After a handful of presentations in rather more informal settings, it was in 1998 that the company truly took off. Between 1998 and 2001, Emmanuel Jouthe was commissioned to create three works. First, the Teatro Libero in Palermo (Italy) gave him the opportunity, during a choreographic residency, to create for 10 international dancers the piece Corpo trepidente, Corps coupable. This first experience of creation away from home inspired Emmanuel to seek out other international collaborations. The Canada Dance Festival (Ottawa) and Dance Immersion (Toronto) asked him to create 3 Centauromachia 4, a piece for five female dancers noted for its elegance and for its eloquence. The work enjoyed a wide distribution– in Montreal as well as abroad – through to spring 2003. And in 2001, the Toronto company Overall Dance commissioned Acceleration, a piece that opposes such notions as nervous tension and relative calm.

In 1999, Emmanuel Jouthe participated (as performer) in the project Hautnah from German choreographer Felix Ruckert, and developed an artistic complicity with the creator. Invited by Ruckert, he travelled to Berlin in 2001 to work on the project TXT. During his stay, he created the duo M, performed by Felix Ruckert and Julyan Hamilton. In 2002, M was added to Danse Carpe Diem’s repertoire in a version performed by Jouthe and David Pressault, and presented in Montreal and Vancouver.

During Jouthe’s visit to Berlin, Felix Ruckert collaborated on the creation of Chanel et les gémeaux, which premiered in spring 2002. This piece gave rise to a new way of exploring the body and shame, as well as calling into question our ideas of temporality and intimacy.

The exploration of temporality is also a concern in Vitrail, the first phase in the project Dimanche XXIe, presented during the FIND in 2003. The piece, performed in a store window, fosters a new way of relating to the public and the democratization of the poetic body.

Emmanuel Jouthe is currently working on Æternam, the second phase of the Dimanche XXIe project, to be presented in fall 2004 and co-produced by Danse-Cité.