What was the starting point for your new solo piece, YOU CANNOT CAN?

I always feel like there are ten or twenty different starting points! After I finished CUTLASS SPRING in 2019, I realized that I had a problem with trusting myself and others. Trusting oneself is not the same as self-confidence: it’s something deeper and more fundamental. My son was taking swimming lessons at that time. I would go with him each Sunday and watch him in the pool. The atmosphere and sounds were too much for me. It was a nightmare, and I thought to myself, “That’s why I don’t know how to swim!” As usual, I followed my instincts, because I knew they would lead me somewhere. My questions were pretty basic and I told myself there were surely other people who were asking the same ones, so I wanted to ask them publicly.

One of your creative strategies is to embrace difficulty. You put yourself in a complex, challenging situation to make yourself vulnerable. Is that how you free yourself artistically from your fears?

With my last piece, MIKE (FTA 2023), I realized that ever since I was a little kid, my experience of life has been really difficult. I feel like most things around me have nothing to do with me. I’m really sensitive and I really like feeling comfortable: if I gave in to my urges, I wouldn’t do anything. But I’m afraid of not living, not discovering anything, and not interacting with other people. Living is really abstract; I need to touch something real and have real, concrete interactions. I hit upon this way of working as a way of pushing myself further and not simply trying to look good or impress people. I’m looking for honest, true relationships. Those are hard to find in this world. By making myself vulnerable and available, I invite others to do the same.

Our lives are made up of millions of micro-moments and micro-understandings. The swimming lessons that terrified me were also opportunities to meet new people, to create new stories, and to gain basic insights into my state of mind at the pool—when I arrive there, once I’m in the water, when I’m wearing one thing or another. All that informed my creative process, like a self-generating monster. I knew that I could gather up all those different pieces eventually, like sweeping up dust into a dustpan.

Does your fascination for physical objects stem from your need to touch real things, which you mentioned earlier?

Oh, absolutely! I love objects. I can dwell a long time on a texture or colour. Our lives are full of objects and influenced by those we surround ourselves with. And because I work on my own, I need company. Objects are my friends and partners. They inspire and soothe me. They form a kind of map that lets me find my bearings if I’m feeling lost. I also like to create different worlds and situations so that I’m not working in an empty studio. I use objects that everyone can recognize. They provide a context for the audience, even if I twist their meaning or use them in different ways.

YOU CANNOT CAN will be performed in a pool, which means being in a closed space where you are seen by the audience at all times. What impact does that have on your presence and your experience of time?

It will be a challenge. It feels like a return to theatre, even though it’s not a typical stage. It won’t be easy for me, because after MIKE, I really wanted to create a performance that lasted 24 hours, 48 hours, or even a week. I love taking things further and stretching out time. But this piece is only one hour. I learned a lot of things from MIKE, and I want to see how those can work together in a different context and format. Being in a pool is a challenge for me, but I know that when I set myself a challenge, I can achieve it. It’s like sports, and I have a background in sports. When you realize what you’re capable of doing when you push yourself, it’s an incredible rush!

Interview by Karine Denault

Back to the show

Interview with Dana Michel | 2026

More news

Interview with Jeremy Nedd about "slidin' thru" | 2026

Interview with Jeremy Nedd about "from rock to rock..." | 2026

Interview with Clarice Lima | 2026