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Festival TransAmériques
May 22 to June 5, 2025
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© Florian Sumi

CUTLASS SPRING

Dana Michel

Chameleon artist Dana Michel is hunting for a pulse and to widen the door to her sexual self. A piercing and unexpected look at the liberation of a body.

Details

Do we ever stop needing sexual education? How can we learn to listen to our own instincts amidst the noise of how society tells us we should behave and the expectations of those in our proximity? Chameleon artist Dana Michel probes her personal history and scans the landscape around her on the hunt for a pulse. In order to access her full human potential, she must widen the door to her sexual self.

How do we reinitialize the body in sleep mode, repressed for its own survival? What tools do we use to dig up our buried parts? Dana Michel continues to dissect her identity by exploring zones of sexual limitations and conditioning. With raw energy and movement inching toward freedom and engaging the infinite potential of everyday objects, CUTLASS SPRING confirms the astonishing originality and innate humour of this artist, a 2017 Venice Biennial Silver Lion recipient. An unexpected, piercing look at the liberation of a body.

Credits

Produced by Dana Michel
Executive Producer Par B.L.eux
Created and performed by Dana Michel
Artistic Activators Ellen Furey + Peter James + Heidi Louis + Mathieu Léger + Roscoe Michel + Karlyn Percil + Yoan Sorin + Alanna Stuart
Sound Consultant David Drury
Lighting Design Karine Gauthier
Technical Directors Caroline Nadeau + Karine Gauthier
Distribution Key Performance

Co-produced by Festival TransAmériques + Arsenic (Lausanne) + Bastard Festival (Trondheim) + Black Box Teater (Oslo) + Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans + Centre national des Arts (Ottawa) + Julidans (Amsterdam) + da:ns lab (Singapour) + Galerie du Dourven – Passerelle Centre d’art contemporain (France) + Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels) + Montpellier Danse + Moving in November (Helsinki)
With the support of Visiting Dance Artist Program, a joint initiative of National Arts Centre + Canada Council for the Arts

Creative residencies Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans + Centre national des Arts (Ottawa) + CounterPulse (San Francisco) + Dancemakers (Toronto) + Galerie du Dourven (Trédrez-Locquémeau) + Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels) + PAF-Performing Arts Forum (Saint-Erme-Outre-et-Ramecourt) + Par B.L.eux + Usine C + Reykjavik Dance Festival + Tanzhaus Zurich

Presented in association with Théâtre Prospero

Dana Michel is an associate artist at Par B.L.eux

Written by Elsa Pépin
Translated by Neil Kroetsch

 

© Richmond Lam

Dana Michel (Montreal)

Choreographer and live artist originally from Ottawa and based in Montreal since 2000, Dana Michel has been on a meteoric rise since her 2013 solo Yellow Towel premiered at the FTA.

Full biography