VOLTE 21 presents UTOPIE(S) Next Month

UTOPIE(S) is by nature, an audacious work of art. Its content and its aesthetics intent to answer these two essential and intrinsic questions: What creates the identity, the memory, and the utopia of who we are? How to live the nature, the culture and the History, while crafting together a collective imaginary ?

A chorus of 15 performers seeks to answer these questions as they bring out the ideas of exceptional women who made the Americas; pioneers women who dreamed and created the New World, women who resisted and fought for the common good, women who inspired communities, cultures, and the collective imaginary. When art is in quest of origins, extraordinary is the rapture.

UTOPIE(S) is an anthology. It is an eventful performance composed of 10-life tableau. They give themselves to our senses like an awaken dream, an impermanent time, taken outside of our communal history. It is like living in the desert of our fears, the ocean of our madness and the sky of our hopes. It is the "Divine Tragedy" of our past, our present and our forthcoming. It is all of us, on the occidental night of truths, walking together on the highway of the Americas. It is all of us, singing the last strophes of the freedom hymn. An unusual, iconoclastic experience.

Originally from Lebanon, dramaturge and stage director Hanna Abd El Nour has been living and working in Quebec for the last 10 years. With its company Volte 21, he offers through multidisciplinary works an artistic and political expression with the intention to initiate a debate in the city. Addressed to a diverse audience, his spectacles are a sensory experience within an unconventional event, questioning the issues and the crisis of our contemporary society. Artists and citizens are reunited to celebrate a world of all possibilities and utopias.

Artistic director, dramaturge and stage director Hanna Abd El Nour

Performers Lousnak Abdalian, Claudia Bernal, Sarah Chouinard-Poirier, Dana Dugan, Sarah Elola, Maritza Grégoire, Myriam-Sophie Deslauriers, Raïa Haidar, Veronica Melis, Kristin Molnar, Lara Oundjian, Jeimy Oviedo, Catalina Pop, Audrée Southière, Marina Sousa

Musical direction, composition and musical work Katia Makdissi-Warren | Music, sound designer and device Thomas Sinou | sculptures Gillian Nasser | Scenography team Machin Design | Costumes Valérie Gagnon Hamel | Light Martin Sirois | Creative assistants Stéphany Bélliveau, Sarah Merrette-Fournier, Marilie Beauchamp | Technical direction Benoît Fisch | Visual Sophie Jodoin | Graphism and Web Hugo Nadeau | Production Direction Pierre-Yves Serinet

* You can see UTOPIE(S) in its 12 hours integrity, or you can choose to assist to one of the 2 hours representations, distinctly showing 4 out of the 10 tableaus : SOLITUDE(S), AMOUR (S), COLÈRE(S) et RÉSISTANCE(S).

PERFORMANCES SCHEDULE

SOLITUDE(S) : Tuesday February 13, 20, 27 and March 6 at 8pm - 2 hours performance

AMOUR(S) : Wednesday February 14, 21, 28 and March 7 - 2 hours performance

COLÈRE(S) : Thursday February 15, 22 and March 1st and 8 at 8pm - 2 hours performance

RÉSISTANCE(S): Friday February 16, 23 and March 2 and 9 at 8pm - 2 hour performance

UTOPIE(S) (12 hours integral version): Saturday February 17 and March 3rd at 8pm | February 24 and March 10 at 12pm. A delicious feast will be served to accompany you in this theatrical experience (included in your ticket price)

From February 13 and March 10 2018

Presented at Arsenal Art Contemporain | 2020 William Street, Montreal (Georges-Vanier or Lionel-Groulx metro stations)

For information and tickets: 438 792-0003 | buy online | billetterie@volte21.com

special activities

There will be 2 thematic weeks offered as part of the event. These will take place at Arsenal Art Contemporain Montreal.

Week of February 20 to 24 2018

Week of History, Cultures and Utopias within the working-class Sud-Ouest borough

Daily program:

-From 5 pm, a 5 to 7 thematic round table + meal + participatory session

-From 7 pm to 7:45 pm: a tour of Arsenal Art Contemporain Montreal, followed by the performance of Volte 21, from 8 pm to 10 pm.

Tuesday February 20 | Utopias from Griffintown and Pointe-Saint-Charles

Wednesday February 21 | Utopias from Saint-Henri

Thursday February 22 | Utopias from la Petite Bourgogne

Friday February 23 | Utopias from Émard and Côte Saint-Paul

Week of March 6 to 10 2018

Women's' world week: Pioneer women and the ideal city

UTOPIE(S) brings light to the story of the remarkably forgotten women of our History of the Americas. The last week of our representations coincide with Women International day on March 8. With this event in mind, we want to honour and celebrate the contribution and involvement of all the women in the development of our society, by offering the following program:

Tuesday 5 to 7| Round table and meal: From the poetic to the politic body: how to say the world ?

Wednesday 5 to 7| Round table and meal: Economy, development and Pioneer women.

Thursday 5 to 7| Round table and meal: Political powers, democracy and women movements.

Friday 5 to 7| Round table and meal: The (juridical) Contract and rights in the public space.

VOLTE 21 thanks the Montreal Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Sud-Ouest Borough, the Cole Foundation and Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal

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