The Margie Gillis Dance Foundation (French: Fondation de danse Margie Gillis) is a Canadian nonprofit organization established in 1981 in Montreal, Quebec. It was founded by renowned choreographer Margie Gillis to support and present her artistic work and to promote her unique choreographic vision that explores the human condition through dance.

History and Mission

The Foundation was created to serve as the organizational home for Margie Gillis’s prolific creative output, which spans nearly five decades and includes over one hundred works. Its mission focuses on embodying and expressing the complexities of the human experience, portraying vulnerabilities and weaknesses alongside hope, creativity, and healing. The Foundation’s choreographic universe is recognized for its deep emotional resonance and its commitment to the transformational power of dance as an art form[1][2][4].

Artistic Activities and Legacy Project

A significant initiative of the Foundation is the Legacy Project, launched in 2015. This ongoing project is dedicated to sharing and preserving Margie Gillis’s creative history and choreographic philosophy. The Legacy Project facilitates the review and reinterpretation of her work through workshops, training courses, and the reworking of past choreography. This initiative responds to requests from the dance community to document and transmit her extensive repertoire to new generations of artists.

As part of the Legacy Project, the Legacy Project Dance Company was formed. This ensemble of nine dancers performs a diverse selection of Gillis’s choreographic works and new pieces inspired by her style. Notable productions include Evolutions (2017), showcasing the company's interpretation of her repertoire, and Literature of the Body (2020), where performers infuse their own personalities into Gillis’s choreography, blending faithfulness to the originals with new artistic interpretation[2].

Educational and Social Engagement

Beyond performance, the Foundation actively engages in teaching, mentoring, and community outreach. Margie Gillis’s teaching method, known as Dancing from the Inside Out, emphasizes the internal experience of movement, offering workshops for dancers at all levels. The Foundation promotes dance as a tool for positive social transformation, highlighting its political dimensions and its role in conflict resolution and reclaiming the body.

Through its programs, the Foundation contributes to preserving the history of modern dance while nurturing emerging artists and exploring dance’s potential as a form of personal and societal healing[2][5].

This organization remains a vital contributor to Canadian and international contemporary dance, embodying Margie Gillis’s vision of dance as a profound expression of the human spirit.

Business Registration Number: 118921253RR0001
(Information derived from publicly available sources.)