Toronto Premiere
Presented in collaboration with The National Ballet of Canada’s CreativAction Programme, with support from DanceWorks.
Citadel Spring Mix Presents
PAPILLON
Choreographed by Helen Simard
What can we expect from the unexpected? What can we recognize in a world governed by unpredictability? Street and contemporary dance collide as three dancers weave in and out of sync through a complex choreographic partition, supported by a live, hypnotic musical soundtrack that blends the sounds and rhythms of jazz, hip-hop and drum’n’bass. Inspired by chaos theory and complex mathematical equations, PAPILLON is an emotional, engulfing reflection on order and disorder, singularity and similarity, metamorphosis, loneliness and togetherness, and the importance of human connection. A powerful performance that will have audiences dancing in their seats.
Approximate run time is 50 minutes.
Meet the Artists
Photo by Roger White
Helen Simard
Choreographer
Helen Simard is a choreographer, rehearsal director and dance dramaturge. Originally from Kingston, Ontario, she relocated to Tiohtiá:ke/ Montréal in 1996. Simard collaborates with musicians and dancers to create visceral interdisciplinary shows. Her work uses repetition, complex spatial patterns and techniques of sensory overwhelm to create hypnotic, dreamlike performances that blur the boundaries between conscious and subconscious spaces.
Read more +Past works such as NO FUN (2014), IDIOT (2017), REQUIEM POP (2019), PAPILLON (2020), and BECAUSE YOU NEVER ASKED (2023) are joyfully chaotic and complex in their simplicity, walking a fine line between the real and the imaginary.
Simard holds a BFA (Concordia University, 2000) and MA in Dance (Université du Québec à Montréal, 2014). Her current research explores themes relating to loss, memory, nostalgia, and intergenerational exchange.
We All Fall Down
Founded in 2019, We All Fall Down (WAFD) is a non-profit organization that supports and promotes innovation in dance and music through interdisciplinary artistic propositions. Under the artistic direction of Helen Simard and Roger White, WAFD encourages experimentation and risk-taking through their raw, vulnerable, emotional works.
Read more +Show Credits
Choreographer: Helen Simard, in collaboration with the team
Performers: Nindy Banks, Mecdy Jean-Pierre, Victoria Mackenzie, Rémy Saminadin, Roger White, Ted Yates
Musical Direction: Roger White
Rehearsal Direction: Stéphanie Fromentin, Kaia Mienna
Technical Direction and Lighting Design: Hannah Kirby
Costumes: Nindy Banks
Artistic & Dramaturgical Consultants: Alexandra Landé, Mathieu Leroux, Sophie Corriveau
Administration: Guylaine Savoie
Production: We All Fall Down Interdisciplinary Creations
Co-production Partner: Danse-Cité
Financial Support: Conseil des arts du Canada, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Conseil des arts de Montréal
Press
“I am shocked into awe by this team… I am inched forward into movement, like an electron. Like a butterfly.”
– Tara McGowan-Ross, Broadway World
“A breath-taking work in the midst of a health crisis.”
– Maud Cucchi, Revue Jeu