The Moment.... Dancer/Choreographer Stéphanie Morin-Robert on For Body and Light

The Moment...Multidisciplinary Artist

by Stéphanie Morin-Robert

When Dena Devida (co-founder and co-artistic director Tangente) called me to ask if I was interested in possibly presenting a full-length piece as their mainstage programming, I was over the moon.  I proposed the work I was currently creating with Ian Ferrier, even though we didn’t actually have a show put together yet.

She explained to me that I would be replacing Lise Vachon and that I would be sharing a double bill with Kimberley De Jong.  Both very well-known and well-respected artists.  I  knew I was at a different level and had less experience than them, but I was still ready to give it a try and kept telling myself that I have nothing to lose.  I really didn’t want to miss out on the great opportunity and I was motivated to make it work. 

First-Person: Stéphanie Morin-Robert on the Fringe Tour of Body & Light (Dance)

Stéphanie Morin-Robert (photo by: Stéphanie Morin-Robert)

Body and Light on The Fringe of Existence
by Stéphanie Morin-Robert

Multidisciplinary artist Stéphanie Morin-Robert graduated first from Cégep de Drummondville with a DEC in dance (2008) and then from Concordia University with a degree in Contemporary Dance (2011) and a designation as the most outstanding graduate of that year. She is the choreographer, artistic director and administrator for the company FOR BODY AND LIGHT (a collaboration with musician/spoken word artist Ian Ferrier) creating pieces that are intimately inspired by memory, imagination and the strength and fragility of the human body. After creative residencies at L’arrêt de bus (Montreal, Québec), Main & Station (Parrsboro, Nova Scotia) and at MainLine Theatre (Montréal, Québec), Ms Morin-Robert's company is currently touring western Canada. Over the last four years, her work has been presented at the St-Ambroise Montréal FRINGE festival, the Fundy Fringe Festival, the Frigid New York Festival, the Bouge d’ici dance Festival, the Mile End Poets Festival, Festival Carmagnole, the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, Festival Phénomena, Studio 303 and the Tangente dance series. She  recently joined the DIRTY FEET podcast team as a co-host and is also a collaborating member of the multidisciplinary improvisation collective BODY SLAM directed by Greg Selinger. Stéphanie Morin-Robert currently works as Artist Liaison for the Montreal FRINGE festival and is Media Ticket Coordinator with the Just For Laughs PR team in Montreal. 

Trying to decide what to write this article about was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, especially because as I write this we are still touring.

Bonus Feature: First Person - Stéphanie Morin-Robert on Me, Myself and Eye

Dance: Memory
by Stéphanie Morin-Robert

Multidisciplinary artist Stéphanie Morin-Robert graduated both from Cégep de Drummondville with a DEC in dance (2008) and Concordia University with a degree in Contemporary Dance (2011) where she was titled the most outstanding graduate underlining her successful run as a Fine Arts student. Ms Morin-Robert is the choreographer, artistic director and administrator for the company pour corps et lumière/for body and light (a collaboration with musician/spoken word artist Ian Ferrier) creating pieces that are intimately inspired by the memory, imagination, strength and fragility of the human body.  After a creative residency at L’arrêt de bus (Montreal, Québec) and at the Main & Station (Parrsboro, Nova Scotia) Ms Morin-Robert is presently continuing to develop her work at MainLine Theatre (Montreal, Québec), where she has been artist in residence since September 2013.  In Montréal, her work has been presented at the St-Ambroise Montréal FRINGE festival, Bouge d’ici dance festival, Mile End Poets festival, Carmagnole festival, Canadien Spoken Word festival and Phénomena festival.  With 40 confirmed performances in Montréal (QC), Ottawa (ON), Saskatoon (SK), Edmonton (AB), Victoria (BC) and Vancouver (BC) the company is currently planning a tour starting in February 2014 with a new show titled COMING AND GOING, that will be premiering at Tangente. Ms Morin-Robert recently joined the DIRTY FEET podcast team as a co-host and is a collaborating member of the multidisciplinary improvisation collective BODY SLAM directed by Greg Selinger.  She is also one of the eight artists selected to create and present work at studio 303’s Défi Edgy (Edgy Women) on March 9th at Sala Rossa.  Ms Morin-Robert currently works as Artist Liaison of the Montreal FRINGE festival and is Media Ticket Coordinator of the Just For Laughs PR team in Montreal.

Me, Myself & Eye is a story that merges authentic storytelling and movement.

An honest performance involving the multiple transitions experienced while facing self-discovery.

Innocence,
denial,
expectance,
revenge,
and (almost) total control.  

Over the last three years, I have been particularly interested in finding ways to re-connect with my personal experiences through childhood.  As life goes on, I’m finally starting to understand how much our upbringing has an impact on our adulthood and the people we become: an accumulation of moments overlapping each other to create something whole, like the layers of an onion.

Memories can be either very strong and vivid or blurry and disconnected. The most interesting challenges of true-life storytelling are the empty gaps we fall into when details are lost or unclear. If we really don’t remember, do we make up how we felt or how others reacted?  Do we ask for a second perspective?

One platform that has helped me to gradually revisit certain traumatic, hilarious and often ridiculous memories is Matt Goldberg’s storytelling event: Confabulation. It’s a very warm and welcoming platform for sharing true-life stories here in Montreal. This is where my hunger for working with storytelling started. 

As a choreographer, I use voice as a tool to support a vivid storyline, but I also see it as an extension of the body. I incorporate movement to allow the story to breathe, to expand, to shift and to trace through time and space. I hope this recipe allows me to make contemporary dance and storytelling more accessible and relatable to a larger audience, letting them choose to connect one way or the other.