doc on Czech choreographer Jiri Kylian, Forgotten Memories, and the intriguing short film Melt, by Noémie Lafrance, which was inspired by the site-specific installation piece of the same name you may have seen at the Festival Transamériques in 2008.

For the complete schedule: artfifa.com