2021

_jeanne_dark_

Marion Siéfert (Aubervilliers)

_jeanne_dark_

On Instagram, she is _jeanne_dark_, sixteen years old, Catholic family, embarrassed by her virginity. Using her phone, she speaks live. From the digital ashes emerge the paradoxes of a contemporary heroine.

Aalaapi | ᐋᓛᐱ

The Aalaapi Collective (Nunavik + Montreal)

Aalaapi | ᐋᓛᐱ

The exquisite tones and nuances of people who live north of the 55th parallel. A contemplative plunge into the intimacy of young Inuit women, Aalaapi reveals the North through radio.

Aleppo. A Portrait of Absence

Mohammad Al Attar (Damas + Berlin)
Omar Abusaada (Damas)
Bissane Al Charif (Damas + Paris)

Aleppo. A Portrait of Absence

Aleppo, a city destroyed by war, rises from the ashes in the stories of its inhabitants. Precious tales told to one spectator at a time, a testimonial and a bequest.

Anima / Darkroom

7Starr (Laval + Montreal)
Lucy M. May (Laval + Montreal)

Anima / Darkroom

The explosive force of 7Starr, a Montreal pioneer and magnetic icon of krump. In a clash of darkness and incandescent light, powerful movement bursts forth. Galvanizing and liberating.

Anything Whatsoever

Katie Ward (Montreal)

Anything Whatsoever

Anything Whatsoever offers a group training to witness the emergence of meaning, a blank page where our collective imagery can be rewritten.  

BOW’T-Tio’tia:ke

Rhodnie Désir (Montreal)

BOW’T-Tio’tia:ke

The most recent phase of the great adventure BOW’T TRAIL. In a Montreal location charged with memory, Rhodnie Désir explores the heritage of Afrodescendant peoples in a powerful hymn to resistance.

Dans le nuage (First Draft)

Maxime Carbonneau (Montreal)
Laurence Dauphinais (Montreal)

Dans le nuage (First Draft)

Just like astrophysicist Carl Sagan in 1977, you are faced with the task of summarizing, on a record, the essential components of the human experience. What will you choose? How will you make your selection? 

Declarations

Jordan Tannahill (Toronto)

Declarations

Hundreds of short phrases reverberate through all aspects of existence. In a reading augmented by projections, Jordan Tannahill delivers this bewitching litany, a declaration of love to a terminally ill mother.

Dog Rising

Clara Furey (Montreal)

Dog Rising

Three celestial bodies launched into orbit vibrate in a lascivious and hypnotic ritual. Dog Rising explores the circulation of physical matter and the passage of vibrations through our bodies.

Je suis une maudite sauvagesse

An Antane Kapesh (Maliotenam)
Charles Bender (Montreal)

Je suis une maudite sauvagesse

Torn away from the nomadic lifestyle and forced into outrageous living conditions on the reservations near Sept-Îles—the tragedies of the First Nations are lucidly and boldly condensed in the words of Innu author An Antane Kapesh.

La fille de Christophe Colomb

Réjean Ducharme (Montreal)
Martin Faucher (Montreal)

La fille de Christophe Colomb

Written in free verse, this novel by Réjean Ducharme is a poetic oddity. Colombe Colomb, daughter of Christophe Colomb, embarks on an epic journey ending in an apocalypse.

La Goddam Voie Lactée

Mélanie Demers (Montreal)

La Goddam Voie Lactée

A pagan Mass as a reaction to the harshness of the world. Inspired by the constant mourning brought about by our age, the artist and five female performers reflect upon the notion of incompletion. 

La jamais sombre

Michel F Côté (Montreal)
Marc Parent (Montreal)
Catherine Tardif (Montreal)

La jamais sombre

With Marc Parent as the architect of light, Michel F Côté as the designer of sound, and Catherine Tardif as the guardian of movement and the female body, La jamais sombre explores, between grace and fear, the ancient mysteries of chiaroscuro.

La ville, des artistes

HUB Studio (Montreal)

La ville, des artistes

Throughout the Festival, large-sized portraits of the artists taking part in the 2021 instalment hover gracefully over the Quartier des spectacles. Enormous and soothing, the artists appear, come to life, and return to the shadows. The artists are among us!

Le virus et la proie

Pierre Lefebvre (Montreal)
Benoît Vermeulen (Montreal)

Le virus et la proie

The latest piece of writing by Pierre Lefebvre is a plea against injustice. Four voices condemn the virality of power at the expense of emancipated lives.

Meshtitau

Soleil Launière (Montréal)

Meshtitau

Uprooted too quickly, the trees, like the elders, have disappeared without passing on their knowledge. Meshtitau is an ode to ancestral roots and healing. A performance that invites us to repair the broken links with our land and ancestors.

O2

Sarah Dell'Ava (Montreal)

O2

In the heart of the city, some twenty dancers weave a filter for our daily agitations. The gestures and songs that emerge are delicate, mysterious, sometimes wild. What if dance could repair the living?

PHOSPHOS

Paul Chambers (Montreal)

PHOSPHOS

In a performance space dominated by light, Paul Chambers establishes a porous boundary between matter and void, between heat and its absence, between wakefulness and sleep.

Public/Private Parts ou L’Origine du monde

Gerard X Reyes (Montreal)

Public/Private Parts ou L’Origine du monde

Gerard X Reyes surrounds himself with artists, sex workers and educators who, like him, question the body and its representations. In a work midway between performance and video installation, the senses are aroused and tongues loosened.

Romance ain’t dead, 2Fik!

2Fik (Montreal)

Romance ain’t dead, 2Fik!

On the dating site Romanceala2fik.com, the multidisciplinary artist embodies 100 characters, all of whom burn with an ardent desire. The public is invited to interact with them. A game of love and chance, in the era of avatars.

SIERRANEVADA

Manuel Roque (Montreal)

SIERRANEVADA

In a bare space with no props save a blonde wig, a trial by choreography demands jumping repeatedly, again and again. When the depletion of resources offers the prospect of transformation. 

Stations

Louise Lecavalier (Montreal)

Stations

Driven by a pressing need to dance, Louise Lecavalier attains the fullness of her art in a spirited solo that pulsates on the very margins of the intimate.

The door opened west

Sarah Chase (Vancouver + Montreal)
Marc Boivin (Vancouver + Montreal)

The door opened west

With modesty and sensitivity, Marc Boivin performs an autobiographical solo that sheds light on the mysterious architecture of memory.

Them Voices

Lara Kramer (Montreal)

Them Voices

In the garden of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal the choreographer explores the artist’s body in relation to memory, and questions the impact of our past and present actions on future ancestors.

Un temps pour tout

Sovann Rochon-Prom Tep (Montreal)

Un temps pour tout

Children and adults, come on in! In a cozy atmosphere, the hip-hop dancers Pax, Jigsaw and Sangwn express themselves in a spirit of sharing. Raw, explosive, joyful. 

Violence

Marie Brassard (Montréal)

Violence

Exploring the deep as they search for glimpses of light, Marie Brassard and her Japanese collaborators conjure undreamt-of worlds in a surreal tale of astounding visual power.

Worktable

Kate McIntosh (Brussels + Wellington)

Worktable

The room you enter is full of heterogeneous objects, and it is up to you to decide how to tear them apart. A joyous invitation to restore the enchantment to matter, however banal it may seem. Playful and deeply creative.