ALEXANDRA 'SPICEY' LANDÉ

Montreal choreographer and major figure in hip-hop dance in Quebec, ‘Spicey’ began her career as a choreographer in 2005. She first developed a passion for hip-hop as a young girl in the 1980s. That symbiotic connection to dance and hip-hop culture is a dominant presence in her choreography, and constitutes the very essence of her artistic style.

‘Spicey’ began her career as a performer and teacher. As an independent choreographer she presented three pieces in Quebec prior to 2015, including Retrospek (2008, 9 performers), which influenced a generation of Montreal street dancers. She was awarded the Rideau-Entrées en Scène Loto Québec bursary in 2009, and Retrospek was then presented in twenty different venues across the province. At the same time the Bust A Move Festival that she founded (2005-2015) became the biggest street dance competition in Canada, attended annually by 3500 spectators and participants. The TOHU circus arts venue became its co-presenter in 2010.

Eager to further expand her artistic aspirations and to actively promote street dance and its performers, ‘Spicey’ founded the dance company Ebnflōh in 2015. With the support of collaborators and peers, her approach to hip-hop as choreography evolved, becoming more exploratory, radical and authentic. Faithful to intention and form, she continued to pursue research and experimentation. Music, theatre, cinema and visual arts have been sources of inspiration for her choreography, as has her degree in psychology. Her works powerfully probe our social and intimate relationships. In recent years, she has trained in filmmaking for dance.

‘Spicey’ created Complexe R in 2015, a piece for five female dancers inspired by our existential obsessions. Presented at the MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels), it was performed in Quebec, Ontario, New York and Amsterdam. In-Word, her 2019 piece featuring six dancers, was awarded “Prix Révélation” at Les Prix de la Danse de Montréal. The jury emphasized “the power of the choreography” and “an artistic style imbued with depth”. The piece was a finalist for the 35th Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal and was presented 50 times in Canada, Scotland and Germany from 2019 to 2023. 

During the pandemic she created two works for webcasting: Hanging by a Thread (8 dancers) presented by DanceWorks in Toronto, and the duo Ever Endeavor – a piece commissioned by the National Arts Centre (#DansEnvol). In 2021 ‘Spicey’ was captured in a moment of freestyling in Esie Mensah film TESSEL, which featured the stories of 14 black artists from across Canada. Danse Danse presented her most recent work, La Probabilité du Néant (8 dancers), in October 2021 at Place des Arts in Montreal. It will be presented in Vancouver at the end of 2023. She is currently working on a new piece that will be featured at Théâtre La Chapelle in spring 2024, in a co-production with Danse-Cité. She is also directing and choreographing her first dance film entitled Le Néant.

A performer and teacher of hip-hop for the past twenty years, ‘Spicey’ is regularly asked to teach classes (TransFormation Danse, Concordia University’s Focus on Dance Research, École nationale de cirque de Montréal, Circuit-Est, Studio 303, RQD, etc.), and to judge street dance competitions both here and abroad. She has also worked as a dance coach for Cirque du Soleil (Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour), and as a choreographer she has collaborated with the Festival Mode & Design (Montreal) and with Radio-Canada. She has been a movement consultant for several theatre productions (Black Theatre Workshop, the Arrivals Legacy Project Chokola presented at La Licorne in 2023, etc.), and a guest curator for MAI working with the artists Lara Kramer and Angie Cheng from 2021 to 2025. 

Deeply committed to supporting street dance, ‘Spicey’ designs and directs B-Side, an event produced by Ebnflōh since 2019. She also teaches workshops and mentors emerging artists. She has served on the boards of several organizations, including Jack of all Trades (JOAT Festival) since 2021, and the Regroupement québécois de la danse as vice-president from 2020 to 2022.