Picture credits : F. Bérubé, U. Vouaux-Massel, C. Chan Tak, J. Gaudreau
Music credit : «Papillon» We All Fall Down, H. Simard, R. White, T. Yates, R. Saminadin
For more than 15 years, Priscilla Guy has demonstrated her commitment to democratizing contemporary dance. As a performer, choreographer, filmmaker or commissioner, she has taken part in numerous innovative and surprising initiatives, all of which stem from a desire to create the encounter, and take pleasure in subverting or renewing performance codes. The selection committee recognized the diversity and inventiveness of Priscilla Guy’s activities, the value of her practice, and her involvement with communities in the Gaspé region. As well, it singled out her consistent dedication to inclusion as a primary value behind her actions, along with the bridges she continues to build between disciplines, places and communities. The committee also mentioned the intelligence and courage she brings to bear on difficult subjects, always on a human scale. In Priscilla Guy’s talent and inspiring career, the selection committee recognized the values of engagement, integrity and generosity associated with the Prix Étincelle.
Choreographer, commissioner and arts researcher
Under the banner of Mandoline Hybride, Priscilla Guy has made the democratization of contemporary dance the unifying thread of her artistic engagement, as a choreographer, commissioner, conference speaker or arts researcher over the past 15 years.
Priscilla Guy has established a number of stunning initiatives over the years. Starting in 2010, the in situ work Les installations mouvantes (winner of LOJIQ’s 2012 Prix Culture presented at the National Assembly) was performed on more than 200 occasions over a period of 10 years, in places as varied as cafés, a spa, a church, libraries, alley ways, a backyard, parks, terraces, student cafeterias, and even an erotica bookstore. To mark the company’s five-year anniversary, the project La maison, de la cave au grenier invited audiences on a choreographic journey through a 4½ apartment, where dance sprung from the washroom, from a wooden chest, from cupboards or from the balcony; where tapas was served between each performance, and where audiences rediscovered the domestic space from a dance perspective.
Since 2012, with Regards Hybrides, dance has been deployed, using image technologies, through projections in performance halls, outdoors or on the Web. Priscilla Guy has developed a full slate of innovative tools and strategies to foster ties between university and artistic communities through convivial events, and to attract new audiences to dance through the use of the image in movement. In 2018, Mandoline Hybride was established in a small Gaspesian village where Priscilla acts as director of Salon58, a coveted residency space for the artistic community, and of FURIES, a contemporary dance festival on a human scale presented mainly in everyday spaces in the village. These two core initiatives are part of a sustained commitment to the development of dance outside of urban centres, and they have seen more than 150 dance professionals flock to the Gaspé in recent years.
As a member of various boards of directors, Priscilla regularly sits on sectoral workforce committees, juries and issue tables, and she participates in collective initiatives. She currently co-chairs the board of directors of Studio 303. Priscilla Guy holds a doctorate in dance cinema and feminist studies from the Université de Lille in France.