Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie (CLC) is a professional dance organization based in Montreal that creates, produces and presents works of art on a local, national and international scale. Company works include those choreographed by Artistic Directors Laurence Lemieux and Bill Coleman, as well as commissions and collaborations with choreographers, composers, visual artists and communities. CLC was incorporated in 2000 in order to allow Artistic Directors Laurence Lemieux and Bill Coleman to fully develop and pursue their artistic vision.

Bill Coleman est né à Berwick (N.-É.), en 1961. Il a étudié à l’école de danse-théâtre Doreen Bird de Londres et a amorcé sa carrière professionnelle, en 1979, auprès de Sir Anton Dolin, de Dublin City Ballet. Depuis, il a créé plus de cinquante oeuvres et dansé entre autres avec les compagnies Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane & Co., Tere O’Connor Dance, Wiesbaden Ballet, Toronto Dance Theatre, Martha Graham Dance Company et William Douglas Danse, et les danseurs Laurence Lemieux et Jean-Pierre Perreault.

Born in Quebec City, Laurence Lemieux received her training at the School of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal, and at the School of the Toronto Dance Theatre.

In 1986 she joined the Toronto Dance Theatre and danced in the works of David Earle, Peter Randazzo, Patricia Beatty, and Christopher House. During her years at Toronto Dance Theatre (1986-1994), while teaching in the School's professional program, Lemieux choreographed and presented her own work. Crosswalk, a haunting minimalist solo she performed at the Canada Dance Festival in 1994, typified what has become her choreographic trademark: a gentle nostalgia offering subtle glimpses into her past.

Amber Silence, La Mer, Les Limbes, Déserteurs and Nuit de la St- Jean, all delve into the realm of memory and deliver a mysterious atmosphere and evocative mixture of characters.

In 1997, she choreographed Hiver Dernier for Toronto Dance Theatre, and created a group work as part of a choreographic lab with Peter Boneham for Toronto’s Dancemakers. Laurence has also danced for: James Kudelka, Margie Gillis, Tere O’Connor, William Douglas, Benoit Lachambre, Bill Coleman, and Jean-Pierre Perreault.

In 1998, she performed Cryptoversa, a solo created by Christopher House, at the 1998 Dancers for Life event, for which she won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Dance Performance. In January 2001 Over Lockerbie, a solo commissioned by dancer/choreographer Michael Trent, premiered at Artworld Theatre in Toronto, and her dance work Novembre premiered in New York City, in September 2001. Her latest work, Varenka, Varenka! premiered in Montreal in January 2003.

Photos of Laurence Lemieux

Née à Québec en 1964, Laurence Lemieux étudie la danse à l’école des Grands ballets canadiens et à l’école du Toronto Dance Theatre. En 1986, elle joint officiellement les rangs du Toronto Dance Theatre. Au sein de cette réputée compagnie torontoise, elle danse avec brio le répertoire de David Earle, Peter Randazzo, Patricia Beatty et de Christopher House tant sur la scène nationale qu’internationale. En 1998, le Toronto Theatre Alliance lui décerne le prix Dora Mavor Moore pour l’excellence de son interprétation de l’œuvre de Christopher House intitulée Cryptoversa.

Born in Berwick, Nova Scotia in 1961, Bill Coleman studied dance at the Doreen Bird School of Theatre Dance in London, England. His professional career started in 1979 with Sir Anton Dolin of the Dublin City Ballet. Since then, he has created over 50 works and performed with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane & Co., Tere O’Connor Dance, Wiesbaden Ballet, Toronto Dance Theatre, The Martha Graham Dance Company, William Douglas Danse, Laurence Lemieux, Jean-Pierre Perreault and others.

In New York in 1988, Mr. Coleman received the Jerome Foundation’s First Light Award for Baryshnikov: The Other Story. His works include: Zorro (nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award); Shane; The Iowa Sheep Buggery Trials; Glory Days; Monsters Midway ("a sideshow to inspire laughter and tears ... a drug-induced dream choreographed by Fellini," according to the Toronto Star) and Heartland, a solo which inspired the filmmaker Laura Taler to create a documentary on Coleman’s work and life. Heartland, the film, was awarded Best Dance Film at the Toronto Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film, and Best Experimental Film at Toronto’s HOT DOCS. It airs regularly on BRAVO.