ABOUT
Vías is a transdisciplinary company based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal that challenges how live art engages the audience. With dance at its core, the company’s work is anchored in the idea of art as a means of transcendence, therefore, it seeks to design transformative experiences that nurture non-rational connections and venture beyond the mundane.
Standing out for its meticulous attention to detail, Vías adopts a unique approach to each project and assembles a team of experts from different fields, inviting them to intertwine their ideas at each stage of research, creation and production. As a result, the company facilitates memorable shared encounters through multi-layered, high-quality artworks.
Vías does not seek to create along a continuous line, but to use the tools it acquires over time to freely reinvent itself and conceive a unique identity and aesthetic for each creation. In this way, the company eludes classifications and labels, following its call of the present with the desire to achieve depth in every process it undertakes.
Born in Mexico City, Diana trained at Estudio de Ballet Tecamachalco, the National Ballet School of Cuba and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. She was a member of the National Dance Company of Mexico before joining Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, where she danced between 2014 and 2019, performing repertoire by Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Jean Christophe Maillot, Stephan Thoss, Edward Clug, Didy Veldman, Ken Ossola, Étienne Béchard and Uwe Scholz, among others, and touring internationally. Since 2016, she studies vocal techniques with singer Mamselle Ruiz. She was a member of the multidisciplinary lab Quantum Collective and has worked as a freelance dancer with choreographers of the Montreal scene such as Anne Plamondon, Martin Messier, Sylvain Émard, Morgane Letiec, Louise Bédard, Andrew Skeels and Caroline Laurin-Beaucage. Diana is also a faculty member at Danse à la Carte and Les Studios of Les Grands Ballets.
Born in Mexico City, Paco is a multidisciplinary artist, choreographer, dancer, teacher, rehearsal director, and artistic advisor. Since 2019, he has co-directed the company Vías alongside Diana León, producing impactful works such as Sur ce chemin, tu es sûre de te perdre, Sabor de mi corazón, and Flesh and Sound. Paco danced with RUBBERBAND for 10 years, where he also served as artistic coordinator, contributing to the company's evolution under the direction of Victor Quijada. He toured extensively across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Germany, and Poland. Paco has also collaborated with PPS Danse, Anne Plamondon Productions, Martin Messier, Je suis Julio, Edgar Zendejas, and other independent choreographers. He is a passionate educator, having taught at the École supérieure de ballet du Québec, Springboard Danse Montréal, Domaine Forget, Transformation, Danse à la Carte, the École de danse de Québec, and the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. In parallel, Paco explores other art forms such as music, writing, and visual arts, focusing on the phenomenology of movement as a union with the natural world. His constant artistic discipline reflects his commitment to discovering new forms of expression.
Vías began its activities as a collective in 2015, serving as a platform for research and creation for its two co-directors, Diana León and Paco Ziel. In May 2022, Vías became a nonprofit organization, and in 2024 it received the Prix de la Danse de Montréal in the Revelation category, a recognition awarded by Tangente and Agora de la Danse.
The company has produced the works On this path, you are sure to get lost (2018), Sabor de mi corazón: Cumbia (2022), and Flesh and Sound (2023).
+ visual director
+ filmmaker
+ photographer
Benoit
Lariviere
Tony Bougiouris - President
Diana León - Vice President
Juan Vázquez - Treasurer
Paco Ziel - Administrator