JoDee
JoDee Allen (Choreographer/Dancer/Co-Artistic Director) earned a BFA in Contemporary Dance at Concordia University and in 2000 she was inducted into the all female Breakdance crew, Dysfunkshn and became a founding member of Solid State Breakdance. JoDee has done hundreds of performances with the company including shows in London (England), Lausanne (Switzerland), Swansea (Wales), and across Canada. She has performed on stage with DJ Premiere, Antibalas, Common, KOS and more. In 2004, she was selected to attend the prestigious Redbull Beatriders Street Dance camp where she trained with street dance legends. Her short film credits include, choreographer/dancer,“Transfert” music by Kid Koala, directed by Guillaume Paquin. She was choreographer for the video game Boogie Superstar by EA and JoDee is the owner of Studio Sweatshop, one of the only dance studios in Montreal dedicated to Urban Dance.
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).
 
"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."

Philip Szporer
The Dance Current

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News

February 9th, 2009
The new year has been busy so far! Solid State have just returned from their first European performance of TAKE IT BACK, at the Festival Au-Déla des Préjugés in Lausanne, Switzerland. JoDee, Helen, and Christian also had the amazing experience of judging the Swiss Bboying championship alongside ledgendary Bboy Ken Swift. Pictures will be posted soon!

TAKE IT BACK will continue to tour Canada (and the world!) in 2009, so check back often to see when we will be performing in a city close to you!!!

We would like to thank the Canada Council for the Arts for supporting us through the department of Audience and Market Development, and REEBOK for supporting our ongoing activities.

January 8-18th, 2009
Solid State is performing the Next Stage festival in Toronto. Factory Theatre Mainspace, 125 Bathurst Street in Toronto

Thu Jan 8th 7:00pm
Fri Jan 9th 9:45pm
Sat Jan 10th 7:30pm
Sun Jan 11th 7:30pm
Tue Jan 13th 9:00pm
Thu Jan 15th 9:15pm
Fri Jan 16th 5:15pm
Sat Jan 17th 5:00pm
Sun Jan 18th 3:15pm
Click for ticket info

August 29th, 2008
After an amazing cross Canadian tour, we are happy to finally be home for some well deserved time off! But don't worry, there is, as they say, no rest for the wicked, and we can't sit still for long. Solid State will soon be back on the road with more performances of Take It Back.

We are also thrilled that we will be returning to Winnipeg in the summer of 2009 to create a new show in collaboration with a youth group from the ArtCity community centre.

Finally, Transfer, a short film which we worked on this year with Director Guillaume Paquin, will soon be airing on Bravo television. If you don't have cable, you can always catch it at the Festival de Nouveau Cinema in Montreal (Oct 2008).

June 1, 2008
Solid State kicks of the Canadian tour of Take It Back at the end of June, with performances in St-John's, Vancouver, Toronto, and Winnipeg! If we are passing through your city, try to catch us on one of the following dates:

Festival of New Dance in St-John's
Location TBA
Boxoffice (709) 753-4531
June 22nd 10:00pm

Dancing on the Edge Festival in Vancouver
@ the Firehall Arts Centre
280 East Cordova Street
July 3rd & 4th time TBA

Toronto Fringe
@ the George Ignatieff Theatre
15 Devonshire Place
Tickets $10 at the door
Boxoffice 416.966.1062
online http://www.fringetoronto.com
Sun July 6th 7:00pm
Mon July 7th 5:00pm
Thurs July 10th 7:30pm
Fri July 11th 12:30pm
Sat July 12th 11:00pm
Sun Jully 13th 4:30pm

Winnipeg Fringe
@ the MTC Warehouse
140 Rupert Ave
Tickets $9 at the door
online http://www.winnipegfringe.com
Fri July 18th 12:00pm
Sat July 19th 7:45pm
Sun July 20th 8:45pm
Mon July 21st 12:30pm
Tues July 22nd 10:00pm
Thurs July 24th 11:30pm
Fri July 25th 12:30pm