Program Notes - Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Compagnie Marie 

Chouinard 

The Rite of Spring 

Henri Michaux: 

Mouvements 

IN MUSEUM 

Thursday–Saturday, 

March 21–23, 2013 

Edlis Neeson 

Theater 

Henri Michaux: Mouvements Performers: Gérard Reyes, Mariusz Ostrowski, James Viveiros, Lucy May, Lucie Mongrain, Leon 

Kupferschmid, Carol Prieur. Photo: Sylvie-Ann Paré

Compagnie 

Marie Chouinard 


Ballet in one act 

Created at the National Arts 

Centre, Ottawa, Canada, 

June 18, 1993 

Choreography and Artistic 

Direction Marie Chouinard 

Dancers at creation Marie-Josée 

Paradis, Mathilde Monnard, 

Daniel Éthier, Dominique Porte, 

Pamela Newell, José Navas, 

Jeremy Weichsel 

Dancers 

Paige Culley, Valeria Galluccio, 

Leon Kupferschmid, Lucy M. 

May, Sacha Ouellette-Deguire, 

Mariusz Ostrowski, Carol 

Prieur, Gérard Reyes, Dorotea 

Saykaly, James Viveiros, 

Megan Walbaum 

Music 

Signatures sonores, Rober 

Racine, 1992, 12 minutes 

The Rite of Spring, Igor 

Stravinsky, 1913. By arrangement 

with Boosey & Hawkes, 

Inc., publisher and copyright 

owner, 35 minutes 

Lighting and Set Design 


Costumes Vandal 

Props Zaven Paré 

Make-up Jacques-Lee Pelletier 

Hairstyling Daniel Éthier 

A Compagnie Marie Chouinard 

production, co-produced with the 

National Arts Centre (Ottawa), 

the Festival international de 

nouvelle danse (Montréal), and 

the Kunstentrum Vooruit (Ghent, 

Belgium) 

Intermission 

Henri Michaux: Mouvements 

Ballet in one act 

Created at the Impulstanz, 

Vienna International Dance 

Festival, Vienna, August 2, 

2011. Including a solo created 

at Cinquième salle, Place des 

Arts, Montréal, December 8, 

2005 

Choreography and Artistic 

Direction Marie Chouinard 

Dancers at creation 

Kimberley De Jong, Leon 

Kupferschmid, Lucy M. May, 

Lucie Mongrain, Mariusz 

Ostrowski, Carol Prieur, 

Gérard Reyes, Dorotea 

Saykaly, James Viveiros, 

Megan Walbaum 

Dancers 

Paige Culley, Valeria 

Galluccio, Leon 

Kupferschmid, Lucy M. May, 

Mariusz Ostrowski, Sacha 

Ouellette-Deguire, Carol 

Prieur, Gérard Reyes, 

Dorotea Saykaly, James 

Viveiros, Megan Walbaum 

Lighting and Set Design 


Original music Louis Dufort 

Sound environment 

Edward Freedman 

Costumes Marilène Bastien 

and Marie Chouinard 

Hairstyling Marie Chouinard 

Poem, Post face, and projected 

drawings Henri Michaux, from 

the book Mouvements (1951), 

with permission of the rights 

holders Henri Michaux and 

Editions Gallimard 

Translation Howard Scott 

Warning 

This performance includes 

stroboscopic effects. 

Please turn to page 7 for 

the poem Mouvements. 


production with the support 

of ImPulsTanz (Vienna)


IN MUSEUM 

Solo performance 

Created at Musée d’art Contemporain 

de Baie-Saint-Paul 

as part of the 30th International 

Symposium of Baie- 

Saint-Paul, Québec, Canada, 

August, 31, 2012 

Performer Marie Chouinard 

Costumes and props 

Marie Chouinard and 

Jacinthe Loranger (assistant) 

Stage manager 

Caroline Nadeau 


production 

Compagnie Marie Chouinard 

Touring Crew 

Rehearsal Director 

Isabelle Poirier 

Tour Manager 

Marie-Pier Chevrette 

Technical Director and Lighting 

Manager Claude Viens 

Stage Manager Noémie Avidar 

Sound Engineer 

Antoine Bouchard 

Generous support for 

Compagnie Marie Chouinard is 

provided by Ginger Farley and 

Robert Shapiro. Support for 

all dance programming in the 

2012/13 season of MCA Stage 

is generously provided by 

David Herro and Jay Franke. 

The Compagnie Marie 

Chouinard wishes to thank the 

Conseil des arts et des lettres 

du Québec, the Canada Council 

for the Arts, the Conseil des 

Arts de Montréal. 

Audio, visual, and video 

recording devices and cell 

phones are strictly forbidden 

during the performances. 

Artists Up Close 

Gain insight into the creative 

process through these intimate 

opportunities to engage with 

the artists. 

First Night 

Thursday, March 21 

Following the opening-night 

performance, audience members 

are invited to engage 

in a conversation with Marie 

Chouinard and Peter Taub, 

Director of Performance 

Programs at the Museum of 

Contemporary Art. 

In-gallery Performance 

Saturday, March 23, 2–5 pm 

In her MCA debut, the incomparable 


performs a rare solo in the 

Color Bind exhibition galleries. 

IN MUSEUM is part of 

Chouinard’s visitation of early 

explorations, from the late 

1970s and through the 1980s. 

Clad entirely in white, 

Chouinard evokes Pythia, the 

prophetess of Delphi who 

delivered her prophecies in a 

trance and a language that 

only priests of the temple knew 

how to interpret. Visitors are 

invited by Chouinard to ask 

questions—personal or universal—which 

she then answers 

as a performance. The performance 

is durational and 

visitors may come and go.

Back to Back Theatre 

Ganesh Versus 

the Third Reich 

May 16–19, 2013 

Presented as part of 

Bodies of Work Festival 

“Courageous, confronting, 

intelligent and magisterially 

considered theatre… 

[a] towering achievement.” 

The Age (Australia) 

For tickets, visit mcachicago.org 

or call 312.397.4010. 

Theater 

Photo: Jeff Busby

About the Work 


Marie Chouinard’s The Rite of Spring occupies 

a special position. In choosing to reexamine 

this powerful hymn to life, she has created her 

first choreography based on a musical score. 

Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring explores a 

New World and marks the entry of dance into 

modernity. In this avant-garde work, Chouinard 

finds an original pulsation that is essential to her 

movement. Far from contradicting the rhythm of 

her dance, the cadence and force of the music 

inspire, accompany, and energize her, forming 

both the echo and the musical counterpoint of 

an organic, vigorous, and vivid choreography. 

For Marie Chouinard, all forms are the movement 

through space of a specific vital energy. 

Unlike previous choreographers working with 

Stravinsky’s piece, she constructed her Rite 

around solos, seeking to awaken in strong, clear 

movements the intimate mystery of each dancer. 

“There is no story in my Rite,” she explains, 

“no development, no cause and effect. Only 

synchronicity. It is as if I were dealing with 

the very moment after the instant life first 

appeared. The performance is the unfolding of 

that moment. I have the feeling that before that 

moment there was an extraordinary burst of 

light, a flash of lightning.” 

Henri Michaux: Mouvements 

In 1980, Marie Chouinard discovered the book 

Mouvements by Henri Michaux (1899–1984). 

Consisting of sixty-four pages of India-ink drawings, 

a fifteen-page poem, and an afterword, a 

15-page poem and an afterword, Mouvements 

presents multiform figures that Chouinard took 

pleasure in reading literally, left to right and 

page by page, as a choreographic score. She 

then proceeded to decrypt the great artist’s 

drawings and set dance to these “movements 

of multiple inkjets, a celebration of blots, arms 

moving up and down the scales.” 

The book’s transition to dance has been done 

“word for word,” for even the poem in the middle 

of the book, as well as its afterword, are included 

in the choreography. 

The drawings are projected in the background, 

allowing spectators to do a simultaneous personal 

reading of the Michaux score. Echoing the 

visual presentation of a white page with black 

drawings, performers dressed in black dance on 

a white floor. 

IN MUSEUM 

This performance originated in 2012, when 

Serge Murphy, guest curator for the 30th International 

Symposium of Contemporary Art of 

Baie-Saint-Paul (Canada), invited artists, including 

Marie Chouinard, to explore the notion of 

Minimalism. They were asked to work from 

the Symposium’s theme "Making the whirling 

world stand still" (fixer les vertiges), which was 

inspired by the poem of Arthur Rimbaud from 

the book A Season in Hell: 

…I wrote down silences, nights, I wrote down 

that which could not be said. I stilled vertigoes. 

Marie Chouinard has described performing 

IN MUSEUM as always digging in the least of 

the least, the almost nothing. 

She devised the work for a room through which 

the public freely circulates. A visitor is invited to 

enter a designated space and ask a question or 

make a request of the dancer. The question or

equest can be personal or universal. 

Chouinard’s performance brings to mind whiteclad 

Pythia, the prophetess of Delphi. This 

ancient Greek character delivered her prophecies 

in a trance and a language that only priests 

of the temple knew how to interpret. 

As IN MUSEUM progresses, a personalized 

reply emerges from each exchange between the 

artist and her visitor, a free dance of dazzling 

spontaneity. Between each interview, the dancer 

takes time to refocus before embodying the next 

visitor’s inner world and aspirations. 

For Chouinard, the history of the Pythia and the 

act of divination may remain a mystery, but the 

inscription at the entrance to the temple of Apollo 

at Delphi has lost none of its truth: “Know 

thyself and thou will know the universe and the 

gods.” 

IN MUSEUM Performer: Marie Chouinard. 

Photo: Sylvie-Ann Paré

Mouvements 

Against alveoli 

against the glue 

against the glue one another 

against the sweet one another 

Cactus! 

Flames of darkness 

hot-headed 

dagger mothers 

roots of battles thrusting into the plain 

A rolling race 

a boiling crawl 

teeming unit 

dancing block 

A defenestrated flies off 

torn up and down 

torn all over 

torn never to attach again 

Man bracing 

man leaping 

man hurtling 

man for the lightning operation 

for the storm operation 

for the assegai operation 

for the harpoon operation 

for the shark operation 

for the bursting operation 

Man not by flesh 

but through emptiness and evil and intestinal torches 

and flashes and nervous discharges 

and setbacks 

and returns 

and rage 

and tearing 

and entanglement 

and taking off in sparks

Man not by abdomen and buttock plates or vertebrae 

but through his currents, his weakness what recovers from shock, his 

startings 

man by the moon and burning powder and the bazaar itself 

from the movement of others 

and the storm and the wind 

rising and chaos never ordered 

Man all flags outside, slapping in the wind rustling his instincts 

man who thrashes the parrot 

who has no joints 

who does no farming 

goatman 

crestman 

with spines 

with shortcuts 

tuft man, galvanizing his rags 

man with secret supports, rocketing far from his degrading life 

Desire barking in the dark is the many-sided form of this being 

Flashes scissoring 

forking 

flashes radiating 

flashes across the whole compass rose 

To the noises, to the roaring 

if one gave a body! 

To the sounds of the balafo and the piercing drill 

to the foot-stamping teenagers who do not yet know 

what it means that their chests feel about to burst 

to the joltings, rumblings, surgings 

to tides of blood in the arteries suddenly changing direction 

to thirst 

to thirst especially 

thirst never quenched 

if one gave a body!... 

Soul of lasso 

of alga 

of jack, grapple and swelling wave 

of hawk, gnu, elephant seal

triple soul 

eccentric soul 

zealot soul 

electrified larva soul coming to bite the surface 

soul of beatings and gnashing of teeth 

overhanging soul always straightened again 

With disregard to any heaviness 

any languor 

any geometry 

any architecture 

disregarding: SPEED! 

Movement and ripping apart of internal exasperation more than 

movements of walking 

movements of explosion, denial, stretching in all directions 

unhealthy attractions, impossible desires 

gratification of the flesh struck in the neck 

headless movements 

What good’s a head when overwhelmed? 

Movement of folding and coiling inward while 

waiting for better 

movements of inner shields 

movements with multiple jets 

residual movements 

movements instead of other movements that can’t be shown 

but that inhabit the spirit 

with dust 

with stars 

with erosion 

with landslides 

and vain latencies... 

Festival of stains, scale of arms 

movements 

we jump into “nothing” 

turning efforts 

being alone, we are the crowd 

What countless number advances 

adds, expands, expands!

Goodbye fatigue 

farewell efficient bipedal at the station of the bridge abutment 

the sheath torn, we are other 

any other 

we no longer pay tribute 

a corolla opens, bottomless dive... 

The stride now has the length of hope 

the leap has the length of thought 

it has eight legs if we have to run 

it has ten arms if we join forces 

completely rooted, when we have to hold 

never beaten 

always returning 

new returning 

while soothed the keyboard master feigned sleep! 

Stains 

stains to obsess 

to reject 

to unshelter 

to unstabilize 

to be reborn 

to cross out 

to shut up memory 

to leave again 

Crazy stick 

boomerang always coming back 

returns torrentially 

through others 

flies off again ... 

Gestures 

gestures of life ignored 

of life impulsive 

and happy to be squandered 

jerky, spasmodic, erectile life 

devilish life, life any which way 

life

Gestures of defiance and response 

and escape from throttlenecks 

Gestures of excess 

of excess 

especially excess 

Gestures we feel, but cannot identify 

(pre-gestures per se, much larger than the visible gesture 

and practices that follow) 

Entanglements 

attacks that look like dives 

swimming like searching 

arms like trunks 

Exhilaration of the dynamic life 

that undermines the meditation of evil 

don’t know to what kingdom belongs 

the bewitching batch that leaps out 

animal or human 

immediate, without pause 

already departed 

already comes the next 

instantaneous 

as if thousands and 

thousands of breathtaking 

seconds 

a slow day is ended 

loneliness does scales 

the desert, the arabesques 

multiplication 

repeated indefinitely 

Signs 

signs not of roof, tunic or palace 

not of archives and dictionary of knowledge 

but of twisting, violence, jostling 

but kinetic desire

Signs of rout, pursuit and rage 

of antagonistic, aberrant, asymmetric surges 

non-critical signs, but detour with detour and racing 

with racing 

signs not for a zoology 

but for the figure of unbridled demons 

the accompanists of our actions and the challengers of our reserve 

Signs of ten thousand ways to find balance in this moving 

world that laughs at adaptation 

signs especially to extricate your being from the trap of the language of others 

made to win against you, like a well-balanced wheel 

which leaves you only a few lucky shots 

and ruin and defeat to finish 

that were written there ahead of time 

for you, for all 

Signs not of going backwards 

but to better “cross the line” at any instant 

signs not like you rethink 

but like you drive 

or, as happens in a big jam 

when unconscious automaton, you feel piloted 

Signs, not to be complete 

but to be faithful to the transitory 

not to combine 

but to find the gift of tongues 

your own at least, if not your own, who will speak it? 

Direct writing finally for unwinding 

for the relief of shapes, 

for the decluttering of images 

with which the public space-brain is particularly congested at this time 

For want of an aura, at least disperse its fragrance. 

Henri Michaux, 1951 

Translation © Howard Scott 

With the permission of the rights holders Henri Michaux and Editions Gallimard

Young Jean Lee’s 

Theater Company 

Untitled 

Feminist Show 

Apr 18–21, 2013 

“One of the more moving and imaginative 

works I have ever seen on 

the American stage . . . transcendent. 

Lee’s universe is so emotionally 

complete that I yearned to be 

part of her utopia.” New Yorker 

For tickets, visit mcachicago.org 

or call 312.397.4010. 

Theater 

Photo: Blaine Davis

About the artists 

Marie Chouinard and the 


In 1978, Marie Chouinard presented her first 

dance work, Cristallisation, establishing her 

reputation as a highly original artist driven by 

the need for authentic communication. This first 

piece was followed by thirty solos, including 

Marie Chien Noir (1982), S.T.A.B (Space, Time 

and Beyond) (1986), and Afternoon of a Faun 

(1987), landmarks in contemporary dance of 

the past thirty years. 

In 1990, the soloist-choreographer founded the 

Compagnie Marie Chouinard, which has 

now performed more than 1,000 times on all 

the great stages of the world and participated 

in the most prestigious international festivals. 

Chouinard’s works are performed by dancers of 

exceptional talent, such as Carol Prieur, named 

Dancer of the Year 2010 by Tanz magazine, 

and Lucie Mongrain, the solo performer of 

Etude No. 1 (2001). 

The Compagnie Marie Chouinard has coproduced 

its creations with top names in the 

arts world, including the Venice Biennale, the 

ImPulsTanz-Vienna International Dance Festival, 

the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Gulbenkian 

Foundation in Lisbon, the Fondazione Musica 

Per Roma in Rome, the Festival TransAmériques 

at Place des Arts in Montreal, and the National 

Arts Centre in Ottawa. One of its best-known 

works, The Rite of Spring, created in 1993, is 

still performed today. In 2008, 24 Preludes by 

Chopin, created in 1999, was introduced into 

the repertoire of the National Ballet of Canada 

(Toronto) and, since 2010, Prelude to The 

Afternoon of a Faun (1994) has been performed 

by the São Paulo Companhia de Dança. In 2011, 

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo presented Marie 

Chouinard’s bODY_rEMIX / gOLDBERG_ 

vARIATIONS, Act 1, adapted for twenty dancers. 

Since 2007, the company has occupied its own 

work space, Espace Marie Chouinard, Montreal. 

There, in 2009, after a twenty-year absence 

from the stage, Marie Chouinard returned with 

her solo morning glories :)-(:. In 2012, she 

continued her solo experience with the threehour 

performance IN MUSEUM. 

In 2008, Chantier des extases, a collection of 

her poetry, was published by les éditions 

du passage. The book was followed in 2010 by 

Compagnie_Marie_Chouinard_Company, 

a volume illustrated with numerous color photos, 

highlighting two decades of creation, culminating 

in the company’s most recent work, 

THE GOLDEN MEAN (LIVE). 

In addition to choreography, Chouinard sometimes 

designs the scenography and lighting 

for her pieces, as well as photographs them. 

Her multimedia and visual creations include 

Cantique No. 3, an interactive installation with 

Louis Dufort, and Icônes, a video installation 

with Luc Courchesne, as well as a film, bODY_ 

rEMIX / gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS, based on 

the dance work of the same name. In 2011, 

she participated in the group show BIG BANG at 

the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal with her 

installation Paradisi Gloria. In 2012 Dessins, a 

series of visual art works by Chouinard, was 

exhibited at Galerie Donald Browne, Montreal, 

and in Toronto at the International Art Fair. 

Chouinard has received numerous awards for 

her contribution to the world of dance and the 

arts: a Bessie Award (2000), the Grand Prix du 

Conseil des arts de Montréal and the distinction

of Officer of the Order of Canada in 2007, the 

title of Chevalier des arts et des lettres (France, 

2009). In 2010, the Compagnie received the 

Arts Achievement Award from the Imperial 

Tobacco Canada Foundation, and the same year 

Chouinard was presented with the Prix Denise- 

Pelletier career award, one of the prestigious 

Prix du Québec. Marie Chouinard’s name 

entered the Petit Larousse illustré in 2010 and 

appears in the 2011 edition of Le Robert. In 2012, 

The Conseil des Arts et des lettres du Quebec 

awarded the first CALQ award for best choreographic 

work of 2011-2012 to Marie Chouinard 

for THE GOLDEN MEAN (LIVE). 

Artistic contributors 

Rober Racine 

studied literature, art history, and film at the 

Université de Montréal. His works have been 

presented in numerous galleries and museums 

in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, 

and Japan. He exhibited his works at the 

Sydney Biennial in Australia (1990), the Venice 

Biennial (1990), and at Documenta in Kassel, 

Germany (1992). In 2001, the National Gallery of 

Canada mounted a retrospective of his works. 

He has published the following novels: Le Mal 

de Vienne (1992), Là-bas, tout près (1997), and 

L’Ombre de la terre (2002); a short narrative: 

Le Dictionnaire (1998); and a dramatic text: 

Le Cœur de Mattingly. In 1999, he was awarded 

two prestigious Canadian awards: the Prix 

Ozias Leduc and the Prix Louis Comtois for the 

body of his work. Racine has collaborated with 

Marie Chouinard since 1978. 

Louis Dufort 

was born in Montreal in 1970. Trained as a 

classical guitarist, he became interested in 

electroacoustic composition and completed his 

master’s degree at the Conservatoire de 

Musique de Montréal. His musical compositions 

have resulted in several international 

awards. A regular contributor to Compagnie 

Marie Chouinard since 1996, he is a member 

of the artistic committee of the Quebec 

Association for electroacoustic composition 

and research (ACREQ). 

Liz Vandal 

began her career in 1990 as a fashion designer, 

quickly establishing a solid reputation. She is a 

costume designer, make-up artist, and hairstylist 

and works for film, theater, and dance. She has 

worked with the likes of La La La Human Steps 

and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal. 

Vandal has designed the costumes for ten 

works Compagnie Marie Chouinard’s repertoire. 

Jacques-Lee Pelletier 

is an avant-garde make-up artist and fashion 

designer. Germany’s Mode Trend magazine 

in reviewing his living sculptures has called him 

a philosopher and poet of beauty. He works 

with top directors and specialists in theater, 

dance, photography, video, advertising, hairdressing, 

and television, and in addition teaches 

at the National Theatre School of Canada 

He has been one of Marie Chouinard’s 

collaborators since 1987. 

Marilène Bastien 

is a BFA graduate from Concordia University 

and works as a scenographer and costume/ 

prop designer for dance and theater. She has 

collaborated with Ginette Laurin, Manuel 

Roque, Lynda Gaudreau, the Conservatoire de 

musique de Montréal, and Théâtre LV 2 . She 

has designed costumes for Cirque du Soleil’s

homage to Guy Laliberté, as part of their twenty- 

fifth anniversary. She has collaborated with the 

Compagnie Marie Chouinard as stage manager 

and costume designer since 2006. 

Dancers 

Paige Culley 

was born in Rossland, British Columbia. In 

2010 she graduated from The School of Toronto 

Dance Theatre, where she was awarded the 

Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Grant 

for Contemporary Dance. She has worked with 

Antonija Livingstone, Martin Bélanger, Ame 

Henderson, and Michael Trent as part of Dancemakers, 

and with Shannon Gillen and Danièle 

Desnoyers. Additionally, she works as dancer, 

actor, and vocalist for film and musical theater, 

and as choreographer and teacher throughout 

British Columbia and Ontario. She joined the 

Compagnie Marie Chouinard in 2011. 

Valeria Galluccio 

was born in Napoli (Italy). She studied ballet 

with Annalisa Cernese and she worked as 

principal dancer in Biennale of Venice for three 

years in Glass Room, The Waste Land, and 

Oxygen, directed and choreographed by Ismael 

Ivo. She worked again with Ismael Ivo for a 

project in Napoli Teatro Festival, Stravinsky’s Le 

Sacre du printemps. She joined the Compagnie 

Marie Chouinard in 2011. 

Leon Kupferschmid 

was born in Israël. He studied at the Jerusalem 

Music and Dance Academy. From 2004 to 2005, 

he danced for the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam 

in the Netherland. He continued his training at 

the Juilliard School in New York. He joined the 


Lucy M. May 

began her dance training at Dance Fredericton 

in New Brunswick. Her professional studies 

were completed at L’ École de Danse 

Contemporaine in Montreal (LADMMI) and the 

Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands. 

She has danced for DanseKparK, la 

Compagnie Capriole, Meyer-Chaffaud Dance 

Company, Lucie Grégoire Danse, and Mélissa 

Raymond, among others. She taught at 

LADMMI from 2008 to 2009. She joined the 


Mariusz Ostrowski 

started his dance training at the Warsaw National 

Ballet School in Poland. He worked with 

the National Ballet of Poland, the Ballet Arizona, 

the Atlanta Ballet, Rubberbandance, and Les 

Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, where 

he was first soloist. He joined the Compagnie 


Sacha Ouellette-Deguire 

originally trained as a mime artist. Her stage 

work includes L’Equipe des Oranges, Compagnie 

Omnibu, and Compagnie Korimage. He 

continues to develop his work as a multifaceted 

artist at the Académie du Ballet Métropolitain 

with the dancer Alexis Simonot. He joined the 


Carol Prieur 

started her career with Winnipeg Contemporary 

Dancers. She has worked with the Fondation 

Jean-Pierre Perreault. Grants permitted her to 

pursue her studies in New York, Europe, and 

India where she was initiated into Kalarypayattu, 

an Indian martial art form. Since she became 

a member of Compagnie Marie Chouinard in 

1995, three solos have been created for her:

Humanitas, Étude Poignante, and Movements. 

She received an Award for Best Performance 

in Marie Chouinard’s film, Cantique no. 1, at the 

Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film and 

Video Award in Toronto. In 2010, Prieur was 

named Dancer of the Year by the prestigious 

German magazine TANZ. 

Gerard Reyes 

received his BFA in Dance from Ryerson 

University in Toronto in 2003. He danced for 

Danny Grossman, D. A. Hoskins, Lesandra 

Dodson, Heidi Strauss, Sacha Ivanochko, 

Luther Brown, Bill T. Jones, Germaul Barnes, 

and Noemie Lafrance. Reyes spent a year in 

Los Angeles studying acting and expanding his 

hip-hop repertoire with Tovaris Wilson, Kevin 

Maher, and Redd. He danced for one season 

with the Compagnie Marie Chouinard in 2006/07 

and rejoined the company in 2009. 

Dorotea Saykaly 

trained at the Conservatoire de Danse de Montréal 

with Daniel Seillier and Lucinda Hughuey. 

She completed her dance studies in Vancouver 

at Arts Umbrella, training with Arty Gordon, 

Grant Strate, and Wen Wei Wang. She has 

worked in Montreal with Les Ballets Métropolitains, 

Ballet Ouest, and Les Sortilèges. She 

joined the Compagnie Marie Chouinard in 2006. 

James Viveiros 

studied dance, music, and theatre at Alberta’s 

Grant MacEwan College, where he received 

the Evelyn Davis scholarship for outstanding 

performance in dance. He has worked with the 

Brian Webb Dance Company, Edmonton Opera, 

and The Citadel Theatre, among others. Moving 

to Montreal he performed for Suzanne Miller 

and Allan Paivio Productions. He is one of the 

interpreters of the solo Des Feux dans la nuit 

by Marie Chouinard since 2003. He joined the 


Megan Walbaum 

is a native of Calgary and began dancing at the 

Alberta Ballet School of Dance, before continuing 

her classical training at the Royal Winnipeg 

Ballet School. She followed the professional 

training program in contemporary dance at 

L’ École de Danse Contemporaine in Montreal 

(LADMMI). She has danced for Sylvain Émard 

and Lucie Gregoire. She joined the Compagnie 



Executive and Artistic Director: Marie Chouinard 

Administration and Financial Director: 

Bernard Dubreuil 

Director of International Development: Paul Tanguay 

Production Director: Nancy Cormier 

Tour Director: Marie-Pier Chevrette 

Controller: Monika Gruszka 

Communications Officer: Christel Durand 

Artistic and executive director assistant 

and project manager: Flore Anne Fortier 

Notator & Rehearsal Director: Natasha Frid 

Additional Rehearsal Directors: Eve Garnier, 

Isabelle Poirier, Ami Shulman, Tony Chong, 

Martha Carter 

Dancers: Valeria Galluccio, Leon Kuperschmid, Lucy 

M. May, Lucie Mongrain, Mariusz Ostrowski, Sacha 

Ouellette-Deguire, Carol Prieur, Gérard Reyes, 

Dorotea Saykaly, James Viveiros, Megan Walbaum 

Representation: Julie George (Europe), Cathy 

Pruzan, Cathy Pruzan Artist Representative 

(United States), Pilar de Yzaguirre, YSARCA S.L. 

(Spain), Paul Tanguay (Europe, Asia, America – 

except United States) 

Board of Directors 

President: Marcel Côté 

Treasurer: Stéphane Leclerc 

Members: Francine Allaire, Patrick Beauduin, 

Marie Chouinard, Pascal de Guise, Josette Murdock, 

Pierre Paquet, François Taschereau, Anik Trudel

Become a Friend 

of the MCA Stage 

Support groundbreaking performances 

that bring you up close to the voices 

and visions of artists now. Become a Friend 

of the MCA Stage and receive exclusive 

benefits such as recognition in MCA 

Stage program notes, special ticket offers, 

invitations to receptions with the artists, 

and access to behind-the-scenes rehearsals. 

Become a Friend of the MCA Stage today 

by calling 312.397.3864. 

Compagnie Marie Chouinard. Photo: Sylvie-Ann Paré

Thank You 

Generous support for the 

2012–13 season of MCA Stage 

is provided by Elizabeth A. 

Liebman, David Herro and Jay 

Franke, Caryn and King Harris, 

Susan and Lew Manilow, Lois 

and Steve Eisen and The 

Eisen Family Foundation, 

and Mary Ittelson. 

Season Sponsor 

Official Airline 

of MCA Chicago 

Housing Partner 

The MCA is a proud partner 

of the National Performance 

Network. 

$10,000–$24,999 

Nancy Lauter McDougal and 

Alfred L. McDougal 

The Weasel Fund 

$5,000–$9,999 

Patricia Cox 

Pamela Crutchfield 

Maya Polsky 

Ellen Stone Belic 

$1,000–$4,999 

Aaron Copland Fund for Music 

Amphion Foundation, Inc. 

Leigh and Henry Bienen 

Greg Cameron 

Janet Alberti and 

Fred Schneider 

Shawn M. Donnelley and 

Christopher M. Kelly 

Gale and Ric Fischer 

Maecenas 

Susan Manning and 

Doug Doetsch 

Herbert R. and Paula Molner 

$1–$999 

David G. Brown 

Terri and Stephen Geifman 

Ms. Patricia F. Sternberg 

Anonymous 

As of December 2012

As one of the nation’s largest multidisciplinary museums devoted to 

the art of our time, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago offers 

exhibitions of the most thought-provoking art of today. The museum’s 

performing arts program, MCA Stage, is the most active presenter of 

theater, dance, and music in Chicago, featuring leading performers 

from around the globe in the 300-seat Edlis Neeson Theater. 

MCA Stage is committed to presenting groundbreaking performances 

that focus on collaboration; working closely with artists; converging 

with the larger programming of the museum; and offering a contemporary 

view of the traditional roots of performance. 

King Harris, 

Chair of the 

Board of Trustees 

Madeleine Grynsztein, 

Pritzker Director 

Janet Alberti, 

Deputy Director 

Michael Darling, 

James W. Alsdorf 

Chief Curator 

Performance Committee 

Lois Eisen, Chair 

Ellen Stone Belic 

Patricia Cox 

Pamela Crutchfield 

Ginger Farley 

Jay Franke 

John C. Kern 

Lisa Yun Lee 

Elizabeth A. Liebman 

Alfred L. McDougal 

Paula Molner 

Sharon Oberlander 

Maya Polsky 

D. Elizabeth Price 

Carol Prins 

Cheryl Seder 

Patty Sternberg 

Richard Tomlinson 

Performance Programs 

Peter Taub, Director 

Yolanda Cesta Cursach, 

Associate Director 

Richard Norwood, 

Theater Production Manager 

Cameron Heinze, Manager 

Antonia Callas, Assistant 

Kevin Brown, 

House Management Associate 

Phil Cabeen, 


Alicia M. Graf, 


Quinlan Kirchner, 


Lucas Baisch, Intern 

Erik Norwich, Intern 

Facilities 

Dennis O’Shea, 

Manager of Technical 

Production 

Box Office 

Matti Allison, Manager 

Phongtorn Phongluantum, 

Assistant Manager 

Molly Laemle, Coordinator 

Gabriel Garcia, Associate 

Charles Hearne, Associate 

Nicholas Stephens, Associate 

Program notes compiled by 

Yolanda Cesta Cursach 

Courtesy 

Guidelines and 

Information 

Parking 

Validate your ticket at coat 

check for $11 parking in the MCA 

garage (220 East Chicago Avenue) 

and Bernardin garage (747 North 

Wabash Avenue). The $11 parking 

is limited to six hours on date 

of performance. 

Lost and found 

To inquire about a lost item, 

call the museum at 312.280.2660. 

Unclaimed articles are held for 

30 days. 

Seating 

Switch off all noise-making 

devices while you are in 

the theater. 

Late arrivals are seated at the 

management’s discretion. Food 

and open beverage containers are 

not allowed in the seating area. 

Reproduction 

Unauthorized recording and 

reproduction of a performance 

is prohibited. 

Museum of Contemporary Art 

Chicago 

220 East Chicago Avenue 

Chicago, Illinois 60611 

mcachicago.org 

General information 312.280.2660 

Box office 312.397.4010 

Volunteer for performances 

312.397.4072 

mcastage@mcachicago.org 

Museum hours 

Tuesday: 10 am–8 pm 

Wednesday–Sunday: 10 am–5 pm 

Closed Mondays, Thanksgiving, 

Christmas, and New Year’s Day

Program Notes - Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

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