Québeco-vietnamese and raised in Ottawa, B-girl known as Cleopatra and co-founder of dance company Tentacle Tribe, Emmanuelle Lê Phan has forged a singular career path intermingling breaking, contemporary dance and circus performances. Although not a classical circus artist, her dance’s virtuosity brought her to Cirque du Soleil stages (The Beatles LOVE Show in Las Vegas), Cirque Éloize stages (ID) and other international special events.
In essence, what draws her in is movement invention and choreographic finesse. In her body, a varied array of forms: breaking, popping, capoeira, parkour, house, modern and a desire to bond them into her own freestyle language. This versatility is the result of a varied training spectrum: from completing a BFA in contemporary dance at Concordia University in 2003, to battling in breaking and all-style categories since 1999. Her past collaborations include co-founding Solid State Breakdance Collective and dancing for Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Rubberbandance, Marta Marta House of Pride and Bboyizm.
In 2012, the decision to create with Swedish choreographer Elon Höglund steers them into their new Tentacle Tribe universe. Since then, the company has created many works, notably Nobody Likes a Pixelated Squid, Threesixnine and Ghost. In the last five years, their work has been shown in over 70 cities worldwide along with workshop outreach and the dissemination of their four short films: Elon & Emmanuelle, Mami Origami, Vanishing Points and Crack the Cypher. As a solo choreographer, Emmanuelle has created a female trio, Origami Mami that has toured in many Hiphop festivals as well as commissioned pieces for Dansenshus Oslo’s Urban Moves Festival, the 100LUX Festival and L’École de danse de Québec.
B-girl Cleopatra reps with the all-female breaking crew Legendary Crew.