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Last week we introduced you to our collaborators, Claire Gignac et compagnie … AKA, the French-Canadian jazz band who will be accompanying our performers at our Chinatown Blues performances this weekend.

As we noted, this is not Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre’s first project with the award-winning musicians. In fact, it’s our third. So today, we hear from Claire, who shares her reflections on collaborating three times with Heidi Duckler.

Image credit: Image of Bowling Blues by Esmail Nabil.

The first time I met Heidi in-person, on the sidewalk in Montreal, just out of a taxi from the airport, I knew instantly that there was a connection between us!

Working together, I discovered more than a connection—this was a very special and profound chemistry.

In under a week, we put together a new 30-minute dance and music performance, Bowling Blues, presented with great success in Bowling Darling in Montreal as part of Festival Transatlantique.

We worked with four extraordinary dancers, from all over the States, two dancers from Montreal, two fantastic musicians from Quebec City, and our very gifted real-time sound-processing musician. Each of those artists working together for the first time!

A few months later, we performed Bowling Blues in San Francisco, as part of Walking Distance Dance Festival, with equal success.

So … when Heidi invited us to her hometown to work on a new project, the answer was obviously a big and warm YES! Of course!

I know that I will again find the exceptional chemistry between Heidi and me and that it will be a tremendous pleasure again to create, rehearse and present Chinatown Blues together!

I’m looking forward to this new adventure!

The fruits of that new adventure will be on display this weekend. If you haven’t yet purchased your tickets for Chinatown Blues, there’s still time! Get your tickets.