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Festival TransAmériques
May 22 to June 5, 2025
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GOODBYE

MÉLANIE DEMERS

Physicality and emotional virtuosity underscore this spirited look at the creative force, a powerful blend of dance and theatre.

Details

Thwarted equilibrium, vitriolic dreams and a lust for life feed an endless parade of insane expectations, internal conflicts and infighting. Welcome to the manic microcosm of Goodbye, where the only things that really matter are love and death. Under the harsh stranglehold of gods and demons, bodies struggle in a vigorous fight against adversity. Lost in their own labyrinth, they plunge through the troubled waters of an ever-changing reality, inventing a thousand ways to say goodbye so as to survive the imperceptible grief casting a cloud over our times.

Taking the spectator to task, Mélanie Demers stokes her obsessions about the duality of the world in this spirited look at art and its artifices. An all-out deconstruction of both received wisdoms and performance, this powerful blend of dance and theatre is full of physicality and emotional virtuosity.

Credits

PRODUCED BY MAYDAY
CHOREOGRAPHY MÉLANIE DEMERS
PERFORMED BY MÉLANIE DEMERS + BRIANNA LOMBARDO + CHI LONG + JACQUES POULIN-DENIS
MUSIC JEAN-SÉBASTIEN CÔTÉ
LIGHTING DESIGN AND TECHNICAL MANAGERALEXANDRE PILON-GUAY
VOICE COATCH SABRINA REEVES
REHEARSAL ASSISTANT ANNE-MARIE JOURDENAIS

COPRODUCTION FESTIVAL TRANSAMÉRIQUES
CREATIVE RESIDENCIES GARAGE NARDINI (BASSANO DEL GRAPPA) + COMPAGNIE MARIE CHOUINARD + USINE C + CIRCUIT-EST CENTRE CHORÉGRAPHIQUE

PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH AGORA DE LA DANSE

WRITTEN BY FABIENNE CABADO
TRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH

WORLD PREMIÈRE AT FTA

 

MÉLANIE DEMERS (MONTRÉAL)
MAYDAY

Art as an Instrument of Change
Mélanie Demers studied dance, theatre and literature in Quebec City before returning to her home town of Montreal. After completing her studies at LADMMI in 1996, she created her first choreography, Les oubliettes, and collaborated with various choreographers including Danièle Desnoyers and Ginette Laurin. For close to eight years she danced with O Vertigo, resigning in 2006 to pursue her own projects. She founded Mayday in 2007, leaving behind the playful theatricality of her younger work for an approach with a focus on observing the human condition and questioning the role of the artist in society.

Full biography