LION LION and MAYDAY bring the inspired art of movement from Montréal to the PuSh Festival
Se prendre and La Goddam Voie Lactée show the circus and dance influences of two standout women artists
Post Sponsored by PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
La Goddam Voie Lactée. Photo by Mathieu Doyon
Se Prendre. Photo by Claudel Doucet
Quebec has long been at the forefront of genre- and gravity-defying movement arts, which started to become internationally recognized with the phenomenal success of Cirque Du Soleil. The 2022 PuSh Festival features two exceptional examples of the vibrant community in Montréal: LION LION and MAYDAY, both fronted by inspiring women with fascinating backgrounds in circus and dance.
Thoughtfully mixing disciplines such as contemporary dance, circus, performance art, and sound, neither of these companies fits easily into established forms. They are both willing to explore dark subject matter and use bold physicality to evoke emotions from the audience.
Out of a background at Cirque comes Claudel Doucet, who graduated from the National Circus School, and began her career as a contortionist and aerialist for Cirque du Soleil. She went on to numerous cabaret productions (GOP Varietes, Chämaleon), and toured with Circus Monti in Switzerland. She continues to perform, and collaborates as a director and dramaturge at the National Circus School, and with other academies across the world.
Mélanie Demers, the founder and artistic director of MAYDAY, just received the Grand Prix de la Danse de Montréal, which is awarded to dance artists to honour an exceptional contribution to the artform. Demers transitioned off of the stage to create her own choreography in 2007, with the intention to create work that would express deeper politics and meaning. She has become well-known for her interdisciplinary style and her quite radical use of diverse bodies on stage.
In a personal essay for Understory, Demers says, “The beauty of being a choreographer is that your art is being expressed through other bodies, souls, flesh and bones. These people come into your work with their stories, their history, their mythology, their personal ambitions, desires and perspectives. Therefore, the intentions of a work (or a career) are not only yours. It becomes a collection of intentions”.
Vancouver is fortunate to host LION LION’S Se prendre January 29 & February 2 to February 4, and MAYDAY’s La Goddam Voie Lactée February 4 to 6 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre, co-presented by The Dance Centre.
Gabrielle Martin, PuSh Festival’s director of programming and member of the Collaborative Leadership Team, studied both dance and circus in Montréal, and shares her inside perspective on these two artists. “Both of these artists are risk-takers that exemplify the spirit of PuSh. I still remember Sauver sa peau, the first piece I saw of Melanie’s in 2008….Claudel is equally visionary, drawing from her circus training while allowing herself to be completely untethered by it,” she says.
Find more info here.
Post sponsored by the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival