MEDIATHEK

Système D/Dominique Porte, has been founded in August 1999 by his artistic director of the company Dominique Porte who first built up a solid reputation as an intense, precise, and virtuosic performer. Today, she applies these same talents to her choreographical work, a process that began for Dominique in 1993 with her first solo, Codine. Her career continues to develop in what appears to be a perfectly organized fashion. However, driving this precision is a frenetic creative energy that has joined forces over time with the talents of several well known artistic collaborators, particularly contemporary composers. Her intense relationship with a live musical score has characterized her work from the company’s beginnings up to her most recent work, Ulysse, nous et les sirènes (2010). The first two pieces created by Dominique for her company were group works in which she was also a performer: Cortex (1999), commissioned by the FIND (Festival international de nouvelle danse) and co-produced by the National Arts Centre (Ottawa) and the Banff Centre for the Arts, and Retard probable 5 mn (2001), co-produced by La Biennale nationale de danse du Val de Marne and l’Espace Jacques Brel in Fontenay-sous-Bois, in France. The first piece is a trio, and is brilliantly characteristic of Porte’s style, revealing a surprising virtuosity. The second explores a more diverse, theatrical terrain. Since 1999, the company’s works have been presented at Montreal’s Festival international de nouvelle danse, at the Vooruit Arts Centre (Ghent), at the Berchem culturel centre (Antwerp), at the Mounsonturm (Frankfort) and at the National Arts Centre Studio and the Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa. Porte’s solo, 7 gouttes et des poussières, was selected for the professional section of the Plateaux de la Biennale de danse du Val de Marne in France in September, 2000. The company was also invited to present the works 7 Gouttes et des poussières, Cortex, and Retard probable 5 mn at the Biennale de Val de Marne in March, 2001. In May of the same year, the two group pieces were presented at l’Agora de la danse in Montreal, and subsequently travelled to New York, Prague, and Leipzig. Errance et Réflexes was programmed in Montreal at both Danse-Cité and during the FIND. Plus seule qu’en solo, presented by l’Agora de la danse and various Maisons de la culture in Montreal in 2004, was also performed at Dancemakers in Toronto, at the Bratislava in Motion festival (Slovakia), and in Prague during the 4+4+4 Days in Motion festival. The pièce was also performed at Théâtre de Verdure in Parc Lafontaine in Montreal and at the Festival des arts de Saint-Sauveur in the summer of 2007, as well as at La Rotonde, Centre chorégraphique contemporaine de Québec, in January, 2008. In September, 2005, following an invitation by Peter Boneham, Dominique Porte benefitted from a research and creation residency for her work, Exit, with Le Groupe Dance Lab in Ottawa. Exit was presented in January 2006 at l’Agora de la danse. Système D’s most recent creation, Ulysse, nous et les sirènes, premiered at the Cinquième Salle of Place des Arts, Montreal, in February, 2010. Four dancers, including Dominique Porte, and four musicians perform in this work, which will continue to be presented in Montreal and the rest of Quebec during the 2010-2011 season. Dominique Porte is currently carrying out the creation work for a solo provisionally entitled Autoportrait. This new work will bring together movement, music, and writing. Creation residencies are scheduled for August 2010 at the M.A.P.S. (Media and Performance Salon) studios in Berlin and in several places in different regions of Quebec in autumn, 2010. (Quelle: www.dominiqueporte.com) / jst