DOCUMENTING AND TRANSMITTING QUEBEC'S CONTEMPORARY DANCE HERITAGE / FONDATION JEAN-PIERRE PERREAULT
EC2

The Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault

The Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault (FJPP) is an internationally renowned dance creation company founded by the late Jean-Pierre Perreault. In the early 2000s, it became the first dance organization in Quebec to own its own creative space: Espace chorégraphique.

 

Current mission

Today the FJPP is devoted to documenting and transmitting Quebec’s contemporary dance heritage while encouraging reflection on the creation and promotion of choreographic legacies.

The FJPP initiates long-term strategies and collective actions targeting dance professionals, including choreographers, performers, instructors, researchers and critics, as well as the arts community and general public.

Formerly dedicated to transmitting the works of its founder, the FJPP has since broadened its scope and seeks to promote a variety of choreographic legacies in Quebec. The creation of the new EC2 digital platform is key to the FJPP’s current mission.

Through these initiatives, the FJPP makes works accessible for research, teaching and reinvention, inspiring creativity in the present and future.

 

From now on

The FJPP will strive to decolonize dance through its reflections and actions. Recognizing the plural identities making up Quebec society involves revisiting the aesthetics, role and functioning of artistic institutions. We must question the value systems and cultural references we have inherited from colonialism.

Understanding and addressing the sources and impacts of systemic racism involves, first of all, acknowledging its existence, being aware of our own conscious and unconscious biases, repairing the inequalities of the past and present, and, above all, taking open and deliberate action against the racialization of individuals, peoples, their histories and their artistic practices. Starting today.

Brief History

In 1984, the choreographer Jean-Pierre Perreault created the foundation that bears his name. Over the next 30 years, the FJPP presented 20 critically-acclaimed works, both at home and abroad, including Nuit, Lieux-dits, L‘Exil-L’Oubli, Les Ombres and Joe, and also exhibited Perreault’s many drawings and paintings. In 1993, the FJPP purchased the Saint-Robert-Bellarmin church in order to transform it into a choreographic centre (the church has since been handed over to Circuit Est).

In 2002, Perreault’s untimely death led the FJPP to reflect on its role in Quebec’s choreographic landscape, with a view to promoting and keeping alive the work of its founder. It began to broaden its horizons, reaching out to a growing number of choreographers. This transformation occurred during which the Fondation developed partnerships with various cultural institutions in Quebec and Canada, including the Société de la Place des arts and the National Arts Centre. With Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), the FJPP helped to create the Jean-Pierre Perreault fonds.

Originally focused on preserving the work of its founder, in 2014 the FJPP broadened its mission to include documenting and transmitting Quebec’s contemporary dance legacies, while encouraging reflection on the creation and promotion of our dance heritage. The Fondation initiates long-term strategies and collective actions—including new digital platform EC2, choreographic toolkits, virtual exhibition, international museum exhibitions, shows, cultural mediation workshops, seminars, focus days on copyright and dance heritage, and an artistic legacy guide—targeting dance professionals, the arts community and the general public. Through these initiatives, the FJPP makes works accessible for research, teaching and reinvention. All of these activities keep the memories of dance alive, inspiring creativity in the present and future, and allowing choreographers to earn royalties.

September 21, 2016, the Fondation launched the portal EC2_Espaces chorégraphiques 2, along with its first online collection of choreographic toolkits, ensuring the dynamic presence of our dance legacies in the digital world. This initiative was carried out in close collaboration with Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, the Dance Department at UQAM, Fortier Danse-Création, La 2e Porte à Gauche, Le Carré des Lombes, Louise Bédard Danse, Lucie Grégoire Danse, the Margie Gillis Dance Foundation, PPS Danse and Tangente.

The new digital platform EC2_Espaces chorégraphiques 2, fulfils the Fondation’s new mission, paying tribute to the visionary spirit of its founder, Jean-Pierre Perreault.

Board of Directors

Marc Boivin

Chair

Marc Boivin has achieved nationwide recognition as a dancer, creator and teacher. He performed for many years with the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, and has chaired its board of directors since 2005. From 2005 to 2010, he was a member of the board of directors of the Conseil des arts de Montréal and sat on the dance committee. From 2010 to 2014, he was president of the Regroupement québécois de la danse.

Anne Bénichou

Vice-chair

Anne Bénichou is a lecturer in History and Theory of Art at the École des arts visuels et médiatiques of the University of Quebec, Montreal. Bénichou’s research is based on the study of archives, forms of memory and the historic narratives that emerge from contemporary artistic practices and the institutions responsible for preserving and disseminating them. She joined the Fondation board in autumn 2011.

Katya Montaignac

Board member

Choreographer, dance dramaturg and curator, Katya Montaignac creates “unidentified dancing objects” especially with La 2e Porte à Gauche. She collaborates as dramaturge with different choreographers (Frédérick Gravel, Marie Béland, Milan Gervais, Nicolas Cantin, Karine Ledoyen…). She completed the doctoral program in the study and practice of the arts at UQAM, teaches dance aesthetics, and writes for various journals. She was dance curator for 7 years at the offta Festival. She wrote a book about Josephine Baker and contributed to books on the company Danse-Cité and about FTA. She created with Sophie Corriveau the event (Not) All of us are Dancers.

Angélique Willkie

Board member

Performer, singer, pedagogue and dramaturge, Angélique Willkie completed a Masters degree in Economics at McGill University before starting her dance training at the School of Toronto Dance Theater. Her career evolved in Europe over the following 25 years where she worked with, among others, Alain Platel, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Jan Lauwers / Needcompany, and as a singer with the Belgian world-music group, Zap Mama. Working as a dramaturge for dance and circus, Angélique is also Assistant Professor in the Department of Contemporary Dance at Montreal’s Concordia University.

Yves Bergeron

Board member

Yves Bergeron is Professor of Museology/Museum Studies and Heritage in the Department of History of Art at UQAM. He teaches masters programs in Museology/Museum studies and international PhD in Museology/Museum studies, Mediation, Heritage. His work includes the history of Museology/Museum studies and museum trends and governance. He has published numerous articles on the meaning of objects, the history of museums and the founding myths of Museology. He participated in the edition of the Dictionnaire encyclopédique de muséologie (Armand Colin 2011). He wrote with François Mairesse, of the University of Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, Mémoires de la muséologie, a project dedicated to the contemporary history of Museology/Museum studies. He published two books on the emergence of the Museum of Civilization in 2016 and the work of Roland Arpin (Un nouveau musée pour un nouveau monde et Diriger sans s’excuser. Patrimoine, musée et gouvernance selon Roland Arpin, L’Harmattan).

Josée Plamondon

Board member

Master of Library and Information Science, MBA.

Trained as a librarian to be a data and information retrieval systems specialist, Josée was confronted with organizational and technological issues related to the dissemination of information in diverse areas including cultural industries. She has contributed to projects aiming at interoperability and data sharing, content indexing for machine processing and knowledge sharing. Now a consultant, she offers content creators and producers who are facing digital challenges to understand the dynamics of information and learn how to exploit the data that describes their content. Since 2016, she co-organizes an annual semantic web meeting in Quebec in the form of a conference.

Josée recently worked with the Canada Council for the Arts, the Quartier des spectacles Partnership, Canadian Heritage Information Network and SODEC. She sits on the Quebec government’s digital council.

Patrick Gaboury

Board member

Patrick Gaboury holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and an MBA from the School of Management Sciences (ESG UQÀM). He has worked in the financial field for nearly 12 years with the National Bank of Canada. After holding several management positions in the branch network, including Branch Manager, he now holds the position of Senior Director, Advisory and Client Approach. Supporting the entire branch and call centre network across Canada, Patrick works to evolve business practices in order to enhance the consulting offer and experience offered to the Bank’s clientele.

Karim Talaat

Board member

Team

Lise Gagnon
Executive Director
admin@fjpp.ca

Ariane Dessaulles
Project Manager
info@fjpp.ca

Virginie Desroches
Philanthropy Project Manager
comm@fjpp.ca

Renée Hudon
Accountant

Catherine Lavoie-Marcus
Mapping Black Holes Project Coordinator

Artistic and Scientific Committee

Anne Bénichou, art historian, professor at the School of Visual and Media Arts, UQAM

Marc Boivin, dancer and instructor

Ariane Dessaulles, dancer, choreographer and Project Manager at the FJPP

Lise Gagnon, FJPP Executive Director

Sophie Michaud, artistic consultant in contemporary dance

Katya Montaignac, performer, choreographer, dramaturg and critic

Hélène Duval, professor in pedagogy at the Department of Dance, UQAM

Angélique Willkie, multidisciplinary artist, professor at the Department of Contemporary Dance, Concordia University

PARTNERS

The Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault receives financial assistance from the following:

 

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The FJPP gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for the creation of EC2_Espaces chorégraphiques 2 and the digital collection of choreographic toolkits, as part of Quebec’s digital cultural plan.

 

The Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault expresses special thanks to Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, the Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal and the National Arts Centre for their participation in the protection and promotion of Jean-Pierre Perreault’s artistic legacy.