Between Holding explores the sense of security we feel when we hold on to a precious moment for a while. Because we cannot hang on to this comforting feeling forever, we must learn to let it go and give it up. But what happens in between? Why do we feel scared as we let go? To express this concern through movement, Bulbe Collective drew their inspiration from tornadoes. An unconscious body relaxes, allowing itself to survive despite the violence of the storm.
On the other hand, Between Holdings talks about loneliness and the uncertainty it brings. As infants and toddlers, we are completely dependent on others to learn to walk, eat, dress… we are powerless and always with someone else. Newborns express their needs without question. Ironically, as their relationship to their own needs changes, adults can have difficulty communicating with others around them. In this new creation, Bulbe Collective showcases our needs, the evolution of our relationship with them over time, and the role our community plays in this relationship.
This piece looks at the different ways in which our ambitions become the guiding principle of our lives. Often, the relentless pursuit of our ambitions shapes our worldview and becomes our “raison d’être”. It then drives us to join communities and modify our social behavior to fit in. What begins as a simple goal becomes a veritable way of life. But what would become of our public and private selves if we decided to reject this ambition? What would happen if we stopped believing in its importance, or realized that it wasn’t worth all the sacrifices we make to achieve it? What happens when our identity is defined by our life’s mission, and that mission is ripped away from us?
Échos Migratoires studies migration, comparing the migratory instincts of animals and the economic and sociopolitical influences on population migrations. Throughout the piece, Afro-Columbian dances reminds us of the Tondoa Artistic Organization’s origins. A true inspiration for the choreography, animal movements are used to showcase the migratory and adaptation process to a new environment. Such movements create a hybrid character who is transformed by his choices, experiences, and environment. For the FQD, Tondoa will perform a 5-minute version of Échos Migratoires, a 30-minute original piece currently under development with the support of Montréal Arts Interculturels (MAI) and Festival Quartiers Danses.
Creator and performer of this solo piece, Anna Lamontagne uses movement to portray a person’s idea of immediacy within a collective introspection. Touching on the power and presence of knowing and listening to our own body, she wonders how to unite our inner landscape with the outside world that keeps our body upright, and how to learn to trust our instincts. De Sève highlights how important it is to slow down, learn to understand the world within and around us, and put down roots.
“My forests sleep naked,
Waiting for the wind
That will make them stumble
Like drunken beasts
Walking towards their roots” (Loose translation of an extract from Helène Dorion’s volume of poetry “My Forests”)
Nicole Jacobs creates and performs the acrobatic contemporary solo Alone in the Living Room. When spending too much time in one place, we start to lose touch with our rational selves. The piece invites us to dive into an imaginary world and play with the frontier between reality and illusion. The broken story is expressed through fluid acrobatics and a dynamic and powerful physicality. The audience becomes the performer’s mirror, inviting her to think about her self-image. We are transported to our ever-changing inner selves, in a journey to meet our inner self through our daily experiences.
El kamar bi zaher is choreographed and performed by Chanel Cheiban. It bridges the various chapters of her life, shaping her quest to find her roots in Lebanon. Meaning “The flowering moon”, El kamar bi zaher symbolizes her inner universe, her sacred feminine side. She wakes up cleansed and freed from her emotional experiences, becoming more mature in the process. Deconstructing taboos and stereotypes about cultural differences, she studies the feeling of powerlessness they bring, especially to Middle-Eastern women. Inspired by Middle Eastern and Arabic culture, El kamar bi zaher criticizes such stereotypes to link them to basic principles. Music, symbols, mysticism, and history all become her way to personify an overwhelming reality.
Viewed with VR glasses, immersive dance video WITHIN invites the public to enter the mind of a choreographer. Each member of the audience controls the story and travels with a dancer through the ruins and natural landscapes of the Spanish Basque country. A virtual reality metaverse, the piece showcases real human bodies moving as one with nature.
WITHIN was born thanks to INNOCULT, a European project promoting the development of art and technology prototypes. It was presented during MEET, in Milan, and supported by Dantza Labea, Eszenabide and Espacio Punto de Fuga. So far, the piece has been shown in Cinedans, BLV Art, MEET, Labo Xl, Teatro Barakaldo, and the Dantzan Tzan Festival.
Directed by choreographer Karine Ponties, SAME SAME explores the frontier between subtle humour, irony and the absurd. In a world where being reasonable helps us hide, nonsensicality brings us face to face with our relationship to normality and allows us to open ourselves to new paths. Nothing defines human beings better than their tendency to act irrationally to obtain unlikely results.
Yet, the absurd and lightheartedness are often filled with depth and honesty. Somewhere between burn out and brown out, two women facing each other through a distorting mirror lose their way and reconnect with their wild inner selves. SAME SAME received special acknowledgment for its remarkable work, humour, and complexity. Tereza Ondrová, one of the performers, also received the 2019 Czech Dance Platform Award for SAME SAME.