Call for Local Performers: À l’Est de Nod
SFU School for the Contemporary Arts + PuSh International Performing Arts Festival are seeking local performers for À l’Est de Nod, a choreographic installation by Andréane Leclerc / Nadère arts vivants (Montreal, QC), which will be a part of the 2027 PuSh Festival, co-presented by the SCA, with Festival Supporter, SFU Live.
This call is open to SCA alumni or current SCA graduate students who have an established daily movement practice and an affinity for durational, experiential, and improvisational work. The project seeks to bring together artists across a range of ages, artistic practices, movement backgrounds and abilities.
Rehearsals: January 5 – 21, 2027
Performances: January 22 – 24, 2027
SFU School for the Contemporary Arts (149 W. Hastings St., Vancouver)
$1,400/week for 3 weeks + GST if applicable
Apply by October 23, 2026, via this online form: APPLY HERE.
LA FORÊT, PART 1 OF À L’EST DE NOD
À l'Est de Nod is a choreographic installation in which the audience wanders at its own pace through three spaces: The Forest, The Wanderer and The Abyss. The work proposes an experiential reflection on the physical and psychic limits, both intimate and political, that we share.
The present call for participation concerns only the performance of La forêt.
Andréane Leclerc's transdisciplinary approach is inspired by the contortion she has practiced for over twenty years. La forêt is a singular choreographic score, with no predetermined beginning or end, which evolves to the rhythm of the performers. With the group, the choreographer explores body-natures that are more instinctive and cosmic than social, performative and disciplinary.
The performances will last for a continuous period of 4 hours.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
We seek to create a forest that is strong in biodiversity. By biodiversity we mean: an intergenerational, interdisciplinary group with diverse physical and cognitive abilities.
We are interested in the different relationships that the performers have with their own lived bodies: how each one inhabits their body and expresses through it.
The creative space sought by the choreographer is one of listening, openness and transformation: three key principles of her approach to contortion for non-contortionist bodies. The physical work proposed is thus woven in the attention and consideration of what binds us; of what ties us together, in the hope that our intimate and collective stories will be revealed.
The performers we are looking for must have an artistic approach AND a daily physical practice, no matter if they are at the beginning or at the end of their career, self-taught, or on the fringe. More concretely, we are looking for:
- artists coming from various disciplinary fields;
- researchers, practitioners and/or theorists of the body, performance art, living arts, etc.;
- authors or designers;
- students from art schools.
INCLUSIVENESS, ACCESSIBILITY AND INTENSIVENESS OF WORK
This is durational work that requires performers who are able to practice and perform for up to 4 hours at a time. Each participant must be autonomous and committed to maintaining a climate of kindness towards self and others. Absolute respect for one's own physical and mental limitations is required. People of all backgrounds, including people with disabilities and/or non-dancers, who are interested in working with this intensity, are strongly encouraged to apply. No dance training or professionalization of any kind is required.
CONTRACT INFORMATION
Location: SFU School for the Contemporary Arts (149 W. Hastings St., Vancouver)
Application: Complete this Application Form (Call for Performers: À l’Est de Nod) before October 23, 2026.
Contract Dates
- Rehearsal days will be 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM, with one (1) hour lunch break
- Rehearsal Week #1: January 5 – 9 (January 10 & 11 off)
- Rehearsal Week #2: January 12 – 16 (January 15 & 16 off)
Exact times to be finalized prior to the engagement
Performance Week
- Tuesday, January 19, 2027: 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM – Tech Day (TBC)
- Wednesday, January 20, 2027: 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM – Dress Rehearsal
- Thursday, January 21, 2027: 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM – Dress Rehearsal
- Friday, January 22, 2027: 3:00 PM – 10:00 PM – Performance #1
- Saturday, January 23, 2027: 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM – Performance #2
- Sunday, January 24, 2027: 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM – Performance #3
Participants must be available for the entire process and presentations, including holds.
Remuneration
Artists will be paid a flat fee of $1,400, plus GST if applicable, per week from January 4 – January 24, 2027, for a total of three (3) weeks of work.
ARTIST INFORMATION
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.
MEDIA
Andreane’s approach to contortion
Festival PuSh: PUSHPLAY PODCAST | 2025 (37 min)
LISTEN HERE
La Grainerie, Biennale d'Arts vivants de Toulouse | 2022
Artists testimonials (14 min)
WATCH HERE
Festival International de danse de Jalisco | 2021
"La forêt," temps 1 d'À l'Est de Nod (4 min)
WATCH HERE
CAMP In Merida | 2022
"La forêt," temps 1 d'À l'Est de Nod (2.30 min)
WATCH HERE