At the peak of the summer season, Montreal’s renowned Coleman Lemieux Dance Company descends upon a quiet village in Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park with an artistic team of Canada’s finest solo dance artists to create a site specific work. Filmmaker Anne Troake (Pretty Big Dig, My Ancestors Were Rogues and Murderers) turns the camera on the cultural exchange between townspeople and art stars and captures the moment of creation along with the spectacular work itself.

The following article about The Gros Morne Project appeared in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on July 14, 2006. Translation to English thanks to Gordon Monahan. The complete original review, in German, is available as a PDF file.

Mophead Peter Discovers America

(Struwwelpeter Entdeckt Amerika - Struwwelpeter is a 19th century tale intended to discipline German kids)

The island of Newfoundland, which joined Canada in 1949, is a magical world for nature lovers, adventurers, artists, and of late, also for tourists. As large as the old Federal Republic of West Germany, it is a dreamland of forests, fjords, sea and moor. Pure landscape, empty of people, and awe-inspiring. Surprisingly, in the middle of this God-given seclusion, a multifaceted theatre life is taking place - though not in the secluded villages which haven't yet built up an amateur theatre with tender-loving care. Enthusiasm for art can sometimes be greater than the art itself, but there is something heart warming to see the pride and admiration with which local residents idolize their theatre troop. Maybe it's because of the long cold winters, and the darkness - there is a similar phenomenon in Finland - in any case, a very alert and curious audience has accumulated here.

Gros Morne was set aside in 1973 to preserve an important part of the natural and cultural heritage of Canada. The park represents Newfoundland's western highlands and Gulf of St. Lawrence lowlands - a landscape of mountains, fjord valleys, deep glacial lakes, coastal bogs, and wave-carved cliffs.
Gros Morne has been called the "Galapagos of Geology". Within this 700 square mile park there are classic examples of monumental earth-building and modifying forces. Here you can learn about an ancient ocean and the collision of continents, you can visit arctic-alpine barrens populated by woodland caribou and arctic hares, or you can explore the coast's 4,500 year history.

Carol Prieur started her career with Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers. She has worked with various Canadian choreographers and has participated in the touring production of Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault’s Joe. 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, two solos have been created for her: Humanitas and Étude Poignante.

The work of Edward Poitras has been included in many important group exhibitions (Canadian Biennial of Contemporary Art, Canadian Pavilion at Expo '86) and almost every major contemporary Native art exhibit of the last 20 years. In 1995, he represented Canada (the first Aboriginal artist to do so) at the prestigious Venice Biennale.

The 48-year-old, Regina-born Poitras is a treaty Indian of Métis ancestry and a member of the Gordon First Nation. In the late 1970s, he studied at the Indian Cultural College in Saskatoon and in the Native Arts and Communication Department of Manitou College in La Macaza, Quebec. In 1982, Poitras' pieces were included in the MacKenzie Art Gallery's “New Work by a New Generation,” one of the first exhibitions in Canada to recognize contemporary Native artists across North America.

Vandal débute sa carrière comme designer de mode. Au cours des dernières années, elle se distingue dans la création de costumes de danse. Elle réalise la conception de costumes de plus d’une centaine de spectacles. Ses créations manisfestent d’une grande originalité, d’un esthétisme recherché.

Elle œuvre pour de nombreux chorégraphes et compagnies de danse du Canada et des États-Unis : l’American Repertory Ballet, Le Ballet National du Canada, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, O Vertigo, la cie Marie Chouinard, le Washington Ballet, Dominique Dumais, Kevin O’Day et José Navas.

Gordon Monahan is an internationally recognized sound artist who is equally at home creating pieces for the piano or loud speakers, as he is making videos, kinetic sculpture or even computer controlled sound environments. His work encompasses many forms from concert music to the avant-garde, including multimedia installations and sound art. As both a composer and a sound artist, he juxtaposes quantitative and qualitative aspects of natural acoustic phenomena with elements from media technology, the environment, architecture, popular culture and live performance. Since the beginning of the 1970s, Gordon Monahan has presented the numerous facets of his work around the world in solo or in collaboration.

Margie Gillis is an internationally acclaimed solo dance artist. She has been performing her solo dance concerts across Canada and internationally for two decades. As choreographer and performer of over 70 solo dance works, she has earned rave reviews throughout the world for her personal, emotional and dramatic portrayals of human hopes, fears, joys and anguish. In 1979 she introduced modern dance to China, being the first performer, teacher and lecturer in the art since the Revolution. Her extensive touring has taken her throughout India, Europe, the Middle East and South and North America. She holds the distinction of being named Cultural Ambassador for both Canada and Québec. In January 1988 Ms. Gillis was appointed to the Order of Canada for her "outstanding abilities as a solo performer and choreographer" (the first modern dancer to receive this award).

David Earle has created a large repertoire of passionate dance works for which he has been awarded the Order of Canada. His Sacra Conversazione to Mozart's Requiem has taken his name to every continent.

Mr. Earle began dance training at the age of five. He acted for eleven years with the Toronto Children's Players, directed by Dorothy Goulding. His modern dance training began with Yone Kvietys in Toronto and he spent two years on scholarship at the Martha Graham School in New York. He danced in New York with the Jose Limon Dance Company and assisted Robert Cohan with the newly-formed London Contemporary Dance Theatre. Returning to Toronto in 1968, Mr. Earle co-founded Toronto Dance Theatre with Patricia Beatty and Peter Randazzo. He was appointed sole Artistic Director in 1987, taking the company to its first two triumphant seasons in New York and tours in Europe and Asia.

Born in Twillingate, Newfoundland, Anne Troake works as a choreographer, filmmaker, costume and graphic designer as well as a performer in dance, theatre and comedy. In 1994 she was invited to be artistic director for Neighborhood Dance Works, and from 1994-2001 she curated and produced the Festival of New Dance. Anne's choreographic works include The Sinking: stories of cold water ('97), A day in the life of Mr. P. Nis (video, '98), The Bearded Lady (video, '99), Fever DreamsŠperfect silence of glass (2002), Bell (2004) with visual artist Peter von Tiesenhausen.