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JoDee
JoDee Allen (Choreographer/Dancer/Co-Artistic Director) is a founding member of Solid State, collaborating creating and interpreting with the company since it's beginning in 2000. She was accepted into the exclusive Red Bull Beat Riders in 2004 to train with experts in urban dance such as Ken Swift, Brian Green, Don Cambellock etc... In 2001 JoDee with her crew Dysfunkshn, won the Ultimate B-boy/B-girl Award from the Canadian Floor Masters for 'repping' at international Break Events such as Pro-Ams, Miami, B-boy Summit and Freestyle Sessions, Los Angeles. For three years consecutively JoDee and Helen Simard organized a Break event as part of Underpressure, an annual outdoor celebration of Hip Hop including MCing, Grafitti, Skateboarding and Break held in their adopted hometown, Montreal.
Helen
Helen Simard (Choreographer/Dancer/Co-Artistic Director) has been breakin’ since 1998. As a founding member of 'DysFunkShn' crew, she competed in breakdance events across Canada, as well as in Miami, Los Angeles, San Diego, and New York. Helen received a BFA in Contemporary Dance from Concordia University in 2000. She has worked as an interpreter for Cirque du Soleil, Wants and Needs, MMHOP, Lauren Degilio, and Tusket Dance, and as a rehearsal director for several independent theatre and dance companies. Aside from her life as a bgirl, Helen draws her artistic inspiration from clowning, burlesque, butoh, zombie movies, her son, her dog, and the general absurdity of life; she has presented her work at Espace Tangente, Studio 303, La Sala Rosa (Montreal), Dancemaker’s (Toronto), the Dance and Song Festival (Kingston), and the Gender Bent Cabaret (Winnipeg).
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"JoDee Allen and Helen Simard are vocal and articulate about (their) cross-referencing, and what they do creatively evades the commercial exploitation that is often found in the popular growth of urban dance."
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