HÉLÈNE SIMONEAU
Luceville, Québec
Founder & Director, Hélène Simoneau Danse, Guggenheim Fellow and New York City Center Choreography Fellow
Choreographer: No Agenda
Biography
Hélène Simoneau is a Guggenheim Fellow and a New York City Center Choreography Fellow. Most recently, she was awarded a Pillow Lab residency at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, MA and a residency at Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. She was also a resident artist at Baryshnikov Arts Center, NYU/Tisch, NCCAkron, and a fellow of The NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts, Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab, the Bogliasco Foundation, and the Swiss International Coaching Project for Choreographers (SiWiC) in Zurich. Simoneau was awarded first place for Choreography at the 13th Internationales Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, for her solo “the gentleness was in her hands.” Her choreography has been commissioned by Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Juilliard School, Charlotte Ballet, PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, Vitacca Ballet, The Ailey School, BalletX, and the American Dance Festival. Hélène is originally from Luceville, a small village near Rimouski in Eastern Québec.
Interview
Tell us a little more about your background. What moments shaped your dance and choreographic career?
The moments that have shaped my artistic practice are primarily rooted in seeing other choreographic voices thrive and relating it to my own desires. I started dancing late and became interested in choreography almost immediately. My formative dance making years were inspired by what I learned from Doug Varone, both in what he reveals onstage in his work and also how generous he is in sharing his choreographic methods. In his class, I learned that I could create my own devices, my own games, and methods to generate movement material, but also to bring play and lightness into what can sometimes be a serious experience. It has continued to inform how I approach dance making and the way I like to collaborate with dancers.
What's important to you in a creative process?
The creative process is everything! It is where we spend most of our time together, how we establish culture, and where we practice clarity and kindness. The stage is immensely important as a window for the audience to enter. Almost always, if the process is good, the experience onstage will reflect that. So I tend to focus on making our studio time as meaningful and rich as possible, knowing it will all makes its way to the stage.
What was your "entry point" for this piece? Where did you start? Did you have any outside inspiration or goals?
The company of dancers is where my inspiration began. This group is very focussed and expressive so I wanted to create material that showcased their precision and sense of ensemble. They are unified in their ability to support a common goal.
