Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Marchand
Jessica, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Hello! My name is Jessica Marchand and I am a Canadian artist based in New York City. I started dancing 17 years ago at the age of 5. My dance training began at my local dance studio Tri City Dance Centre in Coquitlam BC. After graduating high school I moved to NYC to pursue dance professionally. I attended Peridance center’s two-year Certificate Program, majoring in Ballet and Contemporary. My studies at Peridance also included Partnering, Modern techniques and repertoire, Street styles, Theatre dance, Jazz, Videography, Dance History, Vocal lessons, Anatomy, and Choreography. Post-graduation, I have been working as a freelance dancer, performing with project based companies such as Project Tag NYC and most recently collaborating with artist Bruno Catalano for his exhibition on Madison Avenue. I have performed works by Nicole Von Arx, Tushrik Fredricks, Hussein Smko, Cesar Brodermann, Gregory Dolbashian, Igal Perry, Lauren Cox, among others. Aside from performing, I have been taking this past season to explore my own choreographic endeavours. My own work has been shown in various festival across NYC taking place at The Tank, Arts on Site, the KnJ Theatre at Peridance, the PinkFrog Cafe, The Wandering Barman, Greenspace, and Dancewave. I have most recently had the opportunity to produce my own show which took place at Arts on Site on August 29th 2024, in collaboration with my dear friend Natalia Sanchez. “Rocking Chair Tales” is a physical narrative reflecting upon womanhood, family, immigration, childhood, and the psychology involved in such. Questioning “How does culture vs. Person come together?”. after a successful first production of this narrative I hope to keep elaborating and developing this show moving forward.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I believe that there is no such thing as a smooth road, any road that appears smooth has been nourished, repaired, and given investment. Everyone’s journey comes with struggles, navigation, and set backs but the important thing is that you know how to do what’s best for yourself to keep moving forwards. I have been very blessed my whole life with health and a fully functional body, well equipped to be a dancer. sure I have some smaller obstacles including scoliosis, iron deficiency anemia and your common injuries but I have been very lucky to have never experienced any danger threatening to take dance away from me. A majority of my battle with dance has been through my mentality. I was never the most talented, flexible, beautiful, tall, or wealthiest dancer in the room, and I never thought I would be a dancer professionally. Peridance’s Certificate program was the only dance program I had applied to post-secondary and only because I had a few friends who attended before me and I thought it may be a good opportunity to move to New York. So, I moved to New York to have a new life and gain new experiences, though I still had little to no faith that I would be able to build a dance career for myself. It was in those two years where I found myself in dance and slowly but surely, I realized that I loved creating, and more than anything, I love learning. Dance is one of the few careers in which you are always learning, always training, and always changing. This fact adds that little bit of adrenaline to my life that makes me wake up in the morning, and for that reason, I wouldn’t want to do anything else. Whatever struggles you are having now mentally will pass, and you will find a new one, but soon it will pass too. and you will wish you appreciated the time you had before while you were too busy worrying if you were “good enough”. If you want it bad enough you will always find a way to make dance work for you.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As I mentioned in my previous response, I have been taking the past year to explore my creative voice in process of producing my own show. Rocking Chair Tales is a physical narrative curated by Jessica Marchand and Natalia Sanchez. This show reflects upon womanhood, family, immigration, childhood, and the psychology involved in such. Questioning “How does culture vs. Person come together?” has led us to explore our research and experiences, thus producing a narrative celebrating each of our journeys. The entire show consists of 6 separate pieces accompanied by a variety of home videos and props. Rocking Chair Tales is a complete story told from the perspective of the main characters favourite childhood stuffed animal, a bunny. The bunny moves through the entire 45 minute show, narrating the different stages of their owners life, while introducing each woman figure in the girls life and what she learned from each of them. the premier of Rocking Chair Tales took place on August 29th, 2024, at Arts On Site in Astor place New York, at 8:30 pm. We plan on continuing to develop this narrative and presenting it again in the future. I would say that this has been my greatest career milestone as of lately.
The route to finding my creative process has been a confusing yet fulfilling journey. I have always believed you should not create unless you know why you are creating. I had never felt enticed to create until I was half way through my second year at Peridance when I had the opportunity to work alongside a dramaturgy, Catherine Correa. During each year at Peridance, you are required to complete an independent student project that reflects and proves a thesis statement. Catherine’s workshop was built to support the process of the creation for our projects, though not once did we stand up to dance. We had researched, studied, and questioned for weeks on end, focusing on the thesis and “why” we were creating our pieces. Through this process, I was able to create “Funky moves”. The first presentation of “Funky moves” I had one dancer, embodying the younger sister, sitting intimately with the audience, watching the video of the two sisters dancing on a laptop. The other dancer, embodying the older sister, walks in and brushes her younger sisters hair for the duration of the video. When the video is almost over, the older sister stands her up, puts her in a dress, applies lipstick, and they leave together, as if inviting her into womanhood. My task for this initial presentation was to examine how I proved my thesis before I had added any “dance moves”. From there, I developed my creative process. My initial prompt is reflection; what experience do I feel attracted to exploring in this time. Secondly, solidifying my thesis and why I feel it should require an audience. Subsequently, creating my staple images and aligning dialog for the pieces development. Conclusively, adding movement. Through these steps I am able to confidently produce work in which engages my audience, politically, sociologically, and emotionally, which directly reflects my motivation for creating in the first place. I feel that what may separate myself from others would be the product that I create through this process. I may not have the most difficult moves, or make use of intense lighting, costumes, and props, but I can guarantee that my audience leaves the theatre feeling something from my work.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Something surprising about me could be that I never wanted to be a professional dancer until two years ago! Through out high school I thought I wanted to pursue a career in physio therapy and wanted to go study kinesiology. Peridance was the only dance program I had applied to post-secondary, when I was accepted, I had a feeling that I must make use of the opportunity. Still through my first year at Peridance I was unsure about a career dance, but luckily somehow during my second year, I decided that I was so passionate about dance I must at least try to pursue it as my career. to this day, I have never regretted any of my decisions and live everyday with gratitude that I am doing what I love.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessica__marchand/
Image Credits
Ry Alexander
Paul DuBois
