SONIA ST-MICHEL
Artistic Director — Choreographer — Performer — Art Educator
Her practice in Odissi dance began in 2000, travelling regularly to India to pursue choreographic research, to perform and for training. In India, she is inspired by the vibrant dance scene, immersing herself in the artistic culture through encounters and collaborations, choreographic research and dissemination projects.
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2000 to 2004: Initiation to Odissi with Anjali Academy and Upasana (Ottawa)
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2005 to 2011: Formal Odissi training with Aloka Panikar (Delhi)
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2012 to 2019: Professional Development with Sujata Mohapatra (Bhubaneshwar)
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2010, 2014, 2018: Artistic research residencies with Rekha Tandon (Pondicherry)
From 1996 to 2008 Sonia is involved as a volunteer, board member and SOPAR employee; an international cooperation organization founded by Bala Theresa, an Indian woman from Andhra Pradesh. It is thanks to this involvement that she discovered and became interested in Indian dance.
Sonia creates contemplative and enveloping works that pay attention to subtle energies and interiority. Intercultural dialogue as well as that with various artistic forms are at the heart of the artistic intentions. Initiated to western classical singing by Stephanie Piercey and Jonathan Voyer, Sonia nourrishes a fruitful dialogue between sound and movement. Meditation, yoga and the Alexander technique have been a part of her life for 20 years.
As an educator, Sonia is committed to promoting the arts and increasing accessibility of Indian dance in Canada. For the past decade she has provided artistic experimentation opportunities as a teacher at the Académie de danse de l’Outaouais and through the Odissi Dance School which she founded. She facilitates workshops in schools and communities through the netwoks of ELAN and the Ministry of Education Culture in the School program.
Contributing to the artistic community, Sonia has been a board member of the production center L’Avant-Première, co-founder of the housing cooperative Les Artistes du Ruisseau and co-founder of Nritya Mahotsav with the companies Aroha Fine Arts and Sadhana Arts.
