Founder, artistic and educational director
Professionally trained in both ballet and contemporary dance, Stephanie Decourteille has achieved the artistic role of tea, choreographer, dancer and artistic counsellor. Throughout her years of training and acquaintances with leading heads in the scene (Rudy Bryans, Corinne Lanselle, Bruno Agati, Manon Barbeau etc.), she defines and tirelessly reinvents her signature choreographic style. "Vertiges", her first danced solo and short dance film reasoned the recognition from her peers and fueled her international visibility. In November 2015, Stephanie left Montreal for Guadeloupe (FR) to create a new dance center in Basse-Terre named LE MA - MOUVEMENT ACTUEL. LE MA is a dance training center, an international platform of multidisciplinary artistic exchange and research, a space of research and creation (www.centrema.com). She also supports professional and amateur artists by offering master classes and weekly classes in Montreal. Since January 2018, by creating an intensive training in contemporary dance (BIG BANG), Stéphanie welcomes artists who wish to improve their and technical and artistic skills.
Pedagogical approach
Much more then a simple class structure and teacher development, Stephanie Decourteille develops a true philosophy on dance and teaching. Convinced that dance is a way of living art daily with the body at any age, she applies her expertise and choreographies towards dancers in training. Stephanie works closely with dancers, actors, circus artists and figure skaters. In order to motivate the body to perform to its full capacity, Stephanie pays close attention to detail. While observing both globally and individually the figures in front of her, she studies the pathway of movements, placement, coordination which is where she also evaluates the body’s state and corrects to adjust the body in relation to the imposed series of movements. She has the ease of adapting to every level. In a beginner class, her desire is to portray the fun in dance; in advanced classes, she wants to share her energy and experiences as well as accompanying and guiding these artists in their personal goals within the artistic realm. Each class is built to combine fun, dancing movement, discipline and learning. Dancers become present amongst their own selves, the space around them and their evolution in dance where they are sure to experience both the vulnerability and strength behind their growth.
A glimpse at a peculiar choreographic language
Convinced that choreographing is an extraordinary way of putting our body's contained resources to work, Stéphanie explores the various possibilities that our body presents, on a daily basis. This every day exploration became her beloved guide to building her individualistic style of movement. Stephanie adores contrasts. However, she does not dismiss her roots. On the contrary, Stephanie plays with her solid background in ballet and contemporary dance along with her training in moderne-jazz and influences from her experiences in urban styles of dance to make a multi-faced whole. She explores different dance styles’ technicalities and feeds off the growth of the dancers who share the floor with her.
In constant motion, minuscule, even when frozen, for Stephanie Decourteille, bodies explore oppositions. Between tension and release, between elongation and compression, the dynamic of mixing and sorting the body’s adventures is omnipresent. She believes each dancer possesses a connection to their center of gravity located around their belly button. This theory leads young choreographers to challenge their center by constantly moving it throughout the entire body where one can discover new sensations, new movements and textures of movement that have not yet been tamed.
​