Belle Spirale Dance Projects
Artists of Belle Spirale. Photography by David Cooper, Sylvain Senez, Jon McRae.
Belle Spirale Dance Projects is an arts organization led by Artistic Directors Alexis Fletcher and Sylvain Senez. It is based in Vancouver, Canada, on the unceded Indigenous territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.
Senez was a principal artist and rehearsal director for 30 years at Ballet BC, and also danced as a soloist with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Judith Marcuse Dance Projects, and Coleman-Lemieux. Fletcher danced as a principal artist with Ballet BC for 14 years, subsequently becoming a guest artist and rehearsal assistant as well as artist in residence before pursuing her independent career in 2020.
In 2016, the two began co-creating independent mainstage works with Fletcher as choreographer/performer and Senez as visual designer. To date, the pair has created and produced nine original works with a diverse group of collaborators and co-creators. Fletcher and Senez currently hold the position of Artists in Residence at Chutzpah! Festival, and their work has been generously supported by Dance Victoria, Ballet BC, Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Presentation House Theatre, New Works, Vernon Performing Arts Centre, The Gordon Smith Foundation, Dancing on the Edge, InFrinGing Festival, Shadbolt Centre and Dance: Made in/fait au Canada.
Senez is a 2024 DORA Award nominee for Outstanding Scenic Design in Dance.
Belle Spirale is honoured to be a 2023/24 recipient of the prestigious Chrystal Dance Prize.
It has also been a joy for Fletcher and Senez to develop, since 2015, their community-minded, grassroots presentation platform, The Dance Deck, which has become a beloved staple of the summer scene in Vancouver.
Belle Spirale is a platform for the work of many artists. The team produces its own creations and also commissions original works by both emerging and established choreographers, believing in a hands-on and heart-centred approach to art making. Through the cross-disciplinary nature of their pieces, Fletcher and Senez strive to create poetic, relevant, and visually compelling performances; the two believe dance to be a distinct and powerful tool for connection, communication, and togetherness.
