News Archives
February 20th 2008: Le Patin Libre launches "The School of Le Patin Libre"
A school of creative skating which will allow skaters to cultivate their artistic side of their passion on ice... We are in search of young talents which will receive a unique training and which could have the luck to participate in the big projects of the troop. The lessons will be given once a week this summer. Click here for more information.
February 18th 2008: End of the winter tour!
Our third wintry tour is now ended! We are very proud there. And especially we enjoyed well ourselves together with people of Montreal, Magog, Beaconsfield, Farnham and Quebec! We start at once again working on our next show! The portefolio section of the site always tells each of our appearances with some photos and even videos.
January 16th 2008: Canadians Championships
Several skaters of the troop are going to participate in the Canadian championships which will take place at the end of week. A big "shit" to Mylène Girard, Liam Dougherty and Jonathan Pelletier!
December 29th 2007: Vidéos
The website has a brand new section loaded with lots of videos! Take a look!! And come back soon, you will be able to find more and more!
December 22th 2007: The new wave of figure skatin begins to be seen at the international!
Alexandre Hamel, a skater of the troop, presented solos in 5 shows of figure skating in England. People did not expect that! The numbers had a big success and the energy of the troop begins to interest diverse organizations outside of the country. When will be the first big trip of the troop?
December 17th 2007: Memorable Cristmas Holidays!
The troop presented for the first time their Cristmasl's tale created by Sylvain Bouillère in the holiday party of the Saint Laurent and Saint Eustache figure skating clubs. The children of the club lived a unique experience by participating in the shows after a funny lesson of choreography given by the stars of the troop. There were also games, lessons of skating and other dynamic performances. In brief, Cristmas's holidays on ice are extraordinary. See more or read that article about the apparition in Saint-Laurent city.
December 4th 2007: Cristmas's tale by Sylvain Bouillère
During the repetitions of the show of Halloween, Sylvain Bouillère, an artist of the troop, had already set to work a Cristmas's show. The stars of the show are now in extensive repetitions: the author Sylvain, Julien Mercier, Alexandre Hamel, Jonathan Pelletier, Victoria Bouquet and Mylène Girard. It will be presented in Saint Laurent on Saturday, December 15th, 2007 and in Saint Eustache on Sunday, December 16th, 2007. It is FREE! So welcome to all of you! Infos: alex@lepatinlibre.com or 514-963-1501
December 3rd 2007 : First step to international!!!
During holidays, Alex will do 4 shows in England with the International School of Skating of United Kingdom. This time, Alex goes there alone... Next time, it is the troop that will take a walk there... It will be even more fun than international competitions! To follow...
November 4th 2007: Big succes for the on ice masked ball!
After months of preparation, the first on Ice Masked ball of LePatinLibre is a frank success! Saint-Julie's rink filled with about 500 enthusiastic spectators. Some had come dressed up and were able to put on their skates to play on the ice with the stars of the troop, between the shows. Come back soon on the site to see photos and videos of this event which makes a beautiful mark in the history of the young troop. If you have some pictures or videos of this events, please send them to us! alex@lepatinlibre.com Thank you!
By the way, there was a big oversight... The troop was capable of handing grants to her skaters and skaters who will participate in the Canadian championships and in the championships of division. All were named and applauds, but Izabelle Valiquette was forgotten, a competitor in the senior lady, nothing less! Sorry... nothing is perfect, especially in a big organization like that. Congratulation for this beautiful beginning of the competitive season and for your participation to our show! It's a pleasure for us to have you in the troop of LePatinLibre.
October 29th 2007: Champions ready for the big day!
The skaters of the troop glows at the provincial championships. Valérie Millette, Nicolas Tondreau-Alin and the partner Sebastien Buron and Véronique De Beaumont all takes away the provincial championships title! Impressive, when we know that besides their competitive training, they repeated in the middle of the night and before dawn for the show of the troop which takes place on Saturday, November 3rd at 8:00 pm. Congratulations also to Justine Gosselin (3rd), Charles Tondreau-Alin (6th), Jonathan Pelletier (3rd) et Sylvain Bouillère (3rd).
October 19th 2007:The Tradition Vs. The New Wave: Nicholas Young will face the guys of LePatinLibre in a spectacular duel on ice.
Nicholas Young is an international competitor of figure skating. He is a part of the best skaters in Canada. He accepted the challenge thrown by the troop... A duel on ice. The Tradition Vs. The New Wave. The athlete disciplines Vs. 3 crazy guys on ice developing a new acrobatic style of Xtreme skating. That is going to take place in our on ice Masked ball on Saturday, November 3rd, at 8:00 pm, in the rink of Saint-Julie. More informations
October 14th 2007: Nouveau concept de spectacle testé avec succès à Québec pour "Skate Canada"
During a full day, Nicolas, Charles, Alex and Roxanne took a break from the preparations for the show of Halloween to make a small show in height-heart of Quebec, outside! Yes! Their cooled ice works. Too cool, Quebec! For the first time, they tried the number of the Little Girl with Matches by integrating the public into skates, on the ice rink! We liked that and people of Quebec also. Skate Canada, who organized the event appreciated as well. Here is a page of their Web site about this beautiful day.
September 1st 2007: Le Patin Libre on Roller-Blades at La Ronde
Last night, Le Patin Libre offered Roller-Blades shows during The Sleepless night at La Ronde. Short performance implied of the deejeereedoo (Australian tribal musical instrument) live, choreographies rather rock ' n roll, acrobatics, fire spiter, etc. All that for an adult public, this time. Still new material! You can see it images here.
August 22th 2007: For local Figure Skating Club and School Environment
Le Patin Libre wants to bring its energy to more people! Further to some demands, we thus developed fixed prices and services adapted specially for the school environment and the local clubs of figure skating: shows, participative activities on ice, seminars-shows, holidays on ice, services for on ice reviews of the end of year, etc... Click here for more informations.
veut amener son énergie à plus de gens! Suite à quelques demandes, nous avons donc développé des forfaits et des services adaptés spécialement pour le milieu scolaire et les clubs de patinage artistique locaux: des spectacles, des activités participatives sur glace, des séminaires-spectacles, des fêtes sur glace, des services pour les revues sur glace de fin d'année, etc... Cliquez ici pour avoir plus d'informations sur tout ça.
August 20th 2007: It's started!!!
The repetitions for the on ice Masked ball are begun! About twenty young skaters and some skaters of very high level joined the troop and work together to develop numbers more than originals which will appear during the event of November 3rd. Visit the website often, there will be soon photos and extracts... By the way, thanks to the sponsors who began to encourage us and who allows all that. Take a look at them here.
August 7th 2007: Xtreme Skating
You want to see more: click here. It's Xtreme Figure Skating! A new discipline on hockey skates developing in Europe and in United States. Le Patin Libre wants to introduce it in Quebec. If it interests you: alex@lepatinlibre.com. Une nouvelle discipline sur patins de hockey se dévelopant beaucoup en Europe et aux États Unis. Le Patin Libre veut l'introduire au Québec. Si ca vous intéresse: . Here is what a group of Xtreme skaters from Nottingham in England put on YouTube after Alex visited them: "Nottingham Skaters meet Alex Hamel from Le Patin Libre (youtube.com/lepatinlibre and www.lepatinlibre.com). Alex was using hockey skates only for the first or second time, and was only on the ice for around 2 hours before pulling off the holy grail of xtreme skating, the fakie 720."
July 15th 2007: Le Patin Libre recruit young skaters!
Le Patin Libre looks for a quarataine of young skaters and artistic skaters to join its shows! You will have the luck to become a member of the troop by skating in a group number! It is free! (Finally something free in this high skating society) To know more about it, click here or join Alexandre at alex@lepatinlibre.com
June 21th 2007: "The on Ice Masked ball of Le Patin Libre: in November 3rd, 2007"
We can finally announce the holding of our next show-event! On Saturday, November 3rd, 2007, from 8:00 pm, in Saint-Julie's rink, Le Patin Libre invites you in its on ice masked ball! To make the pleasure and the madness of Halloween last longer, you can join the troop to see its new creations and skate with them! Bring your suits and get ready for a unique evening. To know more, click here.
May 25th 2007: "Acrobatics on ice YouTube"
The skaters of the troop work on the development of new more acrobatic movements of skating. To see some extracts of these trainings (far from the stiff figure skating traditions), click here. You will discover our site on YouTube which is an excellent way of following the evolution of the troop through any sort of videos.
Les patineurs de la troupe travaillent au développement de nouveaux mouvements de patinage plus acrobatiques. Pour voir quelques extraits de ces entraînements bien loin de la rigide tradition du patinage de fantaisie, click here. Vous allez découvrir notre site YouTube qui est une excellente façon de suivre l'évolution de la troupe à travers toute sorte de vidéos.
April 23th 2007: "The small prince opens new doors"
The 2007 on ice ending review of Boucherville's FSC has just ended. For this occasion, Alexandre Hamel, of the troop Le Patin Libre had adapted for the ice the famous story of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Small Prince. With this about 2 hours show, the purpose of Alexandre was to prove that even with very limited resources, a figure skating show still can be a real author's artistic work. To know more about it click here.
March 22nd 2007
While the world figure skating championships are being held in Japan, the
radio of Radio-Canada made a raport about Le Patin Libre. Click here to hear it. You will then have to click on "La chronique de Robert Frosi".
Yeah, it's in French.
March 21st 2007
Alexandre presently works on the creation of a local skating show that will
be presented in Boucherville on April 21st and 22nd. About 200 skaters of
the figure skating club of Boucherville will materialize his adaptation of
"Le Petit Prince" (the original title of the book "The Little
Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry). He is so impressed by the
implication of the kids that he decided to start working with his partners
from Le Patin Libre to the creation of an artistic skating school that would
allow young skaters to become stars in the shows of the troop... What do you
think about that? Send your comments, suggestions and demands to skazalex@yahoo.com
or phone at 514-963-1501.
March 12th 2007
We did it! We succeeded to do not only one but two suprise appearances! We
invaded the skating rinks of Parc Lafontaine and of Lac des Castors to present
shows that made this day one to be remembered for many happy montrealers.
Rule no.1 when you're trying to create something new: never ask for permission!
Click here to know more about this crazy day during which we launched our new manifesto.
March 10th 2007
Tomorow: surprise show!!! It will be a nice and spontaneous family event with
the merry trooop that will offer a short 10 minutes show. On the skating
rink of Parc Lafontaine, at the end far away from the chalet, in Montréal.
At 11h00 AM (we change time this saturday night, don't forget!). And bring
your skates! Check here for more details.
March 6th 2007
Le Patin Libre in La Presse! That's the biggest newspaper in Montréal!
I'll try to translate: «Forget about shiny costumes, leggings and skin-toned
tights. Briefly, all the old stereotypes associated with figure skating. Here
comes Le Patin Libre.» More... We hope it will convince people to come to our surprise show!
March 1st 2007
Our tour is finished... But the winter's still too nice to stop like that!
We decided to organise a surprise show! It will happen on Sunday March 11th
2007 at 11h00 AM. It's very exciting, the location will only be told here from 23h00 on Saturday March 10th 2007. Check the website! There are more
details on the page
of the surprise show (you can't miss it...).
February 28th 2007
With a journalist who came to interview us during one of our training sessions,
we started writting a manifesto! A manifesto, it's when artists decide to
agree on principles that they write down to direct their work to create something
new. Never before figure skaters have done something like this. We'll have
to organize something extraordinary for its lauch... We'll think about that....
And the journalist's article will be out soon too...
February 26th 2007
Our officiel winter 2007 tour is now finished. Our last
show in Boucherville was a great finale for a tour that
went perfectly! Check out our portefolio section to see everything we did! Now, we are already preparing new inventions
for the future! Check the website often, crazy things are coming. You will
be surprised...
February 12th 2007
Thanks to Julie Marcotte and her figure skating school in Sainte-Julie. She
keeps encouraging the troop by giving them access to a stimulating context
for their rehersals.
February 11th 2007
Another big week-end for Le Patin Libre! We did 2 shows in Beaconsfield and
2 shows in Saint-Basile-Le-Grand. After an intensive training Terra and Liam
make their first appearance with the troop with their impressive and funny
"Ipod" number. The crowd was charmed instantly! To know more about
those appearances, check out our portefolio section.
February 9th 2007
We're LIVE on TV! The program "Salut, Bonjour" of the TVA station
is the biggest morning show in Quebec. This morning, they featured many excerpts
of our performances. We skated on the wonderful lake of "Le Centre de
la Nature" in Laval and had loads of fun with Julie (the journalist)
and the team of TVA. You can see one of the excerpts here.
Click on the little yellow camera under the "Vendredi 9 février".
You know what's the best? Milena, in her interview, was describing Julien
and Alex's new number: "No Music". In the heat of live TV, Milena
and the journalist coined a new term: "Tap skating". Le Patin Libre
keeps inventing new stuff!
February 6th 2007
Two new skaters join the troop! That's the best new that can be for Le Patin
Libre! Terra Findlay and Liam Dougherty are a Senior level (the olympic category)
ice-dancing couple. They just won the 7th position at the Canadian Championships
in Halifax and are now working on a completely crazy number involving an Ipod
and a guy and a girl who can't agree on what music they will skate on! Le
Patin Libre keeps building this new theatrical skating style...
February 5th 2007
The Carnaval de Québec was awesome! It was our best appearance ever!
I don't think there could have been more people watching us, the music and
the cheering drew so many spectators! Everybody liked it, the people whop
hired us are happy too and the troop has more energy than ever. We are already
planning new ideas to make it even better next year! See more here.
January 29th 2007
We had a crazy week-end! It was our 2 first shows of 2007. In Ville Sainte-Catherine
and Napierville. In Napierville we tried our new "big show". It's
ready for the Carnaval de Québec! Check out our portefolio to see images from those shows!
January 17th 2007
Check out the website of the Carnaval
de Québec!
January 15th 2007
Two new skaters join the troop! Meet Roxanne and Julien on the new
The Skaters page in the Zoobeedoo!
section where you can now find a complete mess of fun things about the troop.
Happy surfing!
January 3rd 2007
Thanks to Ben Caissie, a Jazz virtuoso and tavern friend of Alexandre. He
recorded an incredible song expressly for the new show of the troop. For the
first time a skating number is created in a dark Jazz bar of Saint-Laurent
street. Again, the paths leading to novelty...
January 2nd 2007
Thanks to the anonymous security guard of an anonymous skating rink who secretly
lets Alexandre skate in the middle of the night. The paths leading to novelty
are often twisted... ;o)
December 10th 2006
Le Patin Libre opens the ice rink of the Beaver Lake, on Mount-Royal, in Montreal.
The event is a complete success and the season of the troop is officially
launched! Our tour calendar will soon be revealed here...
November 27th 2006
Le Patin Libre is in the midst of a creative buzz! At 3 in the morning, a
Jazz musician watches Alexandre making skating moves on Saint-Laurent street
so he can take notes to create music for the troop... The happy bunch trains
secretly to invent new numbers, without choreographs, without direction, like
a real troop of "saltimbanques"... A dedicated mother is creating
magic costumes... etc, etc, etc... Le Patin Libre is boiling!
November 10th 2006
Thanks to Hugo of Studio Unisons for his help and support! www.studiounisons.com
November 2nd 2006
Again the young troop is remarked for it's novelty and dynamism. It makes
the first page of skatetoday.com, an important website about international
figure skating. (Le
Patin Libre Skating Troupe)
October 21st 2006
The troop is proud to present its first two videos! To view them, go to the
multimedia section.
October 1st 2006
Alexandre Hamel, from Le Patin Libre, has been chosen to create the year end
ice review of the Boucherville Figure Skating Club. More than 125 skaters,
among which stand some high level competitors, will be part of the show. By
adapting for the ice the famous book "The Little Prince", Alexandre
will prove that a community group can create an extraordinary show.
September 9th 2006
Thank you to Côme, from "Côme Gauthier Sport", the pro-shop
of the Gilles-Chabot Center in Boucherville. He is the first sponsor of Le
Patin Libre! His help and support are much appreciated.
May 10th 2006
The young company producing "Le Patin
Libre" won an entrepreneurship contest organised by the "Regroupement
Économique et Social du Sud-Ouest". The dynamism, the originality
and the great potential of the company are acknowledged by the business milieu.
And Alexandre keeps working on new and unexpected skating performances...
