June 16 to 20, 2025
9:30 am to 12:30 pm (Mon-Fri)
Full week: $95 (taxes included)
Drop-in: $28 (available one month prior)
Language of instruction: English
Questions can be asked in English and French.
This workshop is mask-friendly to accommodate teachers and participants with accessibility needs. Learn more about our Accessibility & Masking policy.
CATEGORY
OBJECTIVE
This workshop aims to facilitate research into bioluminescence and the spectrum of possibilities to generate your own light. Some living organisms produce light to communicate, attract, or protect themselves. The goal is to embody this biological phenomenon through small scenographic and sculptural installations to honour this intimate radiance. This “light” can manifest in the affect of “joyful or light,” but it can also take root in mourning, loss, acts of resistance, the quest for meaning, and more. I suggest listening to the intimate, deep, and luminous laughter in the darkness of the current global climate that weighs heavily on bodies and hearts.
CONTENT
Through a playful and sensory approach, we will collectively imagine interactions between the moving body, fabrics, objects, and luminous devices as extensions of an intimacy that can be shared. There will be plenty of individual work, but also exchanges and exercises in small groups.
We will primarily explore improvisation based on scores, tasks, sensory games, and structured cognitive activities. Writing exercises and moments of reflection/discussion will also be suggested. We will alternate between somatic and athletic body trajectories to generate energy together, according to each person’s limits, desires, and needs.
| Workshop Pace | Workshop Features |
| Adaptable to the group’s needs | Intense emotional work Visual support (i.e., documentation, texts…) Short verbal applications Exercises are adaptable Subgroups exercises Physical contact between participants Cardio exercises High music or sound level |
BIOGRAPHY
For 20 years, Louise Michel has worked for various companies and independent artists. After living in Belgium for 5 years, she created “STROKE,” aka “SHUDDER,” in collaboration with Ben Fury (Brussels 2016). She created “Bright Worms” (Théâtre La Chapelle April 2021 and Offta 2023), a research project on bioluminescence with sound artist Magali Babin. She is initiating a new project called “GEYSERS,” aiming to deconstruct the mechanisms of a phallocentric vision of sexuality conditioned and dominated by penetration and patriarchy. Her multidisciplinary approach blends somatic and athletic techniques, installations, DIY projects, and modern intersectional feminist understandings of gender. Since 2021, she has been working concurrently in the plant industry at the Jean-Talon Market. With her hands in the soil, this sphere proves essential for maintaining a good mental balance and a necessary space for reflection in her artistic practice. She regularly teaches both here and abroad.