Amaia Elizaran selected as artist-in-residence in Quebec

Basque choreographer Amaia Elizaran has been selected for a two-month artist-in-residence programme this autumn in Quebec.

In March, the Etxepare Basque Institute and Conseil des Arts et Lettres de Quebec (CALQ), in conjunction with Gipuzkoako Dantzagunea, launched a creative project call in Montreal, Quebec. This initiative is in collaboration with Dantzaz Centro de Creación Coreográfica Internacional, Centro Internacional de Cultura Contemporánea Tabakalera and École de Danse Contemporaine de Montreal (EDCM). 

The residency is part of the Québec- Pays Basque collaborative programme, which aims to promote cooperation between cultural stakeholders in Quebec and the Basque Country and relationships between their artists, creators and cultural industries.

Elizaran will be working at the École de Danse Contemporaine de Montréal with a group of vocational training students. They will jointly work on the ´Mar-Bi´ project, which serves as a follow-up to the ‘Mar’ project (2019). Rehearsals will begin on Monday 16 October and the final choreography will be performed for the first time in December, upon completion of the artist-in-residence programme.

The goal of this residency is for the choreographer to collaborate with the students, exploring and experimenting with various approaches to body movement through improvisation as a creative method. Elizaran aims to apply the ideas and working methods she developed in ´Mar´ to take a step further and explore the possibilities with a significantly larger cast.

Amaia Elizaran is a Basque dancer and choreographer who has created seven original contemporary dance pieces and taken part in different cultural projects over the past ten years.

Born in Tolosa (Gipuzkoa), Elizaran began her classical dance training at Ekintza Ikastola. In 2008, after receiving a scholarship from the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, she studied at the Royal Conservatory of Dance Mariemma, graduating in contemporary dance (2012-2013) and was awarded the Virginia Valero Prize for her career, as well as an honourable mention. Since graduating in 2013 she has worked with choreographers including James Wilton, John Ross, Jessica Kennedy, Adam Russell, Iker Arrue, Jon Maya, Iris Heitzinger, Hilde Koch and Judith Argomániz.

Since 2015 she has been working on her own projects under the name Amaia Elizaran.

In 2020 she joined Óró, a performing arts project that fuses various artistic disciplines and minority language cultures within the Galway 2020 Capital of Culture (Ireland).

The choreographer and performer from Tolosa combines her artistic project with her work in the company Rouge Elea. Elizaran also performs in concerts by Alos Quartet, Liam Ó Maonlaí, and Oreka Tx.