Archives des Alliance — Page 3 of 8 — MAI | Montréal, arts interculturels

gabriela jovian-mazon

As a child, Gabriela Jovian-Mazon started with Mexican folklore dance in her hometown town Mississauga, Ontario and competed in jazz, ballet and musical theatre dance. When she moved to Montréal to study, she discovered street dance and transitioned towards hip-hop, house, and break and now specializes in whacking. Fascinated by the different dance styles, she trained on her own to pursue a dance career after completing her Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering. She has since performed for commercials, music videos, theatre, musicals and festivals. She also loves the battle scene and was a finalist at the 2021 Creative Boost battle at Place des Arts.

Her work as a choreographer is characterized as quirky, theatrical and funky and is proof of her diversified training. In 2020, Gabriela choreographed for MOON an outdoor digital art installation for the city of Montreal. She also completed #dailygabyj, where she created 365 dance videos between 30 – 60 seconds. In 2021, she presented her first short dance video ‘Playtime’ for Bouge d’Ici and co-choreographed ‘Seul.e.s Ensemble: Club Edition’ as part of the Montreal Fringe Festival.

In her work, she explores mental health and the representation of self with the use of space and objects through characters, humour, storytelling and the dance style whacking. Gabriela is an original, versatile and theatrical emerging artist, and she is excited to continue discovering the world of creation.

INNOCENCE

Innocence is a whacking dance short film project, inspired by board games and ‘murder mystery’ films. It aims to highlight the story-telling, drama and individuality of the characters of Whacking, a late 1960s club-culture style inspired by the Golden Age of Hollywood, cartoons and disco music.

My research explores character interaction and narration through whacking and creating a live game, where dancers and audience members follow rules to find out who is ‘the culprit’. As in a game of chess, each character has their way of moving, and their mannerisms, actions, poses and whacks. There’s tension, drama and a bit of humour.

In 2022, in collaboration with up to 7 dancers, I created a 2-minute dance video, presented a 3-minute piece at Articien and a 15-minute piece at the Art-fullness Whacking Festival on this same theme. Through Alliance, Innocence will benefit from mentorships in vernacular jazz, mime and filmmaking techniques to enrich my whacking and choreographic practice for this project. This support provides access to the desired level of skill and artistry to bring this film to life.

Credit photo: David Jouary

sonia reboul

Sonia Reboul is a French-Canadian multidisciplinary artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. For for 12 years, she has developed a body of self-taught art alongside a career in Communications. In 2019, she will begin a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Concordia University to further perfect her skills. Since then, her artistic projects have multiplied: she has won three university scholarships selected for residencies and exhibitions at the Centre d’art Jacques-et-Michel-Auger (Carré 150), La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Art Matters, Art Souterrain, Galerie VAV, Nouaisons, Université de Montréal. His drawings have been selected for several initiatives, including the COVID collection organized by Sale Caractère, l’Organe magazine. Various blogs (Jano Lapin, Yellow Pad Sessions, The Unicorn Factory, The Soul Food).

Project description

Dialogues stem from the exploration of traditional weaving techniques with fine metal chains sourced from second-hand costume jewellery.

These pieces of jewellery have undergone a transformation akin to a ritual tribute to the people who wore them: first washed, dried and then dismantled, the links are reassembled into chains classified by size and colour, then woven to form small rectangular samples.

These chains, which have already had a first life, symbolize multiple personal histories and the diversity of human bonds. The dialogue between materials illustrates the complexity of relationships, fluctuating between flexibility and rigidity, strength and fragility, preciousness and banality. The slippery and elusive nature of the chain emphasizes the subtleties of human interaction. Beyond the ornamental, Dialogues conjures a metaphorical chain mail armour, evoking social interactions in times of confinement. Crafted from inexpensive jewellery, the work questions the value of human bonds in the context of disposable consumer culture, highlighting neglected social and ecological aspects. The piece also has a social and local dimension, as the materials were sourced from Le Chaînon store, whose mandate has been to help women in difficulty since its inception in 1932. In all, over $400 worth of jewellery was purchased from the welfare association.

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This project was presented in a solo exhibition at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse and the Creative Re-use: Ø Waste C.R.Ø.W group exhibition. It was supported by the Fine Arts Student Alliance Grant from Concordia University.

Project status:

To date, a first series of samples has been completed, representing a woven surface area of 3,780cm2 (the equivalent of a 62cm by 62cm patchwork quilt).

My ultimate goal would be to weave a surface area totalling 124cm x 180cm, to be able to assemble them into a large quilt. This would require six times as much material as I currently have in stock. I’d also like to make a full-body cast to serve as a support for the quilt.

More on Dialogues: https://soniareboul.com/Dialogues

Credit photo: Sonia Reboul

mara dupas

Mara Dupas is the recipient of the CAM+MAI Joint Support Fellowship 2023-2024.

Mara Dupas is a queer multidisciplinary artist of Martinican descent. He relocated to Montreal with his family at a young age, where he took up dance training. Mara perfected his classical ballet and contemporary dance techniques, first at the Académie du Ballet Métropolitain, then at the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal (2019-2022). Concurrently, he began learning urban dancing and Haitian folk dances by following workshops. Mara collaborates as a performer with Louise Bédard (choreographic research), Charlie Prince (states of body produced by an emergency) as well as Rhodnie Désir (Symphonie de coeurs).

His choreographic works, which explore the themes of métissage, the Afro-descendant body and Caribbean culture, have been presented in Montreal at Danses Buissonnières (Tangente Danse), the Vue sur la Relève Festival and the OFFTA. His personal writing practice has resulted in the publication of several texts, notably by Éditions Bruno Doucey (Poésie en liberté, 2018), in Zinc magazine (2022) and in the Moveo dance magazine (2023).

Photo credit: Bianka Pierre

dani carter

Dani Carter is a Tkaronto-born, Tiohtià:ke-based writer and performance artist.

Project Description: TIPS is an interdisciplinary exploration of Blackness, desirability, the internet, and the hidden erotic underbelly of labour. It follows the myth of the Black body into the noise of cyberspace.

The work is an aggregation of data—an absurd, burlesque, corrosive archive—collected from imageboards, message boards, Reddit communities, TikTok live streams, and the artist’s lived experience. How does the internet and its content, pornographic and non-pornographic, affect the shape of fetishization? Can a text that dehumanizes be radicalized by the dehumanized? As Gayatri Spivak writes, can the subaltern speak? These are questions that TIPS is interested in asking—if not answering, given their vastness—in the context of writing, performance, and their intersection.

Photo credit: Dani Carter

melinda yeoh

Melinda is the recipient of the 100LUX+MAI Joint Support Fellowship 2023-2024. Melinda will take part of the annual 2023-2024 Les Soirées 100Lux programming.

Born in Singapore, and growing up in the prairies of Calgary, Alberta, Melinda “Melofunk” Yeoh has trained in Locking for 12 years. A member of the LockUnity collective and Ingenious Lockers crew, she fell in love with Locking when she went to the Elite Locking Camp in Las Vegas in 2011. There, she had the opportunity to learn from pioneers and first-generation Lockers such as Scoo B Doo, Damita Jo, and Fluky Luke who were present in the scene when it was created in the late 60s/ early 70s. From then on, she returned to Calgary and tried to grow the local Locking scene little by little through performances, classes, and sessions. In 2014, she moved to Montreal to train with LockUnity and grow as a Locker, and since then, she’s competed in various Locking jams locally and internationally such as Bust A Move, Under Pressure, Unlock The Funk, Vancouver Street Dance Festival, Lock City, and KOD. In addition to competing, she taught Locking classes in Montreal, and choreographed and performed in Locking performances in jams and on stages like 100Lux Festival and Breakin’ Convention.

Melinda seeks to consistently develop and find ways to grow her Locking expression and artistry by training in other dance styles such as Tap Dance and Lindy Hop while at the same time continuing to train with the LockUnity collective.

Tangente thanks the Caisse Desjardins de la Culture and the SAQ, two great heroines who faithfully contribute to the success of Tangente’s activities.

Photo credit: Melika Delz

amandine gay

Director, author, and activist, Amandine Gay divides her time between research, creation, and “paper business”. She has been back in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal since June 2022 – after an eight-year immigration saga.

Following, Ouvrir La Voix – her first self-produced and self-distributed film giving the floor to twenty-four French-speaking Afro-descendant women – released in French, Belgian and Swiss cinemas in 2017 and Quebec in 2018; she directed a second documentary, A Story of Its Own. This archival film is on national adoption from the point of view of 5 adopted people, now adults. She is a regular speaker on Afro-feminism, film, intersectionality, and adoption. In 2018, she founded the Mois des Adoptées, a series of events: conferences, screenings, performances, workshops. This is held every year in November between France, Switzerland, and Quebec to allow adoptees to reclaim their narrative. In 2021, she published her first book at La Découverte (France) and Remue-Ménage (Quebec), Une poupée en chocolat, an autobiographical essay on adoption.

Its new projects aim to continue and deepen its dialogue between the world of research and art, through a multifaceted reflection-creation around white supremacy involving the writing of an essay, curation of an exhibition, and publication of an exhibition catalog. She also intends to rely on Alliance’s support to develop her career on the English-speaking side of North America, in particular by working on the translation and English-language edition of her first book.

Website: https://linktr.ee/orpheonegra
Photo credits: Jean-Baptiste Demouy (Radio-Canada)

auro moura

Auro Moura is a singer/songwriter, composer, and music educator who has been working in the field of music for nearly 20 years. He holds a Master’s in Music and a degree in Music Education from the Federal University of Paraná (Curitiba, Brazil) as well as a diploma in Audiovisual Production from the Institut Grasset (Montréal). Auro has a long and prominent career as a music educator. He is currently the co-founder of the program Les Brasileirinhos, and music director to the “Choeur Scénique Brésilien”, both in TioTia:Ke/Montréal. As a researcher, Auro has published in congresses and symposiums in Brazil, Italy, Canada, and in magazines specialized in education. He published the book “Making Music with Children”, currently in its 3rd edition. As a musician, he has composed and performed music for 4 albums, 1 EP and 1 DVD. Besides his personal projects, Auro also works as a composer of songs and soundtracks for children’s projects, short films, and advertising, among others.

Website: www.auromoura.com

emilio wawatie

Emilio Wawatie is an Algonquin-Anishnabe from Kitigan Zibi and Barrier lake, Quebec, and is a musician, filmmaker, researcher, and educator. Born in Maniwaki and raised throughout Anishnabe Aki in parc la Verendrye, Abitibi, and Gatineau; he now resides in Moniak, where he studies at Concordia University in Music and First People’s Studies. Emilio began his musical journey when he discovered playing the guitar at the age of 12 through the influence of his grandfather and continued his passion for music and classical guitar studies at the age of 22. It was at Cambrian College where he began to build his musical foundation and received training on the Classical guitar with Mathew Gould and Alan Yzereef, where he prepared, organized, and performed a graduating recital. In the last few years, Emilio’s work has been geared towards research and creation with strong focus on Algonquian music and artistic styles of both traditional and contemporary practices. He is currently undertaking work on his first EP as an artist with InPath and composes for the Classical guitar.

natsumi sophia bellali

Natsumi Sophia Bellali was born in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, and raised by a Japanese mother, and a Moroccan father. She graduated from The Ailey School in New York, where she
cultivated her love and respect toward modern dance, amongst other styles the city showed her. She has performed with MICHIYAYA Dance and Ping Chong + Company,
and has been an understudy for the Mark Morris Dance Group. Bellali utilizes every platform directed her way as a vessel to share the wonders of her roots; from short works for competitive events, to large entertainment productions, to her own solo work Salam Tata currently in creation. She further shares her practice, and her passion to make people feel empowered in their bodies, by teaching in different settings such as wellness centers, yoga studios, pre-professional schools, and by supporting athletes of other disciplines through dance training. What is it to be a child of immigrants in Montreal? Salam Tata illustrates this unique and complex identity through telephone conversations with an aunt living in Morocco. The work addresses the themes of beauty standards, marriage, religion, and womanhood, through dance and theater.

zahra buali

Painter, printmaker, sculptor, and ceramist. From the figurative to the abstract, to the mixed media, she works with a multi-layered approach. Zahra is of Arabian/Persian origin and lives and works in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. She is the founder of Atelier Inana, where she continues to create and teach art. She holds a BFA. from Concordia University 1996, Montreal, Canada, and a B.Sc. from the University of Arizona, 1983, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A.. She combines mediums and techniques, challenges boundaries, and superimposes layers of form, color, and space. Her work is strongly linked to her constant search for identity, cultural history, and influences. Her artwork is exhibited locally and internationally and is part of public & private collections in Bahrain, Canada, China, Egypt, Iran, France, the K.S.A., Spain, U.A.E., the U.S.A., and the United Kingdom. Some partial list: Shen Zhen Print Museum, Shen Zhen, China, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt., Almansouria Foundation, Jeddah, K.S.A., & Hozeh Honari, Tehran, Iran.

Zahra participated in various International artist’s residencies, and workshops in Canada, the U.S.A., Spain, China, Jordan, Iran,Bahrain and K.S.A. Her project will consist of 16 works of art and a video installation, around the theme of displacement and re-rooting. At its center are two triptychs: a 3-panel mixed-media mural triptych, and a mixed-media ceramic triptych. The additional 14 pieces are mixed media and paintings, that vary in size from (40 x54cm) to (212 x 102cm). The video, approximately 5-8 minutes, will take the viewer on a visceral journey through the process of destruction of created artwork and re-creation from destruction.