Andréane Leclerc

BIOGRAPHY
As a performer, choreographer and teacher, Andréane Leclerc is interested in human encounters that guide her towards inter/transdisciplinary and interartistic processes. Trained as a contortionist (École nationale de cirque de Montréal, 2001), she now draws on her 20 years of circus experience to reflect on contortion as a philosophical posture and develop her own stage language. Her approach, centred on listening, relational ecology and perceptive attention, is at the heart of new bodily practices emerging from the fields of somatics and performance.

In 2013, she completed a master's degree on the dramaturgy of the circus body at UQAM's École supérieure de théâtre. That same year, she co-founded the company Nadère arts vivants (NAV) to pursue her search for a body-matter that evolves through sensation rather than sensationalism. She created the conceptual pieces Di(x)parue 2009; Bath House 2013; Mange-Moi 2013; Cherepaka 2014; The Whore of Babylon Featuring The Tiger Lillies 2015; Sang Bleu 2018; À l'Est de Nod 2022, and Xx en cours de création (2026). Her work has been presented in Tokyo, Florence, Cairo, Tenerife, Sao Paolo, Guadalajara, Chicago, Rouyn-Noranda and Montréal, on contemporary stages as well as in museums and galleries.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT
From the age of 15, I worked in various circuses around the world. I lived a nomadic life, performing contortion acts. My body was an object of entertainment, a product of consumption and sexual fantasy. I needed to find a way out of the control that the entertainment system had over me, over my body. In 2008, I began post-graduate studies in theatre at UQAM, while independantly training in contemporary dance and performance. I'm interested in deconstructing spectacular language to make the body a material for sensitive stage writing and exploring the concept of limits as a structure. Today I'm developing a somatic practice based on contortion, which forms the basis of my scenic language.

Contortion is an accessible physical technique that operates according to laws linked to the phenomenon of amplitude. It sharpens the hyper-awareness of bodily sensations and activates a sensitive and intimate dialogue between body and self, leading to the (re)discovery of limits as allies. For me, contortion is a way of listening and relating, where everything becomes a process, a movement, a force for creation and regeneration. How does contortion inform non-contortionist bodies? marks the starting point of a transdisciplinary artistic approach that anchors lived experience, both individual and collective, at the heart of the processes. Contortion stimulates the awakening of the senses, of a sense, of meaning, and provides access to both heterotopic spaces and inner territories made up of stories and new narratives. I am seeking to transmit these voices and imaginary emerging from the bodies, to the public. To do so, I develop choreographic scores that culminate in interdisciplinary works.

Interested in relational ecologies, these creation-researches engage local artistic communities and collaborate with artists from all disciplines, generations, cultures and genres to bring these evolving artistic piece to life. The aim is to give voice to these bodies and open up multiple interpretations of the performative works. Engaging together with local performers is an ecological commitment, a desire to create lasting encounters, and hold reciprocity, cooperation and localism values.