Marie Chouinard
2016 Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award (Dance)
Artist, choreographer, writer and teacher
Marie Chouinard is internationally recognized as a leading creator of contemporary dance. She is also an author, designer, photographer, filmmaker and multimedia artist. Savage yet disciplined, her choreographies are formal masterpieces with the power to challenge and move even contemporary dance neophytes.
Marie Chouinard was born in Québec in 1955. Her first dance work, the solo
Cristallisation (1978), immediately established her reputation as a highly original artist with a gift for authentic communication. She has created some 40 solos, which have been performed internationally and hailed as landmarks in contemporary dance, including
Marie Chien Noir (1982),
S.T.A.B. (Space, Time and Beyond) (1986), and
Afternoon of a Faun (1987).
In 1990, she founded COMPAGNIE MARIE CHOUINARD. Notable group works include
The Rite of Spring (1993),
The 24 Preludes by Chopin (1999), bODY_rEMIX/gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS (2005), and HENRI MICHAUX: MOUVEMENTS (2011). Recent multimedia works include CORPS CÉLESTES (2013) and the iPhone and iPad app
Cantique (2015).
She has also created works for other leading dance companies, notably the Martha Graham Dance Company (
Inner Resources, 2016).
Over the years, she has developed her own dance technique. “My practice is rooted in the breath, in listening, in the unique responsiveness of the liberated body, connections and resonances, spontaneous transformation, discipline and freedom, and in the journeys and experiences within the body and presence itself,” she explains.
In 2009, after a 20-year absence from the stage, Marie Chouinard returned with a new solo,
morning glories :)-(:. Since 2012, she has been dancing IN MUSEUM, a three-hour performance piece.
In 2011, she established the Prix de la danse de Montréal to promote that city as an international centre for the creation and dissemination of dance.
Marie Chouinard is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Knight of the National Order of Quebec, a Companion of arts and literature in Quebec, and a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de France. Her many awards include the National Arts Centre Award (GGPAA), Prix Denise-Pelletier (Prix du Québec), Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal, and a Bessie Award (New York).