Starting next April 16, Le Patin Libre will be coming to the Mont-Royal Arena for a series of seven performances of its new show, Murmuration, which brings together fifteen artist-dancers from eight countries. Together they use their speed and extreme agility to create a human version of the hallucinating aerial ballets of large flocks of birds. Presented from April 16 to 21, 2024, the show will take place in an arena completely reinvented as theater on ice.
It all began on frozen ponds in the Montreal area and in arenas that discreetly turned into “underground” parties. Patin Libre skaters, in former days competitive athletes, abandoned sequins and traditions to enjoy greater choreographic freedom.
Fascinated by the aerial ballet of large flocks of starlings, Le Patin Libre skaters decided to transpose the phenomenon to the performing arts, since skating allows them to move like birds in flight. But because it took quite a few virtuoso artists to produce a credible effect of flocks, Le Patin Libre took advantage of its international touring to recruit artist-athletes from eight countries and put together the first large ensemble of contemporary skating.
Creation of Murmuration took four years. During that period, the world was shaken and changed: social polarization, war, climate change, the ascendance of algorithms. Remaining in touch with reality, the choreographers conceived the show as an epic in which the murmuration (flock of starlings) comes together, fragments, is manipulated by algorithms, tears apart, fights…and survives. Murmuration explores the dynamic interactions of a harmonious and exhilarating coexistence. An adrenaline rush for the whole family!
Tickets for Le Patin Libre’s Murmuration are on sale now at lepatinlibre.com
About Le Patin Libre
Le Patin Libre is a contemporary Montreal-based ice skating company. It merges the athletic virtuosity of skating with the creativity of contemporary dance and the energy of urban dance. The company was founded in 2005 by former top-level figure skaters. They came together with the desire to transform their athleticism into a means of free expression. Far removed from stereotypes and sequins, the creations of Le Patin Libre present real works by authors who exploit the indescribable scenic and choreographic possibilities of skating.
Murmuration is a co-production of The CanDance Network Creation Fund, Dance House, Danse Danse, La Rotonde, Fall for Dance North in collaboration with TO Live and the National Arts Centre supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and was developed with the support of the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund.