Paul-André Fortier

Paul-André Fortier came to dance in the 1970s at the heart of one of Québec and Canada’s most innovative choreographic adventures: the Groupe Nouvelle Aire. It was here that some of the most influential creative personalities came together, and with him, built the reputation of Québec dance from the 1980s to today.

Even before choreographing, he quickly stood out as a dancer. A “natural” dancer—elegant, distinguished, refined—with a powerful stage presence, he rapidly became an essential figure in Montréal’s choreographic scene, then on the Canadian stage, and has remained so. His choreographic path was significant from the very beginning, marked by the invention of new propositions in both form and content (if these can even be separated), diverging from tradition and conventional trends. Recognized early by his peers, he pioneered a choreographic theatricality that strongly expressed the tensions of the contemporary world in a dense, demanding, and rigorous form. He was thus among the first of his generation to carve the way for a dance liberated from the past, paving the path for an entire generation of choreographers open to modernity and creative risk.

And risk has always been central to his work. Fortier is not a choreographer of formulas but rather an “adventurer” of art (in the noble sense), for whom creation is always a step into the unknown. After exploring dance-theatre, deeply attuned to the world and profoundly shaping Québec’s choreographic imagination in the 1980s, he undertook, masterfully, the adventure of the solo with a trilogy that twice included collaborations with visual artist Betty Goodwin. Through this meeting of rich formal and symbolic universes, the choreographer-performer reconnected with the very substance of dance—movement—brought to its peak in works such as Tensions and Lumière.

Always attentive to artistic developments, including the advent of multimedia and new technologies, Fortier never blindly embraced the whims of his era or the wave of “all-technological” experimentation. Instead, he measured their symbolic and aesthetic weight, notably in Tensions and later Spirale, a choreography for 12 dancers created for the Ballet de Lorraine in Nancy.

In 2006, he rolled the dice again with Solo 30X30, which was part rite of passage, part performance, part feat. This ritual, performed in all weather for 30 days in some 15 international cities, for passersby who might stop or not, was an act of humility. Since his first solos, Paul-André Fortier has favored collaborations with other major creators, including visual artist Pierre Bruneau, composer Alain Thibault, Japanese visual artist Takao Minami, lighting designer John Munro, filmmaker Robert Morin, and writer-performer Rober Racine. The last three were also part of Cabane, premiered at the Festival TransAmériques (FTA) in 2008 and later toured in Canada and Europe. This was followed by Vertiges (2012), an unusual and moving duet with improviser-violinist and composer Malcolm Goldstein, and Misfit Blues (FTA 2014), an eccentric, biting, and quirky work that returned to a certain theatricality, created and performed with choreographer-performer Robin Poitras, with scenography by Edward Poitras.

Nearly 40 years after Derrière la porte un mur and more than 50 choreographies later, Paul-André has become a transmitter of knowledge, concerned with heritage and legacy for future generations. He is involved in the creation and publication of the Testament artistique, intended for the dance community. — Michèle Febvre (abridged version)