Agora dance plays in Quebec's cultural landscape an area of ??choice for creators and fans of contemporary dance. Major venue for contemporary dance whose reputation is firmly established, the Agora de la danse is also a place to create, support for experimentation and encouraging innovation.
Agora de la Danse is a contemporary dance company and creative laboratory with a rich history that took a dramatic new turn in 2017.
Agora was founded in 1991 by four people involved in dance — including Dena Davida and Florence Junca-Adenot — in collaboration with UQAM in response to the observation that "There wasn't really anywhere to present contemporary dance in Montreal," says Alexandre Escure, the organization's communications and public relations officer.
For nearly 25 years, Agora de la Danse, which occupied premises rented by UQAM on Cherrier Street, helped to promote contemporary dance by supporting a host of artists including Isabelle Van Grimde, Lucie Grégoire and José Navas. But in 2012, UQAM told Agora it would not renew its lease when it expired.
Although perhaps not immediately obvious, the solution was right under their noses. Tangente, another dance company that shared the building on Cherrier Street with Agora, had been working for some time on a wonderful project: to create a kind of centre dedicated to dance in a historic downtown building, the Wilder. Following the lead of the Contemporary Dance School and the Grands Ballets Canadiens, Agora joined the project.
