Archives des dance — MAI | Montréal, arts interculturels

ii. ftg

II. FTG is a series of music video-style tableaux presented as dance duets, in which various styles draw inspiration from the poetic power of French-language rap and the dazzling energy of Afrobeat. Several performers feature among the visual references that feed into the creation of the two performers’ multiple alter egos. In this choreographic, visual, and auditory space, assigned gender roles and images are subverted and blurred by the performers so that their own shared language emerges from their sensitivity and individuality, allowing them to express their feelings and connect with one another.

Talkback with the artist following the January 23rd performance
Hosted by Jaleesa Coligny

II. FTG est une production

xilopango

Carried by breath, ritual, and grounded choreography, Xilopango is a contemporary dance production that reflects the artist’s maternal lineage. It traverses the lives of Villafuerte’s great-grandmother, an Indigenous seamstress who raised fourteen children; her grandmother, a nurse who was forcibly disappeared during the Salvadorian civil war; her mother, a political activist who fled military persecution and resettled in Canada; and the artist herself, a daughter of diaspora who bears the weight of their stories in her body. But this is not just personal history. It speaks to a broader, embodied experience shared by many Salvadorians. The work transforms grief into connection and invites the audience to witness a return—not only to place, but to self, to memory, and to love. Told through the voice of the Land itself, it is a tender excavation of the quiet strength that endures from one generation to the next.

Talkback with the artist following the February 13th performance
Hosted by Sundus Abdul-Hadi

Content warning : nudity

beat matched

The evolution of the Catch Step universe continues with Beat Matched, a new chapter in their ongoing creative union. RISE, Djüngle, and VicVersa deepen their exploration of the art of remixing, where ideas and material are transformed without ever being lost. Past processes produce the materials that inspire, inform, and shape the new process. RISE and Djüngle delve into their own fields of interest as individual artists, as well as a collective. In this new iteration, the two artists find themselves propelled into the role of creative directors within a continuum composed of movement, sound, visuals, math, and (as always)… chairs.

fish spit feast

Fish Spit Feast is a corporeal song of imagined creatures, where hybrid identities give rise to fiction. Undulating in and out of kaleidoscopic symmetry, impulses ripple from one body to the next, birthing a morphing creature both tender and electric. The performers inhabit the shadows of a diasporic playground, moving through veils of darkness, light, and sound. They dance a guttural trance, unveiling an urge for transformation through mixed media and the visceral body. More than a weary search for belonging, the work conjures chimeric figures to explore anonymity, (in)visibility, and kinship.

Talkback with the artist following the April 24th performance
Hosted by Hanako Hoshimi-Caines

entre-deux

Entre-Deux is a journey-inward and a vibrant testimony to belonging, the complexity of roots, and the beauty of identity in movement. Through a danced cartography of her quest for self, Meihan, a young woman of Chinese origin who was adopted internationally, oscillates between two cultures, two realities that she learns to navigate through a series of duets. Six dancers join her and inspire her to bring out a forgotten or hidden part of herself by sharing the stage and their own experiences. The body then becomes a territory of reminiscence, exploration, and transformation, a vehicle for probing roots and unraveling the successive layers that make up identity. Driven by a quest for authenticity and sisterly complicity, this story of adoption becomes a space for reappropriation, connection, and dialogue.

Delegated production: Lorganisme

those roots within

© David Wong — avec/with : Alida Esmail + Hodan Youssouf

LSQ + ASL promo video

What happens when Deaf and hearing cultures encounter one another in performance?

Those Roots Within is a contemporary dance duet created by Alida Esmail, Sophia Wright, and Hodan Youssouf. Themes of minority identities and immigration come alive through movement, signed music, vibrations, and lighting while Esmail and Youssouf transform the stage into a world map, retracing their ancestors’ steps. Their paths come in and out of sync, offering a reflection on intersection, disconnection, and family history. Esmail and Youssouf exist in their respective realities as they negotiate with the world around them. Every time their trajectories cross, it allows for a reflection on allyship and the effort necessary to bring such diverse experiences into communication.

LSQ and ASL interpreters are on hand 1h before and 1h after each performance.

Content warning
High volume + Sustained low frequency vibrations

PUBLIC+

→ Talkback with the artists hosted by Jo-Anne Bryan
Friday, February 28th — Following the 7:30 p.m. performance

→ Childcare during the performance
Saturday, March 1st — 2 p.m.
During childcare, Marie-Pierre Petit will offer a co-creative workshop combining theatrical games, body expression and facial expression, with an art-clownesque approach. The exercises are above all interactive and inclusive, guaranteeing fun and creativity!
Free
For Deaf and hearing children aged 3 to 10 with ticket-holding parents.

→ After Party + Happy Birthday Hodan !
Saturday, March 1st — Following the 7:30 p.m. performance
The show is followed by a party for the Deaf and hearing communities with surprise performances & Indian food.

anxiety

Anxiety delves into the history, personal stories, and current realities of Indigenous and racialized communities. Led by Simik Komaksiutiksak, artists Cheyenne LeGrande, Courtney Taticek, Chrystal Tam, and Katie Couchie use dance to draw attention to the transformative power of collaboration— its capacity for healing through trust and creativity. In doing so, this performance becomes a safe space for reflection and dialogue, ultimately employing improvisational movement as a vehicle to explore intergenerational trauma. Because the body holds onto memory, anxiety can manifest as unique mannerisms. To address it is to forge new paths, offering an opportunity to question, reflect, and engage with important sociological issues.

Talkback following the January 31st performance moderated by Camille Larivée

box office

Content warning
Colonial violence + High volume

PUBLIC+

→ Audiodescription for visually impaired and semi-vision-impaired spectators
Friday, January 31st — 7:30 p.m.
Audiodescription involves orally and live describing of the visual and sensory elements of a choreographic work, so that it can be transmitted, shared and experienced.

→ Pre-show get-togethers in ASL and LSQ
Friday, January 31st — 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Pre-show get-togethers are offered in ASL and LSQ with MAI’s Deaf cultural mediators, Dominique Ireland and Caroline Hould. The meeting provides an opportunity to discuss the show’s themes, the artists’ backgrounds and the performance’s soundtrack.

→ Anxiety After Party
Saturday, February 1st — Following the 7:30 p.m. performance
Anxiety’s team warmly invites spectators, friends, family and other members of their communities to join in this evening of celebration with DJ Pøptrt!

→ Mumiq:Indigenous Artisans’ Market
Friday, January 31st + Saturday, February 1st — 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
MAI gallery
Come and meet Indigenous artisans before attending Anxiety’s performances on Friday and Saturday!
*Free admission, artwork for sale on site.

traceable

→ BOX OFFICE

Traceable is a series of distinct evocative capsules exploring the ever-evolving nature of identity. Driven by her journey, Nubian Néné examines how mental health influences creativity, particularly through the lens of her experiences as a Black woman. This reflective piece addresses the effects of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem, highlighting the coping mechanisms and restorative systems that develop in response.

Inspired by music, architecture, atmospheres, dramaturgy, history, Black American culture, and her Haitian heritage, the artist creates a multidimensional process that leads to healing. The performance incorporates visual art, poetry, and dance styles like House and Breaking, using these forms to express the turmoil and resilience within.

Content warning
High volume + Mention of mental health issues + Pitch black moments

PUBLIC+

→ Talkback with the artist
Friday, January 17th — Following the 7:30 p.m. performance
Hosted by Alex Spicey Landé, co-curator of MAI’s 25th anniversary season

→ Childcare during the performance
Saturday, January 18th — 2pm
Free — Offered to children ages 3 to 10 with ticket-holding parents

Michèle Jean Jacques will offer children a dance and movement workshop that explores emotions and moving according to the states of mind that inhabit them. This playful workshop will enable children to explore some of the themes presented in Traceable while their parents watch the performance.

→ Relaxed performance (RP)
Saturday, January 18th — 2pm
A RP takes a more relaxed approach to noise and movement during the show.
To prepare your visit, consult these two useful guides :
· Traceable Show Guide
· MAI Visual Story

the conditions

© Fran Chudnoff — avec/with : Ja James Britton Johnson + Lucy M. May

Can feeling be a way of knowing?

Six improvisers reach into the sensory present. Their fabulations pry open channels between the bewildering envelope of the world and wild inner landscapes. Weaving felt-relationships to place and the physicality of emotion, The Conditions unfurls in part from Lucy M. May’s search for an embodied and spiritual connection to her homeland in Wolastokuk/New Brunswick, whilst facing her settler-colonial origins.

The gallery is both a climate-controlled institution, estranging us from nature and body, and a temple for sensing and feeling. Beneath its concrete foundations, the bedrock shifts. An interdisciplinary exhibition in collaboration with Fran Chudnoff, Ja James Britton Johnson, and Maisie O’Brien accompanies this multifaceted performance featuring live music by Patrick Conan and Amy Macdonald. In the intimacy of this contained space, the artists invite you to listen, spy, wander, and sink in.

The exhibition linked to the performance will be open to the public from 12pm to 5pm from November 13 – 16. No reservation required – free entry.

The November 13th performance will be followed by a talkback moderated by Hanako Hoshimi-Caines.

PUBLIC+

+ Shadow Theatre and Movement workshop :
→ November 16th, from 1pm to 3pm | MAI Gallery
For children and families
Free — Reservation required
Learn more

drip or drown

© Tommy Nuguid — avec/with : Jai Nitai Lotus

For this re-imagined Hip-Hop concert, Jai Nitai Lotus presents an unconventional blend of performance art, spoken word, dance, visual projections, and music, with contributions by his mentees. Drip or Drown delves into the internal and external struggles of maintaining individuality. The scene is set: a portable studio and multiple stages evoke the artist’s quest for self-knowledge throughout his career. Lyrics as socially conscious as they are self-reflective make room for wonder.

Are we the people we associate with? How does fear give way to authenticity? Is it possible to hold space for an ever-evolving identity in the search for self-actualization? Though personal, the show leaves these questions open-ended, encouraging the audience to form their own conclusions. Perhaps too, this serves as a reminder of the many shapes identity can take.

Content Warning
High Volume + Foul Language

Talkback after the May 30th performance hosted by Rita Yemeli and the 31st by Alexandra ‘Spicey’ Landé.