Angelique Willkie

Biography

A multidisciplinary artist, Angélique Willkiebegan her dance training after completing a Master’s degree in Economics atMcGill University. A graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, shesubsequently pursued a career in Europe where, over 25 years, she performedwith dance companies and independent projects throughout Europe, most notablyAlain Platel/Les Ballets C. de la B., Jan Lauwers/Needcompany, Sidi LarbiCherkaoui, Helena Waldmann and as a singer with the Belgian world-music groupZap Mama, bands Arno, dEUS, 7Dub, DAAU, Ez3kiel, and Zita Swoon Group, with jazzvocalist David Linx and contemporary composers Walter Hus, Kaat De Windt andFabrizio Cassol.

Performer, singer, dramaturge andpedagogue, Angélique has been among the more sought-after contemporarytechnique teachers on the European professional circuit, teaching companies,schools and festivals including ImpulsTanz (Vienna), Henny Jurriens Stichting(Amsterdam), SEAD (Salzburg), Wim Vandekeybus/Ultima Vez (Brussels),Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique (Montreal) among others. She spent 8 years atÉcole Supérieure des Arts du Cirque (ESAC) in Brussels as a teacher anddramaturgical advisor to the students as well as Pedagogical Coordinator of theschool under Gérard Fasoli, current director of the Centre national des arts ducirque (CNAC) in France.

Her dramaturgical work has includedprojects in dance-, music- and circus-theatre with artists as varied as Belgiantheatre director/choreographer Isabella Soupart, French trapezist Mélissa VonVépy and Dutch choreographers Arno Schuitemaker and Pia Meuthen/PanamaPictures. An ongoing collaboration of over 10 years, Angélique and Pia activelyexplore approaches to incorporating circus disciplines into dance-theatreproductions, developing a hybrid aesthetic and movement language that is fullyanchored in both art forms.

Since resettling in Montreal in 2014,Angélique has continued to be active in Montreal’s professional community asteacher, creator and dramaturge. Her current research interests have three mainaxes: approaches to interdisciplinary artistic creation (i.e. that sits“between” disciplinary boundaries); European circus aesthetics and dramaturgy;and the notion of a personal dramaturgy, inspired by the trajectories of performerJosephine Baker and French transgender circus artist Phia Ménard. An underlyinginterest in her work remains the use of the voice as a creative tool andperformance instrument.