Five FTA Shows Unveiled!
Montreal, January 31, 2023 — The co-artistic directors of Festival TransAmériques, Martine Dennewald and Jessie Mill, today revealed five major dance and theatre productions among the 24 works of the 17th FTA. The festival will take place in Montreal theatres and public spaces from May 24 to June 8, 2023.
As a first official invitation to the upcoming Festival’s highlights, this preview is a selection of unmissable shows that have been warmly received in both Canada and abroad. The five projects, all of them milestones in the careers of their makers, will offer festival-goers a broad range of styles and experiences. In addition to these, artists from the Americas, Africa, Europe and Oceania will join those from Quebec at the Festival in late May, many for the first time. Reflecting their singular quests and visions, the 2023 edition will resonate with rare voices and stories, offering diverse forms and aesthetics that will shake our perceptions—and perhaps even our lives.
A sparkling manifesto from Northern Ireland
For the first time in Montreal, Belfast choreographer Oona Doherty, a rising star in international dance, will present her monumental work Navy Blue. On the main stage of Théâtre Maisonneuve, a flamboyant multigenerational cast of twelve dancers in overalls will perform to Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, then to an electronic score composed by Jamie xx. A breathtaking contemporary ballet, driven by a confidence in the power of art, and by the urgencies of the present.
The disturbing aesthetics of Gisèle Vienne
Well-known to audiences in Montreal, Gisèle Vienne turns theatrical conventions upside-down with each of her works. The Ventriloquists Convention, staged at the 2016 FTA, still evokes a host of memories. With L’étang by Swiss writer-poet Robert Walser (1878-1956), she offers a veritable lesson in acting given by the amazing Adèle Haenel and Henrietta Wallberg. In a space sculpted by light and sound, the play tells the story of a tormented young boy who simulates suicide to measure the intensity of the emotions it unleashes. The director brings to life an intimate universe steeped in desire, disorder and hallucinatory presences.
Street dance takes the Monument-National by storm
Yvon Soglo, alias Crazy Smooth, is a Canadian choreographer and b-boy known from coast to coast. Here he brings together three generations of street dancers, all galvanized by the solidarity and strength of the group—an absolute necessity for the individual to shine. Together, the nine stellar performers of In My Body question their limits in a world that values prowess and virtuosity at all costs. An infectious celebration of bodily resilience and diversity. For all ages, without exception.
Dizzying sensory theatre
In its first appearance at FTA, the Quebec company L’eau du bain will share a two-part artistic adventure. The sensory and poetic White Out plunges the audience into a dense fog, inducing an alarming experience. Inspired by Marguerite Duras’ La maladie de la mort, the story involves a woman driven by her sorrows and joys, adrift in a room by the sea. The play, written, directed and designed by Anne-Marie Ouellet, Nancy Bussières and Thomas Sinou, incorporates a mysterious unveiling device of great beauty.
Theatre for young audiences at FTA
L’eau du bain has created a second work in the thousand-light setting of White Out, a piece for young audiences and their adults. With La chambre des enfants, FTA is delighted to present for the first time a family adventure of great formal refinement. Between childhood and adolescence, a unique troupe of young humans performs all the roles—a bold move not often seen in Montreal. Written in conjunction with the performers, the show depicts their dreams against a score that suits them to a tee. For the adventurous, La chambre des enfants and White Out form a brilliant diptych of intense theatrical work.
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