BJM_lab
BJM_lab is a heartbeat within Ballets Jazz Montréal — a living laboratory where dancers become dreamers, and choreographers emerge from within. This new initiative invites our artists to step into the role of creator, offering them not just a platform, but a playground — a place to risk, reflect, and reveal. Here, creativity is nurtured, collaboration is instinctive, and innovation is the pulse.
On September 25 and 26, we welcome Montréal audiences into our studios for an intimate encounter with these emerging dance makers. These performances are windows into evolving voices — fresh works born from within the company, crafted by the very artists who bring our stage to life.
Our Mission
At its core, BJM_lab is a celebration of artistic courage and self-discovery. We seek to cultivate a space where dancers feel empowered to trust their instincts, explore the unknown, and shape new languages of movement. We believe that discovery flourishes in the presence of opportunity — and through this initiative, we invite emerging choreographers to step forward, take risks, and contribute boldly to the ever-unfolding landscape of contemporary dance.
Our Intentions
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Empower Our Artists – Equip our dancers with the guidance, tools, and freedom to explore choreographic creation within a professional and supportive setting, and share that with our community.
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Celebrate Experimentation – Honour the beauty of risk, the joy of process, and the poetry that emerges when structure gives way to imagination.
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Inspire the Future – Offer a pathway to the next generation of creators, affirming that the leap from performer to choreographer is not only possible, but powerful.
Seating will be limited for the September 25 and 26 performances.
Stay tuned for ticket information and booking links.
We look forward to sharing this adventure with you.
Choreographers & Featured Works
Chameleon
Choreographed by Zack Preece
Chameleon is an exploration of the internal. We as humans react to different scenarios or situations in many ways, and how we perceive what we think someone might going through could be completely disconnected. No one can ever truly know what goes on behind someone else’s eyes, but yet we can still have deep and profound connections to people and truly feel like we know someone, but can we ever truly know anyone?
Catharsis
Choreographed by Troy Atamanuk
blind force within an accomplished shape
stopping us in order to move on
pause where desire pulls you forward
what do we fail to notice until it is gone
how does the same idea
transform across the different layers of our lives
how can we stand in front of each other everyday
but never see eye to eye
Bleached Eyes
Choreographed by Madeleine Salhany
Bleached Eyes is a contemporary dance duet exploring the discomfort of self-exposure. Through shifting dynamics of reflection and rejection, the piece examines how we avoid confronting our own flaws especially when mirrored in someone else. Bleached Eyes plays with the visceral intimacy of an internal battle, embodied through two dancers. It challenges the audience to consider what we choose to unsee.
Monster Within
Choreographed by Yosmell Calderon Mejias
This work emerges as an extension of my roots as a dancer- a form of movement grounded in primal physicality. I offered a grotesque language that the dancers transform into their own beauty. This piece is a journey inviting the artists to reconnect to their ancient origins, and to embody the echo of those who came before us. We carry centuries in our flesh, generations in our blood. By reawakening what already lives inside us we reveal our Monster Within.
Photos of company by Aidan Tooth & Sasha Onyshchenko
Photos of Zack Preece by Mark Milburn
Photos of Troy Atamanuk by Madelaine Salhany
Photos of Madeleine Salhany by Aidan Tooth
Photos of Yosmell Calderon Mejias by Marc Montplaisir & Melika Dez