Embedded Files
The Company
The Company
About ZemmourBallet
Founded in 2019 in Sherbrooke by Nicolas Zemmour, ZemmourBallet is the living laboratory of Épaissisme, a choreographic movement that explores the thickness of human experience—bodies, gestures, time, speech, and emotions. More than a company, we create immersive works in which each movement becomes a vector of memory, singularity, and duration.
Since its founding, ZemmourBallet has established itself as a key player on the dance scene by developing original creations and bold collaborations that extend beyond local boundaries. Our work speaks to audiences, as well as to venues and institutions seeking to engage through a deeply experiential form of dance.
Mission
To create and present dance performances and to develop artistic experiences of high human and sensory density.
Vision
To affirm Épaissiste dance: a dance of density, presence, and transformation, where the body becomes a territory of experience, memory, and relation. Through Épaissisme, ZemmourBallet proposes a new artistic movement and redefines the relationship between the work, the performers, and the audiences.
Values
Excellence – Integrity – Accessibility
At ZemmourBallet, our values are not abstract principles. They guide the way we create, work, and build relationships with audiences, artists, and partners. They give concrete direction to our artistic and human commitment.
Integrity
Integrity lies at the heart of our approach. It asks us to remain coherent between what we think, what we create, and what we do. It means making honest choices, even when they are more demanding, less immediate, or less comfortable. In our artistic work, as in the way we lead the company, integrity pushes us to refuse complacency, assume our responsibilities, and build from a place of truth and fairness.
Excellence
For us, excellence is not the pursuit of fixed perfection. It is a practice of rigor, precision, and consistency. It is expressed through attention to detail, the quality of daily work, respect for the creative process, and a lasting commitment to the work, the performers, the collaborators, and the audiences. We believe that high standards are a form of respect, and that solidity, coherence, and depth are born through continuity of work.
Accessibility
For ZemmourBallet, accessibility does not mean simplifying the experience. It means creating the conditions for a genuine encounter with the work, without reducing its richness or complexity. We seek to open doors, build bridges, and offer clear, inclusive, and sensitive contexts so that diverse audiences can enter into relationship with our work. Artistically as well as organizationally, this also means reducing barriers, making exchanges more fluid, and fostering fair conditions.
These values find their fullest meaning in Épaissisme, at the core of ZemmourBallet’s artistic vision. Through it, we affirm a dance of density, presence, and consciousness, where the body is never reduced to a simple form, but understood as an inhabited territory, carrying memory, tension, and humanity.
In Sherbrooke and beyond, we aim to create dance that connects, engages, and transforms. A dance capable of reaching audiences in depth, while actively contributing to cultural life through creation, transmission, and dialogue.
Status
Canadian registered charity
Permanent Resident Company at the Jean-Besré Performing Arts Center
Cultural organization of the City of Sherbrooke
We acknowledge that we are presenting in Sherbrooke, on the Ndakina, the ancestral territory of the W8banaki / Abenaki Nation. We express our respect and gratitude to the peoples who have cared for this territory and who continue to do so.
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
ZemmourBallet is guided by a Board of Directors whose complementary expertise spans the arts, academia, law and entrepreneurship, supporting the company’s development, governance and reach.
President: Kevin Zemmour, MD – Professor of Psychiatry, University of Sherbrooke – CHUS Sherbrooke, author. Provides expertise in organizational leadership, human psychology, and strategic governance.
Vice President: Josiane Levy – Former General Director of a travel agency. Contributes operational management experience and strategic development for complex projects.
Secretary: Diane Dubé – Head of Coordination, Social Work Unit, CHUS Sherbrooke. Ensures administrative rigor and institutional liaison for local and national initiatives.
Board Member: Sylvain Lejour – Co-founder, Flexpipe Inc. Brings entrepreneurial and strategic expertise for economic development and innovation.
Board Member: Cynthia Pigeon – Dance Professor, École de danse de Québec. Provides academic and pedagogical insight, supporting the training and development of artists.
Board Member: Gérard Samet – International and litigation lawyer. Provides legal and contractual expertise, essential for securing collaborations and international tours.
General and Artistic Direction
General and Artistic Direction
A committed creator in the service of Épaissisme and dance
Nicolas Zemmour is a Franco-Canadian choreographer, dancer, and General and Artistic Director. Trained at the Conservatoire d’Avignon and at the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, he was profoundly influenced by Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater. A performer for seven years with Ballet Preljocaj and a contemporary soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre, he has built a solid international career shaped by major tours and creations.
In 2017, he premiered his first international work, La Brisure des Vases, produced by Les Grands Théâtres du Luxembourg and co-produced by the Ballet National de Marseille and Les Hivernales d’Avignon, establishing his presence on the European choreographic scene.
In 2019, he founded ZemmourBallet in Sherbrooke, a living laboratory of Épaissisme, developed with dramaturg Marc Zemmour. This approach explores the thickness of human experience, where form, meaning, and emotion converge in unprecedented depth. Under his direction, the company has developed a center for creation and dissemination at the Jean-Besré Performing Arts Center, presenting performances to the general public and strengthening access to culture in the Estrie region.
Nicolas Zemmour is also a builder of artistic communities. He founded the Sherbrooke Contemporary Dance Festival, organizes the Impro Danse performances, and serves on the board of Culture Sherbrooke. He has taught at Cégep de Sherbrooke and Bishop’s University and has served on the boards of RQD and CCE. Recipient of the CALQ Artist of the Year Award in 2025, he is now drawing the attention of major institutions in Europe, the United States, and South America.
Values: excellence, integrity, accessibility.
Head of Communication and Development in Latin America
Head of Communication and Development in Latin America
Born and raised in Mexico, Gabriela Guerra Woo is a dancer, choreographer, graphic designer, and cultural manager. In 2026, she joined ZemmourBallet as Head of Communication and Development in Latin America, contributing to the company’s structural growth and strategic expansion.
She has collaborated with several dance companies in Mexico and has participated in national and international tours and festivals. During her early years as a performer, she received several professional development grants in Mexico, which allowed her to deepen her artistic research and create her first choreographic works, later presented in Portugal, Spain, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.
Her practice understands the body as a space of dissidence, shaped by personal, political, and poetic forces. Through movement improvisation and sound exploration, she develops an approach rooted in lived experience and in a sensitive reading of the tensions that shape the body.
She is currently developing the research-creation project From the Desired Body to the Lived Body, which examines the hegemony of beauty and its impact on the female body, as part of a Master’s degree in cultural project development. Alongside this work, she maintains an independent artistic practice.
Photo credit: Ian Woo.
Our Creative Process
Our Creative Process
At ZemmourBallet, each creation emerges from a deep immersion in the world around us. Even before entering the studio, Nicolas and Marc Zemmour conduct field research: collecting testimonies, leading dance-therapy workshops, and engaging with social, educational, and cultural partners. These experiences inform the creative process and enrich the dramaturgy.
Our approach is rooted in Épaissisme, exploring the density of gesture, time, and thought. Rather than favoring simplicity, we weave complex networks of meaning and bodily states to offer the audience a sensory and reflective experience in constant resonance. Movement becomes a vehicle for memory, individuality, and the complexity of the world.
From concept to stage, an entire year is dedicated to transforming these observations into choreographic ideas. Performers then explore these concepts through body and space, revealing the richness and thickness of each creation. More than a performance, each work is an act, a living dialogue between artists, audiences, and society.
We also collaborate with visual artists, such as Sans Cravate, to create posters that extend the Épaissiste experience beyond the stage.
General Regulations
General Regulations
Become a Member
Become a Member
To become a member pay the $20 membership fee. This membership grants free access to ZemmourBallet activities, including daily morning masterclasses.
Members agree to comply with the general regulations and policies in force within the organization. Membership also provides the right to attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
The Board of Directors reserves the right to refuse or revoke membership in accordance with the association’s regulations.
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