Alan Lake Factori(e)
Creations
ORPHEUS | S'abreuver des volcans (2024)
Biography
Alan Lake is a choreographer, performer, filmmaker, and visual artist. In 2007, he founded Alan Lake Factori(e), a multidisciplinary contemporary dance company based in Quebec, which explores the intersection of dance, cinema, and visual arts. This initiative creates a unique language characterized by raw and symbolist universes, where humans are in constant interaction with their environment.
His career as a choreographer has been marked by successes throughout Quebec, Canada, and the world, with works such as Là-bas, le lointain (2012), Ravages (2015), Les caveaux (2016), Le cri des méduses (2018), Gratter la pénombre (2020), and L’effritement des parades (2021).
In parallel with his choreographic work, Alan Lake has directed dance films like Ravages, L’étreinte des Valkyries, and Parades, which have been awarded at prestigious festivals worldwide. His expertise is also recognized in the field of teaching and pedagogy.
From 2018 to 2023, he received support from the O Vertigo Creation Centre as an associate artist. He is also a resident at the Maison pour la Danse de Québec. In 2024, he presents Le Mythe d’Orphée, a co-production with Théâtre du Trident. In June 2024, he begins his new creation ORPHEUS | S’abreuver des volcans, which will premier in Montreal at Danse Danse in April 2025.
Approach
I explore the close relationship between the body and its environment. My works are always rooted in locations chosen for their evocative power. In this context, dance becomes inseparable from its surroundings, constantly interacting with the milieu. From this initial creative phase, either a dance film or a public presentation on-site emerges. Subsequently, I transpose this initial work for its presentation in a theater setting. Through a scenography that combines sculptural installation, raw materials, and video projections, I establish a space where the essence of the previously invested location merges with the stage parameters. This new environment allows me to continually question the interrelationship between dance, territory, visual art, and moving images.
My staging reveals traces of a vanished past that connect to the wild nature, subtly establishing the foundations of sanctuaries. It is in these arenas that my choreographic writing shapes strange pagan rituals, where performers passionately engage in exploring the immediacy of the body, its breath, flesh, and joints. They strive to understand their own presence while evolving in the presence of others.