Wild, wild horses
Couldn’t drag me away . . .
Mick Jagger/Keith Richards

In a career spanning over five decades, Peter Boneham has won international acclaim as the choreographer of over 40 works, inspired teacher of generations of dance artists, and Director of Le Groupe de la Place Royale, Canada’s foremost modern experimental dance company. His most innovative and ongoing impact on the contemporary dance milieu has been as the visionary creator and director of Le Groupe Dance Lab, a unique choreographic research and development centre. After 16 years, the Dance Lab remains at the forefront of provincial, national and international choreographic centres, maintaining the highest integrity and artistic standards, allowing New Dance to thrive, and nurturing some of the brightest talents in Canada and around the world.

Born in 1934 in Rochester, New York, Mr. Boneham took his first dance lesson at age 14 and became the lead dancer of the Mercury Ballet Company one of the first civic ballet companies in the States. After working with several distinguished New York City companies, he moved to Canada in the early 1960s to join Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. In 1966, Jeanne Renaud formed Le Groupe de la Place Royale, with Boneham as Assistant Director and he assumed artistic directorship in 1971 and remained at the helm since.

Dancers and choreographers of national and international stature, from raw novices to seasoned veterans, flock to his dynamic, exhilarating classes. Calling himself a “monitor” rather than a mentor, Mr. Boneham has an uncanny ability to recognize and encourage individual talent. His honesty, generosity, passionate creativity, and mischievous humour are legendary in the dance community.

Peter Boneham is the longest-serving artistic director in Canadian contemporary dance. He has taught extensively across North America and Europe, and served on numerous advisory committees, juries and panels. His contribution extends far beyond dance, providing arts administrators, visual artists, musicians, photographers and videographers a space of exploration and creative freedom.

Awards and honours include the inaugural Jean A. Chalmers Award for Creativity in Dance in Canada (1991), the Dance Ontario Award (1992), and the Victor Tolgesy Award (1996), and the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement (2005).


* Biography from the Governor General Performing Arts Award Press Release 29 September 2005

"For me dance is an expression of life and all of its contradictions. I am inspired by a world of sad absurdities, perfect flaws, and all things that are painfully beautiful."

Tony has built a career as a dynamic, intense and generous performer. After lending himself as a dancer to some of Canada's leading choreographers and companies, he is now applying himself to his own choreographic work. He emphasizes a unique movement vocabulary, breaking lines that come from the centre of the torso and hips, creating a deconstructed body that moves organically as a whole.
To date, Chong has created and presented many dance works including The Berlin Project, Le naufragé, I See Much Less Than it is to Come, Rupture - a dance video for Bravo!FACT, and L’empreinte des anges.
Chong received his Bachelors of Arts with a major in Dance studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. He continued his studies in New York at NYU's The Tisch School for the Arts and in San José, California with The Limòn West and The Limòn Company. Quickly after his studies, Chong began working with Vancouver's Kokoro Dance Theatre and other local choreographers such as Grant Strate. Before setting his sights on Montréal, he danced in the works of Tom Stroud and Tedd Robinson with The Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers in Winnipeg.
In Montréal, Chong danced and toured internationally with companies such as La Compagnie Marie Chouinard, Carbon 14, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Dominique Porte's Système D, Louise Bédard Danse, José Navas' Compagnie Flak, and Sinha Danse. He also collaborated and worked with companies from abroad such as Germany’s Steptext Dance Theatre and Belgium's Ballets C de la B with Christine de Smedt.