MAYDAY Takes Over La Chapelle for the Anticipated Return of WOULD

Back from Vancouver and preparing for its departure to Rio de Janeiro with Animal Triste, MAYDAY takes over La Chapelle in December for the anticipated return of WOULD in Montreal. Created in 2013 on the initiative of the company firstthingsfirst, WOULD, by the committed choreographer Mélanie Demers, was presented at Usine C in 2015 before going on tour. Nominated five times for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the work received the prize of Outstanding Performance-Male for Marc Boivin's striking interpretation and also won the CALQ Prize for Best choreographic work of the 2014-2015 season.

A meditation on potentiality and utopia, WOULD reflects our mania for projecting ourselves into the future, imagining the best, fearing the worst. Two powerful dancers confront each other like two wild beasts warily approaching each other, caught between what is and what can be. A reflection on the failures, falls and miscues that inevitably mark our imperfect paths, WOULD shows the powerful presence of Marc Boivin and the quiet force of Kate Holden.

A multidisciplinary artist, Mélanie Demers founded in Montreal her own dance company, MAYDAY, in 2007. Her work has charmed by its originality, intensity and its complexity, exploring the darker zones of the human condition. Socially engaged as an artist, Mélanie Demers travelled to teach dance in Kenya, Niger, Brazil and Haiti, amongst other destinations. The harsh reality of the developing countries challenged her understanding of the role of art in society. Addressing political issues in a poetic form, Les Angles Morts (2006), Sense of Self (2008), Junkyard/Paradise (2010), Goodbye (2012) and MAYDAY remix (2014) have all been created from this perspective. In 2016, Mélanie Demers began a new creation cycle with Animal Triste and Icône Pop; both works are touring internationally. Last August, Icône Pop was awarded the Buddies in Bad Times Vanguard Award for Risk and Innovation by Toronto's SummerWorks Performance Festival. Recently, Mélanie Demers was invited to work as a guest choreographer at the Skånes Dansteater in Malmö (Sweden) for the creation of Something About Wilderness, and at OperaEstate Festival in Bassano (Italy). To date, she choreographed twenty works and was presented in some thirty cities across Europe, America, Africa and Asia.

Representations: Monday, December 11 at 7pm | December 12, 14 and 15 at 8 pm

Direction, texts and choreography: Mélanie Demers with the collaboration of the performers. Interpretation: Marc Boivin, Kate Holden. Rehearsal Direction: Anne-Marie Jourdenais Original Lighting: Alexandre Pilon-Guay Music: Joshua Van Tassel Voice Work: Sabrina Reeves Technical Direction: Olivier Chopinet Costumes: Mélanie Demers with the collaboration of the performers