Isabelle Poirier danced with the Compagnie Marie Chouinard for eight years before becoming a rehearsal director and assistant artistic director in 2006. She has participated in several international touring productions, including L’Après-midi d’un faune, Le Sacre du printemps, L’Amande et le diamant, Les 24 Préludes de Chopin, Le Cri du monde, Chorale, and the retrospective Les Solos 1978-1998. She currently works as a freelance rehearsal director and performer, and restages works for the company for various companies and schools. Since the beginning of her career, Isabelle has danced for several independent choreographers. She won the Linda Rabin Award in 2003 for her exemplary career.
In 2015, she performed the solo Cartes postales de Chimère by choreographer Louise Bédard and, in 2016, Les choses dernières by Lucie Grégoire. Both works were created more than 20 years ago and have been passed on to her. She then participated in writing the choreographic boxes for these same works for the Jean-Pierre Perreault Foundation.
A graduate of the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal with a major in art history from the Université de Montréal, she now teaches dance at Concordia University and is artistic advisor for Danièle Desnoyers and Rhodnie Désir, graduates of the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. She is the interim artistic and training director and dance artist for Mouvement de passage. She conducts dance and music visits in long-term care facilities to meet with people who have lost their independence and/or are living with neurocognitive disorders, and teaches workshops on nonverbal communication for caregivers and patient attendants: “Être proche avant tout” (Being close above all else).
Photo: Claude Lemay
