Jerry Snell

Jerry Snell is a Canadian actor.

Biography

Jerry SNELL: RECENT ACTIVITIES

http://www.newcircusasia.org

Since the creation of the first New Circus Festival in Asia through the National Theatre of Taiwan’s 2006 Open Air Arts Festival, Jerry Snell has been working specifically to meet the demands of setting up projects and creations in Asia by linking the creative resources his colleagues in Canada. With a central goal of allowing artists in Asia access to some of the leading creators in Canada (& vice versa) and assisting Asia in creating for the international market. As a bridge between Canada’s large Asian communities, Jerry Snell is creating a communication network for both residences and creation exchanges between Canada and Asia.

As the artistic director and programmer for such festivals as in Taiwan, where Snell not only created the opening show FLASH, but managed (in collaboration with the National Theatre) a festival that attained a public of over 280,000 persons, and 50,000 for one open air performance for the infamous COMMEDIANTS from Spain.

By retaining the human element of a performer and creator, Jerry Snell has a veteran friendship with directors and artists of the National Circus School of Canada, 7 FINGERS, Cirque Eloize, and Cirque du Soleil. His success in Asia has linked this friendship with National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA), Circus OZ of Australia, ASIANOW in Korea, National Theatre of Taiwan, National Taiwan College of Performing Arts, The Dance Center in Thailand, Vietnam Circus Federation in Vietnam, The Other Festival & DARPANA in India, to name a few…

A long term friendship and having collaborated with some of the greatest artists in China such as choreographer Willy Tsao (City Contemporary Dance Company HK, Beijing LDTX), Pioneer rocker Cui Jian, directors and performers such as the Hebei Acrobatic Troupe, China National Acrobatic Troupe & the China Wuqiao International Circus Festival, earned Snell the trust of the Cirque du Soleil to put together their VIP list of Chinese Important People for the premiere of QUIDAM in Shanghai in June 2007.

As composer, director, actor, performer and engaged artist Jerry Snell does not restrict projects to pure circus, but uses the medium as an ultimate form of multi media or cross disciplinary art or physical theatre, with a powerful ability to communicate to a maximum of public without barriers of language or culture. Having been a veteran of Montreal’s experimental/engaged theatre, alternative/ industrial music scene, Snell has been part of the evolution that has created a powerful image based/ musical theatre, that due to its gigantic success is now being sought around the world (and in Jerry’s case specifically in Asia).

CIRCUS ACTION INTERNATIONAL

Inspired by the success of Cirque du Soleil’s “Cirque du Monde”, Ethiopia’s “Circus of Hope” and Cambodia’s Phare Ponleu Selpak, Canadian director, Jerry Snell has founded another institution for Youth at Risk using Circus and Performing Arts as a tool for helping migrant and street children, working children, freed bonded labor children, trafficked and victims of slave labor in Asia. In collaboration with local and international artists Snell has begun to set up CIRCUS ACTION INTERNATIONAL which is currently a network of teachers, programs, companies using performing arts and circus as an educational tool or simply a way to build confidence and resolve feelings of isolation and abandon in youth cornered by complex problems such as human trafficking, war, AIDS/HIV, poverty and political corruption. Since initiating this first project in Thailand to begin in September 2008, the current network spans from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and India, while seeking teachers, equipment and resources from Australia, Canada, USA, Europe and Asia

“We congratulate Mr. Snell on his commitment and dedication to train young artists and acrobats and hence facilitate innovative ways of income generation and contribute to the promotion of cultural diversity. We extend our best wishes and hope that New Circus Asia will meet with success.”

Richard Engelhardt ,UNESCO Bangkok , Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education Regional Advisor for Culture in Asia and the Pacific/ Regional Unit for Social and Human Sciences in Asia and the Pacific

Jerry Snell’s Profile

Composer, singer, choreographer, and director Jerry Snell is committed to innovative theatre production and performance, and to left-field sociopolitical ideas. He was born in Vancouver but has been based in Montreal since before the start of his professional career.

Snell is like a chameleon, fusing diverse cultures and mediums like dance, theatre, rock concerts, and film acting; often mixing all these elements together into a single event. Founding member of the internationally renowned Montreal dance theatre company Carbone 14 in 1980 , where he played a crucial role in many of its productions. Le Rail (1985), Le Dortoir (1988), and Café des Aveugles (1992) took their edge from Snell's social commentary and often experimental music. 1988 was a typically productive year, in which he acted in Jean-Claude Lauzon's film Un Zoo la Nuit, in Vincent Ward's Map of the Human Heart and in Pierre Falardeau's 15 Février 1839.

In the late 1980s Snell often collaborated with Michel F. Côté, a drummer and stage music composer in the avant-garde music collective Ambiances Magnétiques. He appeared on two albums from Côté's project Bruire: the 1989 Le Barman a Tort de Sourire and the 1992 Les Fleurs de Léo. In 1992, Ambiances Magnétiques released Life in the Suicide Riots, in which Snell assumed the role of lead singer, voicing socially-conscious lyrics over music by Côté, Snell & Claude Vendette. The songs on that album were featured in Café des Aveugles. In 2001 he released a second solo CD, Cash: The Album, a sharp dose of anti-capitalist alternative rock. The soundtrack for his musical compositions for the Beijing Modern Dance Company’s performance “BONE” was released in 2004, followed by the documentary of the China/ Canada Tour by EYESTEELFILM in 2005.

In 1995 Snell left Carbone 14 to found the STP Physical Theatre Company which toured the world presenting workshops, performances and created the first Canada- China co production with the Beijing Modern Dance Company (music composed by Snell). In 2004, a creative residency with the National Circus School and its resulting performance (co-produced by TOHU, la cité des arts du cirque) attracted an audience in Montreal of over 5,000 spectators in six days. In this same period Snell created his own new company: Jerry Snell Industries.

2004,he directed the circus performance Angels of the Storm which created a unique relationship with the directors of TOHU and the National Circus School. Snell has since been invited to return to Asia by choreographer Lin Hsiu Wei to compose and perform music for her company Tai Gu Tales Dance Theatre for a work that opened the Taipei Arts Festival in October 2005 and then toured across Taiwan. The directors of the National Chiang Kai Shek Cultural Centre: National Theatre of Taiwan have also invited Snell for a residence in 2006 to create an acrobatic performance piece with local Taiwanese Artists. He has also been named Artistic Director of their 2006 Open-Air International Arts Festival: Spotlight on New Circus. In 2007, he was again requested to program the open air events for the 20th Anniversary of the National Theatre of Taiwan. Also while in residence in Bangkok Snell has begun to solidify a South East Asia network of training and performers exchange between Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Considered a pioneer in Canadian-Asian cultural development, Snell’s close contacts with artists and respected institutions in Australia, Macau, Hong Kong, Beijing, Guangzhou and Taiwan allow him to develop important artistic ties that channel the flow of ideas between Canada and Asia.

2008 he founded Circus International Action, a network uniting groups using performing and circus arts as a tool for helping migrant, street children, working children, freed bonded labor children, trafficked and victims of slave labor in Asia.

Letters of support for Jerry Snell’s current project in Thailand and Cambodia: The Isaan Project Cross-border Community Project Against Trafficking and Exploitation of Migrant and Vulnerable Children in the Mekong Sub-region (and India)

Filmography

• 1987 : Un zoo la nuit : American
• 1991 : Nelligan : Marin
• 1992 : L'Automne sauvage : John Kendall
• 1993 : Map of the Human Heart : Boleslaw
• 1993 : Matusalem : Voyou du village
• 1995 : Motel : Mat
• 2001 : 15 février 1839 : Lewis Harkin

Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

Anecdotes

External links

• Jerry Snell at the Internet Movie Database

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