Sylvain Senez has been active on the professional Canadian dance scene for over 40 years. He danced as a soloist with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Judith Marcuse Dance Company, Coleman Lemieux Company and a principal artist at Ballet BC. Sylvain also appeared in The Strange Adventure of Myself, a full-length solo created for him by Serge Bennathan.

From 1991 to 2016 he has worked for Ballet British Columbia as a dancer, Ballet Master and Rehearsal Director where he has had the privilege of working and assisting for the remounts and creations of many internationally renowned choreographers. He was the stager for remounting Medhi Walerski’s ballets, assisting him for creations, as well as playing the role of Father Capulet in his Romeo and Juliet creation for Ballet BC. He has choreographed for the Ballet BC choreographic workshop, Dancing on the Edge and the Vancouver Opera. He is an accomplished ballet teacher and rehearsal director having worked with The State Ballet of Georgia in Tiblisi, Ballet Kelowna, Charlotte Ballet, Arts Umbrella, Harbour Dance, Danse a la carte and Modus Operandi. As a photographer specializing in dance and portraiture, he pursued this artistic interest by exploring videography, film and stage design. He worked on Rachel Meyer’s productions of Quartet, Transverse Orientation and Mama… do we die when we sleep?.

His stage design of Alexis Fletcher’s light in the rafters led him to collaborate with the stunning art work of Tiko Kerr. Sylvain is thrilled to have designed and built the sets for assemble, hoping to bring audiences into a world of magic, poetry, hope, dreams and imagination.

He and his wife Alexis Fletcher are the Artistic Directors of The Dance Deck, an annual multi disciplinary performance series that is presented in their backyard.

Victoria (V) is a Vancouver based scenographer (lighting, sound, set, and projection designer), technical director and Studio 58 graduate. Victoria is an ADC and IATSE 118 member, and a strong proponent for union membership and their justified authority. She is also a Stir recognized "Game Changer" in this year's fall arts guide.

She was born in Cheam, England, and immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, with her family as a child. She grew up in the East Van arts scene and was a member of quite a few artistic collective in her teens. Being an Anarchist and a trans woman she has deep ties to the politics inherent to creating art, especially live performance. Much of the work she features in focuses on contentious issues present today or that the ramifications of which are still felt, be that personal or global. Coming into her own as an artist and an adult in the Vancouver East side she has a specific focus on the issues that affect that area; poverty, BIPOC and LGBTQ2IA+ rights, Land back, gentrification and rise of authoritarianism in retaliation to these movements for equity.

She sees her work as focusing on the depth in shadow and its necessity to show detail in the light. Working between vibrant colours and muted tones, while using Physical structure to fully infuse her designs into the world of the piece. Using physical structures on stage with the performance creates a more literal connection to the lights, she very specifically doesn't want to just work in the grid "above" the performance, she is entangled with the performance as a whole, not just its outward final presentation. She wishes her designs to be objects wielded by and into the metaphor of the text. 

https://victoriabell-design.com

For full band info, visit their website:

https://sigurros.com

A Winged Victory For The Sullen released their album, The Undivided Five, on Ninja Tune the same year. O’Halloran’s latest solo album, Silfur, was released in June 2021.

His film career began with Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006), and since then he’s worked on multiple films and TV shows, including Like Crazy (2011) and Breathe In (2013), both directed by Drake Doremus and starring Felicity Jones. He also scored Marc Turtletaub’s Puzzle (2018), for whose closing song he collaborated with veteran Scandinavian chart-topper Ane Brun, and George Tillman Jr.’s critically acclaimed The Hate U Give (2018).

He’s the winner of a 2015 Emmy Award for his main title theme to Amazon’s comedy drama Transparent (2014–2017), and was nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a Critics Choice Award for his score to Lion (2016), written in collaboration with Volker Bertelmann (aka Hauschka).

He also collaborated with Bertelmann to score A Christmas Carol (2019) starring Guy Pearce, and The Old Guard (2020) starring Charlize Theron, and Ammonite (2020) starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan. Other collaborations include with Bryan Senti on the Sky TV series Save Me (2018) and Save Me Too (2020).

In addition, O’Halloran worked as a producer for Katy Perry’s song ‘Into Me You See’ from her 2017 album, Witness, and appears on Leonard Cohen’s 2019 posthumous album, Thanks For The Dance.

Kate Burrows has been designing and building dance costumes in Canada for over 25 years. She has had the pleasure of working with Ballet BC and many other companies and individuals across the country.

Kate has also been fortunate enough to collaborate with choreographers, dancers and designers from around the world.

This is her first collaboration with Alexis Fletcher and she is looking forward to it.

Jill Henis, originally from Vancouver, Canada (Musquem, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations} is an international teacher, dramaturge, dance artist and mentor. Her professional career, spanning over 30years, has included; classical ballet companies, contemporary companies, multi-disciplinary collaborations, collectives and independent contracts for stage and theatre. Selections: Ballet Nacional De Cuba, Havana: Evergreen City Ballet, Washington: Chrissie Parrot Dance Co., Perth and multi-year touring contract throughout South East Asia with choreographer Robert Gulliam. In 2009 Jill founded a not-for-profit dance company, mixOLOGYdancemine, and professional training initiative, The Practice. Her choreography was presented throughout Western Canada within festivals and presentation houses. Jill was awarded lead choreographer and Assistant Director for the 2010 Winter Olympic Torch Ceremony held in Saskatoon, Canada. With reverence, she closed the doors to her company in 2018.

Until 2022 Jill was a senior ballet faculty member for Vancouver's HarbourDance Centre and guest instructor for companies such as; Ballet British Columbia, Contemporary Dance Wyoming, Decidedly Jazz DanceWorks and at the renowned Henny Jurriëns Studio in Amsterdam. Currently, Jill teaches at the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University (Pittsburgh, USA) as Adiunct Professor.

Jill is deeply honoured to continue as dramaturge and rehearsal director for Vancouver's Alexis Fletcher including her team and co-artistic director of Belle Spirale Dance Projects, Sylvain Senez. "Over the last 3 years our collaborations have brought much nourishment; It is humbling to be in the midst of such beautiful creations and in the company of such profoundly skilled Artists.

jillhenisworks.com

Roughly 20 years ago Neil began his career in Montréal doing sound design and other technical work for Radio CKUT 90.3FM, as well as recording bands and performing on stage. For the last 10 years he has been working in Vancouver, primarily as a theatre technician, occasionally as a designer, also stage managing for dance. Behind the scenes he has be involved in hundreds of theatre shows, dance performances and festivals.

During these pandemic times, every show able to make it to audiences are highlights of his career.

Neil is very happy to be involved with the presentation of assemble, a production that was ready to be performed for live audiences 7 months ago but could not do so because of the pandemic. It is a privilege to be forging forward, trying to bring live events to people during these weird times.

Live audience performances are both needed as a connection to ourselves and society but are also fragile experiences right now. Thank you for coming out!

A huge thank you to our wonderful stage crew: Anna Brancato, Callum Klymchuk and Alistair Wallace.

Click here to read text heard as voiceover during the second half of the stage performance of assemble. Written and spoken by Alexis Fletcher

Below is the first poem heard, written by St John of The Cross:

To reach satisfaction in all,

desire its possession in nothing.

To come to the knowledge of all,

desire the knowledge of nothing.

To come to possess all,

desire the possession of nothing.

To arrive at being all,

desire to be nothing.

To come to the pleasure you have not,

you must go by a way in which you enjoy not.

To come to the knowledge you have not,

you must go by a way in which you know not.

To come to the possession you have not,

you must go by a way in which you possess not.

To come to be what you are not,

you must go by a way in which you are not.

When you turn toward something,

you cease to cast yourself upon the all.

For to go from the all to the all,

you must leave yourself in all.

And when you come to the possession of all,

you must possess it without wanting anything.

In this nakedness the spirit finds its rest,

for when it covets nothing,

nothing raises it up,

and nothing weighs it down,

because it is in the center of its humility.

~ St. John of the Cross

The Spanish poet and mystic St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), was kept prisoner by the religious establishment for nine months in 1577. His cell had no windows and he was unable to stand upright. He was frequently tortured. During this period St. John wrote most of the poems for which he is known. His poems often speak of love, ecstasy, passage through the dark night, and flying over city walls and mountains.

~ Excerpt from Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House, Bill Viola. ~