Section Multimedia!

See our online reality TV sery about the story of our new recruits. It was not translated yet but you'll get most of it anyway... click here

This section is slowly becoming a small online Free Skating television station. Come back often, you will find extracts of performances, videos of the troop and others surprised to come…

Underground - video trailer

A teaser of our show "Underground" to be premiered on February 27th 2009, at 22h00. Rendez-vous at Resto-bar "Brasseurs de Montréal" at 1485 Ottawa, in Montréal. Spectators will be guided to a secret location for the show.

Hip-hop and The Conductor

A number of our last full feature show. With the dance troop Arrival.

Duel: Shawn Sawyer vs. Le Patin Libre

A clip from Alternative.

Alternative

Our first full feature show, resumed in 2 minutes.

Starring Jonathan Pelletier, Christina Bourgeois, Julien Mercier, Sylvain Bouillère, Magali Charpentier, Alex Hamel, Mylène Girard, Liam Dougherty and Shawn Sawyer

Petit Homme - Little Man
By/par Sylvain Bouillère

A number about the learning and the joy of skating.

Little Man - The Making Of

This very short documentary shows some skaters of the troop at work and explains the artistic process behind our numbers,

The acrobatical training of Le Patin Libre

Courageously and independantly, the troop is training to bring a new acrobatical twist to skating.

At the Alternative show, the results of this training will be unveiled for the first time. The show definitely has a new extreme twist...

Live TV Capsule

In a madness of improvisation, the troop made some appearances in the broadcast of" 'Salut, Bonjour " in March, 2008.

We can see Julien Mercier, Sylvain Bouillère, Jonathan Pelletier, Liam Dougherty, Mylène Girard, Pierre Bernier, Annie Tremblay, Victoria Bouquet and lots of kids who joined us.

Thank you!

New movement of extreme ice-skating!

Liam Dougherty and Pierre Bernier push the intensity a little further during one of our outdoor shows in a winter's carnival in Farnham.

Le Patin Libre Manifesto

This video is a recording of our manifesto on ice , a short number that opened our Halloween Party on Ice 2007. The point is to explain everybody who we are and what is our project... Usually, artists do that with a text. We do it with a New Wave skating number.

With Magali Charpentier, Liam Dougherty, Sylvain Bouillère, Julien Mercier, Alexandre Hamel, Jonathan Pelletier and Pierre Bernier.
A choregraphy by Julien Mercier.

Surprise show in Montreal (Jan. 27th 2008)

The troop was supposed to be at "la Fête des Neiges de Montréal". The event was canceled because of the menace of a strike by the employees of the park. Sunday, January 27th, we ended up being free.So free we decided to organise a spontaneous event to cheer up Montrealers and to bring a bit of energy at Beaver Lake, on Mount Royal. The goal was not to put on a nice elegant show... It was to show up with no warning, to deploy a battery powered sound system and to launch ourselves an original family event. It's the adrenaline of improvised ressourcefulness , the fun of a skating show and the joy of making loads of people happy!

Thank to Jonathan Boudreau Béland who filmed for us.

The Queen of Fire

One of the numbers of our last show stars Mylène Girard as the evil queen who kidnapped Santa Claus.

"When I was offered the part of the Queen of Fire, I didn't found much affinity between the character and me, except my red hairs... Used to skate in couple, the Queen of Fire was looking for her king during a few rehersals. But this role allowed me to explore a field of interpretation I was not used to. During our first try on the ice with the fire breathers, the light, the heath and the crackling of fire created a magic atmosphere... and I have to say I had a good scare for my red hairs..."

- Mylène Girard

The Little Prince

In 2007, Alexandre Hamel, the founder of the troop, also created and directed the year end ice show of a local skating club. The goal was to create a real theatre piece on ice that would allow the skating new wave to take life into a full lenght show. This video stars the skaters of the Club de Patinage Artistique de Boucherville. Some of them had to invest impressing efforts for "a little local show". Among others, you will see Nicolas Tondreau-Alin, Charles Tondreau-Alin, Valérie Milette, Roxanne Dupuis, Victoria Bouquet, Clara Gosselin, Sébastien Lapointe, Kevin Darwish and Dominic Rondeau.

Tap Skating

The troop is now known for having invented "tap skating", which is a style of ice performance allowing the skaters to create a real music (and not only sounds) with blades, ice, and skating mooves.

In this video, we see Julien Mercier and Alexandre Hamel in a quick montage of their performances during winter 2007.

Au Clair de la Lune

A cute adaptation of the French song. Each verse is transformed into a skating image.

- Under the moon, my friend Pierrot. - Let me use your feather, to write a word - My candle is dead, I lost my fire. - Open me your door, for the love of God.

It is the first number created by the troop as a collective and opened the very first show of Le Patin Libre!

It stars Milena Todaro, Anthony Evans and Alexandre Hamel. We hear Alexandra Lauzon, a friend of the troop who interpreted the song for us.

In winter Carnivals

The troop visits many wnter carnivals. We create a warm ambiance with short shows and participative ice animation.

Here's a short video whowing what we do in those events.

Alexis le Trotteur (or Running Alexis)

"When I was small , my parents read me the story of Alexis le Trotteur. It's a legend about a quebecer that really existed. Supposedly, he ran faster than horses.

This winter, I wanted to give life to this story with my skating. It gave a number I like a lot.

That's what I like about the skating New Wave. I invent numbers about things that touch me. I work loads on that stuff but I'm always proud of the result. It's like if my ideas and imagination become alive! I prefer that to imposed figures and normal solos."

-Alexandre Hamel

Acrobatic movement : head slide

The troop is also working on a new acrobatic side to its performances. Here, we see a trick invented by Liam Dougherty, a senior level dance skater.

Acrobatic movement : assisted jump on the board and cartwheel to the ice

The troop is also working on a new acrobatic side to its performances. Here, we see a trick invented by Alexandre Hamel.

"It's been years I skate between boards and I always thought they could be used in some way.When I was a normal skater, it was forbidden , but now, I can try what I want!"

The feeling of that moove is cool! And seriously, I don't think it's more dangerous than an overhead pair lift... "

-Alexandre Hamel

Extreme Skating

Extreme ice skating is a new acrobatic sport practiced with hockey skates.

Alexandre Hamel trains a lot in this sport starting to be popular in Europe and United-States but that was not yet introduced in Canada.

Le Patin Libre already started to introduce extreme ice skating mooves in numbers...

Extreme Skating: Fakie 900

900 degrees in the air = 2 and a half rotations

(as much as a double axel but with hockey skates and a forward landing)

According to the extreme skating community linked through various websites this video is the first recording ever of this moove.