Trained in jazz and contemporary dance at the Lyon Conservatory for nearly 10 years, Lisa has always had an attraction for movement. She is currently in her last year of training as a mechanical engineer specialized in modeling and experimentation at INSA Lyon. In Montreal, Lisa is doing a research internship at the CRITAC of the ENC and at Polytechnique Montreal about pose estimation in the circus. This internship allows her to use her scientific skills in the world of live performance in order to create new forms of representation including a digital dimension that is not restrictive for the performance. From the realization of tests with circus artists to the exploitation of data, she compares three RGB/RGBD camera systems and their AI. 

Emmanuel started as a circus artist in the streets of Quebec before pursuing his career through a multitude of artistic projects. In parallel, he developed several social action projects using his creativity as a means of human development. 

For more than 20 years, he traveled the world as a trainer with the Cirque du Monde social action program of Cirque du Soleil. Over the years, he has played various roles in the organization, including Head of the training program and Head of Public Affairs and Social Responsibilities. Emmanuel has had the opportunity to gain unique experience working with organizations, trainers and artists who are creating social change around the world using innovative approaches.  

He then transferred his experience and pedagogical approach to the training of managers and leaders at Air Transat, among others.  

He then joined the Centre de Recherche, d'Innovation et de Transfert en Arts du Cirque as an expert in social innovation and training. 

Nicolas is a former circus artist who has worked with Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Éloize, the 7 Fingers, TNM, Cavalia and many more. He has two diplomas from ENC and a certificate in innovation management. He co-founded and served as general and artistic director of the company Throw2Catch for 5 years before becoming head coach and acrobatic designer at Cirque Éloize. 

He currently is a manipulation teacher and a researcher at the National Circus school in Montreal. He also collaborates with several circus companies as a creative advisor, acrobatic designer and director. He also sits on several boards of Québec cultural organizations.   

Christine Bouchard has led a sustained career in the cultural milieu since the beginning of her professional life. Since 2015, she has been the Executive Director of En Piste national circus arts alliance, where she actively works on promoting this sector at a national level. Previously, she worked in various organizations such as Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, École de danse contemporaine de Montréal and Ville de Longueuil. She was also a consultant at DAA Strategies. This experience allowed her to carry out various mandates in strategic planning, studies, project design, cultural policy development, etc. She is part of several boards of directors and advocacy groups. With cultural development at heart, she is dedicated to the advancement and development to arts and culture.

Over the past 9 years, Emmanuel Cameron has devoted himself to the development of Quebec's entrepreneurial ecosystem, including the establishment of the first startup incubator in Montérégie: Le Garage & co. Thanks to his experience in economic development, acquired through his time at Futurpreneur Canada and on the APDEQ Board of Directors, he co-founded Continuums, a center for structuring projects in entrepreneurial innovation. Continuums promotes connections between startups and economic, political and academic players, with the objective of creating a model of innovation through entrepreneurship that will serve as a showcase for Quebec and Canada internationally.

After studying dramaturgy and staging at Laval University in Québec City and UNICEN in Argentina, Mireille studied acting at the Superior School of Theater of University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).  

As a director, she produced The Dog, the Knife and the Night of Marius von Mayenburg, in February 2012 then The Golden Dragon of Roland Schimmelpfennig at the Theatre Prospero. In 2015, she staged an adaptation of Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment opera in London, ON. In March 2017, she presents Ivresse at La Chapelle, a work that stands out and redefines the relationship with the audience. In 2016, Mireille was awarded the J.-B.-C. Watkins’ grant by the Canada Council for the Arts for her professional development project with renowned author and director Falk Richter in Frankfurt, Germany.  

She creates Intersections, a project bringing together on stage 5 actors in 5 different countries connected. Inspired by telepresence, she presented Bluff where 3 actors on 3 different stages in the province of Quebec were interacting simultaneously in the same show. She is an artistic consultant at the Society for Arts and Technologies. 

As a director, she is constantly looking for a redefinition of the relationship with the public, she creates theatrical events that allow a collective experience, where the encounter between the auditorium and the stage is the lifeblood of the work. 

A graduate of the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal, Maxime Carbonneau is artistic co-director and executive co-director of La Messe Basse and works as a multidisciplinary creator as a director, author, scriptwriter and actor. With a particular sensitivity to poetic forms, Maxime is interested in the dramatization of archives and non-theatrical materials, the notion of absence, and the impact of technology on human relationships.  

Based on the archives of poet Josée Yvon, he co-wrote with Dany Boudreault and Sophie Cadieux La femme la plus dangereuse du Québec, which he also directed on the Fred-Barry stage at Théâtre Denise-Pelletier. He directed Les murailles by Erika Soucy, which premiered at Théâtre Périscope and was revived at Théâtre la Licorne, and Si jamais vous nous écoutez (created Dans le nuage at the FTA 2021), which was presented in the main hall of Théâtre Denise-Pelletier in 2022, a play he also co-wrote.  He will also direct Je t'écris au milieu d'un bel orage presented at the TNM in 2023. 

Maxime began his career as a creator with iShow, a collective creation he directed, Descendance, which he co-wrote and directed at the Centre du Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui, and Siri, a performance show he co-wrote and directed at the FTA in 2016 before reviving it at the Centre du Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui's Salle Jean-Claude Germain and on tour.  

After Siri and Si jamais vous nous écoutez, the first two parts of a technological trilogy in theater, Maxime is regularly invited to take part in conferences on the question of A.I. and science in creation with his accomplice Laurence Dauphinais. His creations regularly tour across Canada, South America and Europe. In 2018, the Canada Council for the Arts awarded her the John Hirsh Award, recognizing her work that foreshadows major achievements in artistic excellence and vision. 

Kun is an award-winning filmmaker with extensive experience in gaming and interactive storytelling. He is the director of several award-winning films, documentaries and commercials, shot on multiple continents, for among others: CBC, BBC and National Geographic. He has directed the cinematics for the videogames: Watch Dogs, Avatar, Prince of Persia and AND1. He was also the art director for the indie videogame Osmos (Apple’s game of the Year 2011, and winner of an Apple Design Award). The videogame Osmos has been exhibited at the MoMa and at the Museum of the Moving Image in NYC. 

Kun began his career as a concept artist on Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and The Fifth Element. He has free-lanced as a designer and art director for, among others, Lego; Cirque du Soleil; the videogame Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory; and for the films Across the Universe and Hellboy 2. 

He has been nominated for several Gemini and Gemeaux awards, a VES award, is a recipient of a Canada Art Council Grant, and is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. 

Kun was born in Denmark by Chinese and German parents. He speaks 4 languages. has a B.A. in Law and Economics and a M.A. in Design for Film and Television from the Royal College of Art, London. Kun has been a Multimedia Director at Moment Factory since 2018. 

A pivotal figure in Quebec’s circus history and a highly accomplished contemporary artist, Isabelle Chassé received numerous awards, including the gold medal at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain de Paris. As a young adult, she left a mark with her memorable performance on the aerial tissu in Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam. Isabelle has also participated in several film projects including the film Martyrs and the Grammy-nominated short film Satie and Suzanne. 

A co-founder of The 7 Fingers, Isabelle performed in Loft, La Vie, and Temporel which she co-directed, as well as Vice & Vertu, the third segment of Tryptique and the movie Out of Order. She served as assistant director on Passengers, Reversible, Un Dia, Amuse, and Psy, and was a collaborating artist in the Fibonacci Project on multiple occasions. Isabelle has been a jury member with several organisations, among them the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. She played a major role in the establishment of The 7 Fingers’ Creation and Production Centre, sitting on various decision-making committees. 

In addition to mastering video stage design, technical plan design and programming, Francis has an innate talent for team management. After starting out as a sound engineer, he became programmer and video manager for the tours of several internationally renowned musical artists, for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympic Games, and for several Cirque du Soleil shows. This was followed by major contracts that propelled him to director and technical designer. He has had the opportunity to work for artists such as Leonard Cohen, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, The Black Keys and more locally Robert Charlebois. He is behind some of the largest video projection and broadcast systems on the planet.

Marion Cossin is a research engineer at the Centre de recherche, d'innovation et de transfert en arts du cirque (CRITAC) in Montreal. She has a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Polytechnique Montréal and a PhD in biomedical engineering from the Université de Montréal. Her work focuses on the interaction between acrobats and circus equipment, including the design of new equipment, the transition to digital shows and performance improvement. 

After a National Superior Diploma in Plastic Expression (DNSEP) at the EESI in Poitiers, Raphaël Dupont explores new media through interactive video and sound installations. For almost 15 years, he has also collaborated with various theater and dance companies, and with music bands for scenography creations. In particular, he develops programmed video setups for shows or performances that interact in real time with the performers' bodies.

He proposes sensorial, poetic and corporal experiences to the spectators. He also creates experiences demonstrating how the audience relates to images, sounds and objects. He explores the relationship between body and object: how to design the object (solid, visual, audible) so that it calls for gesture, interaction.

He arrived in Montreal in late 2019 to participate in a video creation for a future Cirque du Soleil show unfortunately interrupted for by the pandemic. Back to Montreal to come and work at 7 Fingers in LAB7 as a multimedia artist and interactive designer. He worked on immersive exhibitions, hybrid shows and more generally on the interpretation of the body in space as a scenographic vocabulary.

Chris Gatti, PhD is currently a data scientist at CRITAC for the National Circus School in Montreal. His research background includes work in computational biomechanics, machine learning, and data analysis and his work at CRITAC combines all of these interests. Upon completing his PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic institute in 2014, Chris promptly joined Corteo by Cirque du Soleil as a Tournik artist. In 2016, he became Head Coach of Volta, also by Cirque du Soleil, for creation and for the beginning of the chapiteau tour. Outside of his research, he is also a handbalancer and handbalancing coach. 

FRANÇOIS GIRARD was born in 1963 in Lac St-Jean, Quebec. He gained notoriety as much for his filmmaking as for his staging of operas and theater. 

In 1993, his feature film THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD would go on to garner international success. Five years later THE RED VIOLIN, which received an Academy Award for the best original score, enshrines Girard on the international movie scene. Followed SILK in 2007, BOYCHOIR in 2014 and HOCHELAGA, LAND OF SOULS in 2018. His latest film THE SONG OF NAMES was released in 2019. Let’s also mention PETER GABRIEL’S SECRET WORLD which earned him a Grammy Award for the best concert film in 1995. 

In 1997, Girard made his opera directorial debut with OEDIPUS REX / SYMPHONY OF PSALMS. His other opera credits include LOST OBJECTS, SIEGFRIED, SEVEN DEADLY SINS / LINDBERGFLUG and ÉMILIE. He also signed PARSIFAL and DER FLIEGENDE HOLLANDER at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and just premiered LOHENGRIN at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. 

For the stage, he directed Alessandro Baricco’s NOVECENTO, Franz Kafka’s TRIAL, Yasushi Inoue’s HUNTING GUN, Samuel Beckett’s WAITING FOR GODOT and Glen Berger’s UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL.  Cirque du Soleil’s commissioned Girard to write and direct ZED, their first permanent show in Tokyo and ZARKANA which opened at Radio City Music Hall, played at the Kremlin Theatre became a resident show in Las Vegas. 

To date, François Girard’s works have earned over one hundred international awards and public acclaim the world over. 

Athomas Goldberg is one of the world’s foremost authorities in real-time interactive character animation systems, with over 25 years’ experience in developing cutting-edge new technologies working with major developers in the interactive entertainment and virtual reality industries, including Epic Games, EA, Microsoft, and Oculus VR. Athomas was formerly the Director of Animation & Simulation Technologies at Electronic Arts, where he oversaw the development of ANT the real-time animation technology in EA’s Frostbite Game Engine, in use across all of EA’s studios and game franchises. As co-founder of Pepper’s Ghost New Media & Performing Arts Collective, he has spent the past 5 years producing and directing stage productions combining the use of real-time motion capture, digital projection and other electronic media with live dance, puppetry and circus arts.  

Athomas cofounded Shocap Entertainment in 2020 to produce live cross-reality entertainment using real-time visual effects technology and on-stage human performance. Each production draws from the contributions of multiple creative voices, with experienced collaborators from live performance, film, animation and video games. 

Olivier is a designer and producer specializing in all things Multimedia.

With 23 years of experience and hundreds of productions worldwide, Olivier’s expertise is second to none when it comes to multimedia experiences and storytelling. 
He has been involved in over 18 different Cirque du Soleil shows such as Delirium, Zaia, The Beatles Love, Michael Jackson Immortals, X the land of fantasy, R.U.N. , Volta, Crystal, Axel, Drawn to Life and Messi -10. 
He also designed visuals for some of the biggest names in the music industry such as Justin Timberlake, Tina Turner, Rihanna, Jay Z, Bon Jovi, The Black Keys, Taylor Swift, Cher, Sade, Bette Midler, Katy Perry, Hugh Jackman and many more. 

He produce multimedia for some of the largest events and televised shows like the Asian Games 2019 in Jakarta, the UAE National Day 2016, the Invictus Games 2016, the Victoria Secret Annual Shows in NYC 2016, Paris 2017 and Shanghai 2018. 

Throughout his career, Olivier has developed a strong network of precious collaborators and his multiple experiences in the entertainment industry have made him the inspired project leader he is today. 
Olivier was the cofounder of Geodezik, one of the top multimedia studios in the world music industry from 2005 to 2015. He led the multimedia division of Cirque du Soleil (4U2C)  as Executive Creative  director and Executive producer after they acquired Geodezik from 2015 to 2020. 

Olivier founded Supply and Demand in 2020, a Multimedia agency with a focus on immersive experiences. He developed a new immersive technology called The Modular Exhibit System, the first standard in immersive theaters focused on affordability and most importantly an easier collaboration between content creators, promoters and permanent venues & tour operators.  

Originally from Montreal, Marcella Grimaux grew up in New York City and completed her studies in theater at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. Marcella then joined the Geodezik team and worked on video content creation to enhance the shows of international artists such as Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Katy Perry, One Direction and Pink.

In 2016, Marcella became Associate Content Producer for 4U2C studio and was Co-Artistic Director and Video Designer for Jean Leloup's show Le Fantôme de Paradis City, which won numerous Félix awards at the ADISQ Gala, including show of the year and stage direction of the year.

Since 2018 Marcella has been responsible for the artistic direction, staging and video design of several shows (Marie-Mai and Loud at the Bell Centre, the world tour of Argentine rapper Tiago PZK, the video set design and artistic direction of Seul Ensemble by Cirque Éloïse). Marcella wins the Félix for Projection and Lighting Design of the Year for Marie-Mai's show at the ADISQ Gala in 2019. The Universo Paralelo arena show is named show of the year in 2019 by Billboard Magazine and Marcella is nominated for two Felixes in 2020 for Staging and Projection and Lighting Design for Loud's show. In 2021, Marcella is the artistic director and co-director for the 2021 and 2022 editions of Star Académie; Noisy Head Studio is responsible for the design and video creation of over 700 scenes. She is also writing and directing the VR ASTERIA project that opened at the Phi Center in the spring of 2021. In 2022, she is directing, writing, and designing the video for the show Harmonium Symphonique : Histoires Sans paroles as well as the video design for the new tour The Special World Tour for Lizzo, the American pop star.

Dr. Naila Kuhlmann is a postdoctoral fellow in the Biosignal Interaction and Personhood Technology lab at McGill University and an associated researcher with CRITAC. Her work explores the potential of the performing arts and interactive technologies to convey embodied experiences for knowledge translation, empathy, and creativity. Naila obtained her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of British Columbia, in which she studied the neurobiology of Parkinson’s disease. For her postdoc, she combined her interests in the performing arts, interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement to lead the participatory research-creation project Piece of Mind. Naila brought together neuroscientists, circus artists, dancers, musicians, and people affected by Parkinson’s disease and/or dementia to co-create two performances based on scientific research and lived experience, with the goals of facilitating knowledge exchange and understanding between diverse stakeholders, challenging stigma around neurodegenerative conditions, and rendering research more accessible to the general public. In addition to this research, Naila is working with les 7 doigts, CRITAC and Moment Factory to examine physiological measures of audience engagement in response to different performance formats.  

Anne is a special-effects, video game, and digital art producer.

With SYNTHÈSE, she works as a Project Manager, Skills and Careers. Her role is to contribute to know-how in the sector through consultation and in-depth surveys of professional practices in video games, visual effects, and immersive experiences. Anne has worked in the field of visual and digital art for over 25 years. Her understanding of digital production technology and the three professional sectors makes her an excellent leader of 2D and 3D artists and programming teams. She has experience in the field of visual effects, 3D technology, and video games, and she has worked on numerous films, video games, and digital exhibitions.

Anne has been a lecturer in digital production management at UQAC and Université Laval since 2012. She studied political science and journalism at Université de Montréal and 3D animation, film, and television at École NAD.

Stéphane’s impressive resume has him at the forefront of some of the most exciting entertainment and spectacles seen over the past three decades. Most recently, he collaborated with visionary Guy Laliberté as President and CEO of his company, Lune Rouge Entertainment, to develop and launch the ambitious and innovative PY1. Prior, he co-founded the visual design studio, 4U2C, specializing in design and production of visual content environments. 

Stéphane played an active role in building the Cirque du Soleil into the international powerhouse it is today. He served as Cirque’s Executive Producer of numerous world-renowned shows, including TOTEM, Amaluna, and Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour. As Vice President of Production for Cirque du Soleil, he managed the theater designs, all technical departments and had creative oversight on some of the company’s biggest hits, including Varekai, KÀ, The Beatle’s LOVE, KOOZA, Zaia, Zed, Criss Angel Believe and Wintuk. 

Prior to Cirque, Stéphane collaborated on more then 200 productions, either as Lighting Designer or Production Manager. In 1998, he led the opera The Damnation of Faust, conducted by Seiji Ozawa and directed by Robert Lepage, which was presented in Japan and co-produced by Opéra de Paris. The opera in now in “repertoire” at the MET in NYC.  

Stephane was named one of the Top 50 influencers of the industry by Live Design Magazine in 2010. He has a proven ability to effectively manage numerous projects concurrently while nourishing creative innovation. His sound management and trusted leadership cultivate creativity and ensure that business objectives are always met, usually surpassed. 

From June 2021 to July 2022, Stephane has been the Head of Production for the innovative company internationally renowned called FEVER and now acts as consultant for them as Strategic advisor. 

Véronique Paradis is an industrial designer and holds a master's degree in strategy from HEC Montréal. Véronique has led several open innovation projects to initiate companies to use design thinking as a strategic lever for differentiation. She now leads innovation efforts at the Society for Arts and Technology in order to give them a strategic scope, to create synergies between teams and to develop a systemic innovation capacity.

A theater enthusiast from an early age, David Poulin graduated from Collège Lionel-Groulx in 1996 with a degree in theatre production. He has worked for numerous companies in Montreal and on tour, while also making a foray into artistic direction for music videos and films.
He was recruited by Cirque du Soleil in 1998, first as stage manager and then as general manager for three different big top shows.
David discovered his creative niche as an assistant director on numerous productions and events working with Michel Laprise, Martin Genest and Philippe Decouflé. Since then, he has progressed to the rank of creative director on various productions in the event branch of Cirque du Soleil.
He also independently produced a series of immersive 1920s-themed cabarets, La Perle Blanche, presented at the Rialto Theatre in 2012 and 2013.
Since September 2021, David has joined the 7 doigts de la main family as Director of Creation.

Laurent Simon is professor and director of the Department of entrepreneurship and innovation, and co-director of Mosaic, the creativity and innovation hub at HEC Montréal. His teachings and research focus on the management of creativity applied to innovation in organizations, in different sectors, including the arts, culture, and creative industries. 

After a decorated competitive trampoline career, Didier Stowe made a series of bold career decisions that allowed him participating in a wide range of creative projects in both circus and music.  

As a free-lance acrobat, his performances were celebrated in some world-renowned festivals including the “Monte Carlo Circus Festival”, and “Le plus grand cabaret du monde’’, to name a few.  

His drive for music composition developed in parallel with his circus performances. Didier wrote and performed three songs for the show ‘Amuse’ by Les 7 doigts de la main.  

During his seven-year employment on Cirque du Soleil’s resident show “Joya” in Mexico, he decided to write and record a full-length album entitled “Aberdeen” with the help of multi-instrumentalist, Joe Hundertmark, and sound engineer, Mathieu Dulong. The band, entitled Moth Pilots, would sign a publishing deal with Love Cat Music and have songs featured on the fifth season of the television series “Dexter”, and the first season of “Ordinary Joe”. The first song of the album was also licensed to an American movie production, “Big America”, that is yet to be released. 

Cofounder and artistic codirector of Les 7 doigts de la main, Samuel is known for his far-out creativity. His interest for interdisciplinary creation has motivated him to direct various shows in circus arts, dance, theatre, visual arts, video, and historical research alike. His creations have been presented all over the world, including at the Sadler’s Wells Theater, Les Nuits de Fourvière, the Melbourne Arts Festival, La Villette and the Hong Kong Arts Festival.