MAINSTAGE 2025-2026
Entre Chien et Loup (Between Dog and Wolf)
Plastic Orchid Factory
Photo: David Cooper
Entre Chien et Loup (Between Dog and Wolf)
Entre Chien et Loup is a solo dance performance that explores the twilight zone between the familiar and the unknown, the comforting and the unsettling. The title comes from the French expression “entre chien et loup,” describing the ambiguous time of day when it’s hard to distinguish a dog from a wolf. Choreographed and performed by James Gnam, the piece delves into themes of transformation, perception, and the fluidity of identity.
Created during the pandemic, the work reflects Gnam’s experience of creating a solo in isolation, blending cosplay, child-like curiosity, and introspective reflection. Gnam navigates the thresholds of safety and threat, reality and illusion, through a powerful use of movement, media design, and sound. The performance captures the delicate balance between fear and hope, exploring how identity is shaped by moments of transition. Entre Chien et Loup invites the audience to consider the ambiguity of existence and the boundaries between the known and the unknown, embodying the essence of metamorphosis.
Plastic Orchid Factory
Founded by award-winning dance artists James Gnam and Natalie LeFebvre Gnam, Plastic Orchid Factory emerged as a non-profit, artist-run, performance company in 2008. The organization is committed to creating, supporting, and advocating for diverse art forms that embrace a pluralistic approach in practice and form. Using the body as a first line of inquiry, our programming encourages collaboration and a blending of disciplines and approaches to create new frameworks for making and experiencing live art.
We offer seasons of activity that support artists at all stages of work – from inquiry to presentation. Artist-led initiatives for research, experimentation, and dialogue sit alongside dynamic in-house creation/production cycles and platforms for connecting local audiences with underrepresented and/or underresourced dance artists who make work on the periphery of the mainstream.
As a producing company, Plastic Orchid Factory collaboratively devises interdisciplinary performances that center an embodied human experience. Known for building distinctive environments that incorporate new technologies, the company has created more than 20 original works presented in galleries, theatres, studios, and community halls across Turtle Island and beyond. Recent highlights include entre chien et loup, Digital Folk, and The Door Project, with the newest work, Catching Up to the Future of Our Past, set to premiere in 2026. The company has received from national and international arts institutions—including Lake Studios (Berlin), LEÑA (Galiano Island), Opera Estate (Bassano del Grappa), Circuit‑Est (Tio’tia:ke/Montreal), The Shadbolt Centre (Burnaby), and Centre Q (Ottawa).
plasticorchidfactory.ca
Performance History & Upcoming Performances
World Premiere: May 28–29, 2021, Left of Main, Vancouver, BC
Dancing on the Edge Festival: July 7–10, 2022
Fluid Festival: October 25–26, 2022
MAI Montréal, arts interculturels: March 29–April 1, 2023
Citadel + Compagnie: October 19–21, 2023
Mile Zero Dance: March 8–9, 2024
Crimson Coast Dance: May 30–June 1, 2024
Project Created by: James Gnam (Choreography and Performance)
Key Artistic Collaborators:
Natalie Lefebvre Gnam: Rehearsal Director
James Proudfoot: Lighting Designer
Scott Morgan: Sound Designer
Eric Chad / Dan O’Shea: Media Design and Integration
Natalie LeFebvre Gnam: Rehearsal Director
Vanessa Goodman: Outside Eye
David Cooper: Photography
Performance type: THIS WORK IS BUILT FOR THEATRE
How do you define this work: contemporary dance solo that blends dance and theatre, utilizing multimedia elements to create a deeply immersive and experimental performance. It defies conventional boundaries, exploring themes of identity, transformation, and the human experience. It can also be classified as a hybrid performance incorporating digital media and live interaction.
Length of performance: 50 minutes
Audience type: General Audience, Other (i.e. audiences who have similar embodied experiences with subject material)
General Technical Requirements: Video projector (provided by the company)
Specific lighting setup
Amplification for sound design
Sprung, marley dance floor required
All props and set pieces are provided by the company
Required amount of time for tech set up: 4-6 hours
Alternative Venues: The work is adaptable for a range of venues, including theatres and galleries. It is not suitable for outdoor spaces unless the conditions are met: the performance requires darkness and all technical elements (lighting, sound, and media projection) to be properly set up. A sprung, marley dance floor is required for the performance. The space should be accessible to both the performer and the audience, and a suitable projection surface (screen or blank wall) is needed for the media design. The technical rider provides further details on these requirements.
Number of Performers on tour (including choreographer): 1
Number of Support Staff on Tour: 3
Availabilities: 2025/26 Season, 2026/27 Season
Project Details
Community Engagement
We are offering community engagement activities focused on collaboration with local artists. These may include working with local dancers, visual artists, or musicians to create a site-specific adaptation of the work or to develop new material in response to local contexts. We also aim to collaborate with community groups who identify with themes of identity transformation and transition, and would like to use dance as a vehicle for exploring these themes. Collaborators will be engaged in rehearsals and discussions leading to a final performance.
Outreach Activities
For Entre Chien et Loup, we offer a variety of community engagement activities designed to deepen the audience's connection to the themes of the work. These include:
- Classes – Movement-based workshops designed to engage participants in themes of transformation, identity, and personal reflection through dance.
- Workshops – Focused on creative expression, the workshops invite participants to explore their own experiences with change and self-perception through guided improvisation and structured exercises.
- Circle Talks – Facilitated discussions allowing for personal storytelling and dialogue about the themes explored in the work, including the fluidity of identity, fear, and transformation.
- Post-Show Talks – An opportunity for the audience to engage with the artists directly, discussing the creative process, the work’s themes, and how the performance resonates with their own experiences.
Memory Circles Workshop:
The Memory Circles workshop explores how the memory of movements generated earlier in the session can inspire new choreography. Drawing from the themes of transformation and identity in Entre Chien et Loup, participants will revisit and expand upon movement material created in the room, working both solo and in duet form. Through improvisation and repetition, they will explore how the body can “remember” and evolve previous movements, layering new material in response to what has already been generated. The workshop encourages creativity and collaboration, allowing participants to deepen their connection to the work and experiment with the transformation of movement over time. Duration 1-2 hours, open to ages 18+.