Sarah Dell'Ava

Templum

Dance

Public presentation: Friday 20 March 2026, 5:00 PM

DesPrés — 57 Principale Nord Street, Sutton, QC

Public presentation

You are invited to share a moment together, nourished by what will have emerged over these two weeks. Inspired by the myth of Genesis, in which life is created by a breath propelled into a ball of clay, and by the founding stories of the world’s beginnings, she continues here her quest for the Origin.

She delves into the world of the bowl and the nest—symbols of the hollow that gives birth to volume and of emptiness that becomes habitat—to deepen a research practice oriented toward silence, listening, and receptivity.

Come celebrate the equinox and open the spring season together!

Biography

Originally from Switzerland, Sarah has been living in Québec for nearly 20 years. Trained in contemporary dance at UQAM, over time she has specialized in guiding creative processes with different communities, in collaboration with other organizations (City of Montréal, Corpuscule Danse, Danse-Cité, Circuit-Est Centre Chorégraphique, Agora de la danse, Berceurs du temps, Espace Oriri).

The choreographic polyptych ORIRI-ORIR-ORI-OR-O (2013–2022), each opus of which was presented at Tangente, was a tireless exploration of the Origin. Following this series came O2, a work for a large community of people of all ages and experience levels, presented at the FTA as the pandemic was ending.

Her works are multidisciplinary and participatory, often organized as “places”—spaces in which spectators are invited to settle in and experience duration, kairos time (O, O2, ORIR), with the aim of fostering togetherness and introspection.

Approach

In search of what sets the being and its gesture in motion, Sarah Dell’Ava’s projects trace ontological quests: where does the gesture come from; where do we come from? Through a holistic approach combining dance, visual arts, and voice, her practice explores the body—its presence, its vital impulse. She is particularly interested in the link between intimacy and extimacy, between a meditative state and a performative context, between somatic refinement and raw expression. Since the project O, which brought together in 2022 36 movers and 6 musicians in a 36-hour circular dance, inspired by the artisanal process from raw wool to the creation of a thread, her approach has been moving ever more radically toward the creation of spaces of contemplation where art and craft serve silence, listening, receptivity, and adelphity.