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Breakdancing is an innovative dance form, which has become well known throughout the world, and like other Hip Hop arts, it is considered a tool of empowerment for those who practice it. However, since it began, there have only been a handful of women involved in Breakdancing. The Solid State Breakdance Company traversed new ground by participating in an art form that was traditionally restricted to men. Solid State began as a collective with the initial goal of helping Montreal B-girls (Breakdancers) share skills, knowledge and provide support to each other. Today, Solid State is an accomplished professional dance company with a mandate to challenge audience perceptions of urban dance forms. We create work that explores themes present in street dance culture, mixing B-girling with contemporary dance, to give rise to a new style best described as Urban Dance Theatre. Since 2000, Solid State has created five shows, and performed over 300 times, in dance festivals, schools, and theatres across Canada and recently in the Purcell Room of the South Bank Centre in London, England as part of the B. Supreme festival. Solid State's philosophy is to focus on the uniqueness of each dancer's personal narrative, while at the same time maintaining a strong link to group processes, collaboration and harmonization.
Collaborators
Since 2000, dozens of talented dancers have been involved in Solid State's projects. Here is a list of our current collaborators.
Joe Danny Aurelien (B-boy Dingo) - Dancer (Take It Back, Breakdance for Solo Cello)
Self-taught in b-boying since 1996, Joe Danny ‘Dingo’ Aurélien is a founding member of Red Mask Crew, and has participated in and won numerous competitions, including War is War for three years running. Dingo was invited for the second time, in 2006, to King of the Ring (solo competition featuring north America’s 32 top bboys). In 2002, Joe Danny decided to broaden his knowledge & movement vocabulary by taking part in Rubberbandance Group’s repertoire creation. This introduction to contemporary dance with Victor Quijada has lead him to work with choreographers, Nadine Thouin (Go On Productions), Jean Léger (Opéra de Montréal), JoDee Allen & Helen Simard (Solid State Breakdance) and has also allowed him to direct rehearsals for Jawbreaker, a projects among others, presented for the first time in 2007 at Studio 303.
Jennifer Casimir (B-girl Bounce) -Dancer (Showdown, It's Not You...It's Me..., Breakdance for Solo Cello)
Jennifer Casimir aka bgirl bounce has travelled extensively performing, battling and giving workshops around Canada, US and Europe over the last 9 years. In 2007 she was one of 30 dancers selected worldwide for the prestigious Red Bull Beatriders training camp in Texas. She presently works as dancer for Solid State, Flamenco ConFusion (Scotland) and Full Circle (NYC). She is committed to respecting the foundations of her art form but also enjoys pushing the boundaries of how breaking is normally perceived by collaborating in non traditional projects.
Gregory Selinger (Bboy Krypto) - Dancer (Breakdance for Solo Cello)
Gregory has been bboying (breakdancing) for over 10 years. His astonishing physical feats, coupled with a unique, personal style, which blends classic bboy moves with eclectic forms of dance such as contemporary, house, and circus acrobatics, help to push the ever-expanding limits of his artform. Krypto has won numerous bboy competitions, and has performed with many musical acts such as The Roots, K-Os, April Wine, and The Flaming Lips. Krypto has also been recently inaugurated into the contemporary dance scene, exploring the infinite possibilities which breakdance vocabulary can express with companies and choreographers such as: Lux Aeterna (Jacob ‘Kujo’ Lyons, USA), Ultima Vez (Belgium), Cirque du Soleil, Annabelle Savard, and Dynamix Soles. Les Mains Libre – Music (Take It Back, Breakdance for Solo Cello) Ted Yates and Roger White are two multi instrumentalists who lock themselves in a room with a Rolland 909, an Akai MPC 2000, a Yamaha DX7, a couple Analog Synths, and Guitars, and make music in ProTools. Between the two of them they have played hundreds of shows in different bands in front of lots of people. Les Mains Libre have created music for Solid State since 2006. Robin Dutt – Lighting Design and Stage Manager (It's Not You...It's Me..., Take It Back, Breakdance for Solo Cello) After receiving his BFA in theatre production from Ryerson University Robin has worked in various technical capacities for "Progress Avenue" Atlas Moving Productions, Blue Ceiling Productions, "Tabled Manners" Kaeja d'Dance Spring Tour, "Company of Two" Corpus Production, "SooRyu - Korean Dance Festival" kDance , Squiggfest , Toronto Underground and Solid State. Guy Robert Jean (B-boy Tronix) - Understudy (Take It Back) Guy's love for dance started in 1995, when he was introduced to bboying (breakdance). In 1999 he joined the Hip hop dance group U.D.S.(Urban dance society) with Marvin Baptiste. In 2001 and 2003 worked in Mexico on several dance productions, such as The Lion King, Aladin and Chicago. Guy traveled to New York in 2005 and trained at the Broadway Dance Center with urban dance legends Brian Green and Jermaine Brown. Since then, he has worked with for several Montreal based choreographers and dance companies, including Jack-O-lution, Genevieve Boulet, and Destins Croisées.
Milan Panet-Gigon (Bboy Milz) - Understudy (Take It Back)
Milan has been breakin’ for 3 years, and has danced for several Montreal dance companies, including GGaGne, and Solid State. This fall he will continue to further his training by studying Contemporary dance at Concordia University. |
"With their joyous, funny, physically outstanding and very sexy production, any Montrealer would be proud to have Solid State be ambassadors for our city’s cultural community."
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