ALEXANDRA ‘SPICEY’ LANDÉ | In-Ward
Vibrating to the sounds of Hip Hop, Alexandra ‘Spicey’ Landé’s love for street dance began at a very young age. For the past ten years, Hip Hop culture has been at the forefront of her work. Spicey has been teaching Hip Hop dance for almost 20 years in some of the most reputable establishments of Quebec. She is one of the most respected street dance choreographers in Canada and is a specialist in her domain.
Her first piece Retrospek, co-produced by the M.A.I. (Montréal, arts interculturels), was well received by the public and her peers. In 2008 she participated in Vue sur la Relève and was the recipient of Les Entrées en scène Lotto Québec from Bourse Rideau allowing her to go on a tour across Montreal and Ottawa. In 2009, she created Renézance for Tangente, her second full-length piece presented a few times in Montreal. Spicey also worked on the Michael Jackson Immortal tour of Cirque du Soleil in 2011 as a street dance instructor and consultant. That same year she took part of Nico Archambault’s Ils Dansent on Radio Canada as a teacher and choreographer. 2015 marks her return to the small screen as a judge for Eurovision Young Dancer in Czech Republic on Czech TV. Spicey has long been concerned with creating a platform for Montreal street dancers to showcase their talent to the greater international dance community. To help with her mission she founded Bust A Move competition presented at la Tohu every year in Montreal. Bust A Move Festival has become a leader in its genre in Canada. In 2015, the last edition of BAM, the event celebrated it’s 10th year anniversary with five days of activities, attracting more than twenty-five hundred street dance frenzies with over three hundred participants.
In 2015, Spicey founded Ebnflōh Dance Company, and has built a language that reflects her vision of dance and surrounds herself with peers who inspire her. The company’s first creation, Complexe R, inspired by our human obsessions, is premiered at the MAI in November 2015. This piece was presented in Montreal, Toronto, Whitehorse, New York and Amsterdam and will continue to tour next season (Montréal Arts Council Tour 2017-2018, Dance Made in Canada August 2017, etc.). With In-Ward, the company’s next creation, Spicey intends to explore our feelings towards isolation and the impact it has on a group or an individual. This past June 2017, she participated in the 11th edition of Transformation Danse in Montreal where she offered a creative laboratory spread over two weeks, testifying the recognition of her work as a choreographer. While pursuing her own artistic aspirations, she hopes to contribute to the integration of Hip-hop dance in the performing arts scene of Montreal, Quebec and Canada.
Credits
Choreographer: Alexandra ‘Spicey’ Landé
With the collaboration of dancers: Ja James Britton Johnson, Christina Paquette, Sandy Béland, Nindy Banks, Lakesshia Pierre-Colon, Jonathan Mokuma
Sound Design: Shash’U – Silence D’Or & Jai Nitai Lotus
Lighting design and technical director: Benoit Larivière (à dét)
Outside eyes: Anne Plamondon