Late Bloomer: Final Tuning Dance Performance (2 pm)

Don't miss this unique opportunity to see a showcase of Banff Centre's Final Tuning 2025 Dance Residency.

This performance will be a showcase of current work-in-progress.

Late Bloomer is a contemporary dance work by by Hélène Simoneau Danse that delves into the complexities of power, belonging, and human connection. How are we showing up for each other, how are we failing each other? What is the responsibility of the bystander? How is belonging connected to survival? Through intricate choreography and atmospheric design, Late Bloomer explores the human need for connection and the profound consequences of being cast aside.

In collaboration with award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón, dramaturg Melanie George, costume designer Quinn Czejkowski, and lighting designer David Ferri, Simoneau and her ensemble of dancers explore the subtle forces that shape group dynamics.

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Hélène Simoneau Danse

Through choreographic design, Hélène Simoneau Danse (HSD) creates space for nuanced, intimate experiences that explore the vast spectrum of human dynamics. Committed to the artistic voice of its founder Hélène Simoneau, the company has performed nationally and internationally including premiering “Delicate Power” at the American Dance Festival. This piece was commissioned by the ADF and created through Simoneau’s Guggenheim Fellowship and as a resident choreographer at New York City Center. Additionally, HSD has been presented at the Festival des Arts de St-Sauveur (QC), Tangente (Montréal), The Aoyama Round Theatre (Tokyo), Guggenheim Museum (NYC), Joyce SoHo (NYC), Bates Dance Festival (ME), Shanghai Dance Festival, Athens International Dance Festival, Danza Urbana (Bologna), VivaDanca Festival Internacional (Sao Paulo), Regensburger Tanzstage Festival, and PACT-Zollverein (Essen), to name a few. The company has enjoyed residencies at Jacob’s Pillow (MA), the Baryshnikov Arts Center (NYC), NCCAkron, NYU/ Tisch, the NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts, The Yard (MA), and at the American Dance Festival. Simoneau has been described as “a Choreographer-on-the-rise” with a style that is both “athletic and smooth” — Dance Magazine.

Hélène Simoneau Biography

Hélène Simoneau is a choreographer exploring themes of intimacy, agency, identity, sexuality, and power. In the last few years, she has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Choreography Fellowship at New York City Center, and most recently, she was awarded a Pillow Lab residency at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, MA. She was also a resident artist at Baryshnikov Arts Center, NYU/Tisch, NCCAkron, and a fellow of The NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts, Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab, the Bogliasco Foundation, and the Swiss International Coaching Project for Choreographers (SiWiC) in Zurich. Simoneau was awarded first place for Choreography at the 13th Internationales Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, for her solo “the gentleness was in her hands.” Her choreography has been commissioned by Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Juilliard School, Charlotte Ballet, PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, Vitacca Ballet, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, BalletX, the Ailey School, Dimensions Dance Theatre, and the American Dance Festival. Originally from Eastern Québec, Simoneau now divides her time between Montréal and NYC.