Rosita Boisseau, newspaper Le Monde
“ L’Inconsistance ”, by the Iranian duo Vâtchik Danse, at the Atwater Market in Montreal (Canada), on September 11.
This Quebec event, dedicated to public spaces, aims to disrupt the daily routine by offering performances at about ten different locations that are open to anyone passing by.
Dancing through the city. Its plazas, its parks, its nooks and crannies — some more accessible than others. Dancing in the streets. All kinds of terrain, all kinds of pavement, uneven surfaces and slips, potholes and bumps. Flexibility is essential, along with the ability to instantly adapt one’s movements to an uncomfortable, raw environment that offers no mercy. Dancing the hard way and drawing sparks from the city’s harshness — flashes of astonishment in the eyes of passersby, those who pause in their rush, suddenly swept up by a fluid energy that seizes them.
This artistic focus on outdoor dance performances is the beating heart of Festival Quartiers Danses (FQD), which runs through September 19 at about ten venues in Montreal. Dedicated to public spaces, while also featuring an indoor program where audiences could enjoy Liam Francis’s Lyre Liar — which was on the bill in Paris last November — FQD was founded by Rafik Hubert Sabbagh. “We started with a truck on Place Simon-Valois,” explains Sabbagh, who is overseeing the festival’s 24th edition and celebrating his final season before passing the torch. “When I envisioned the festival, it wasn’t to add another event to Montreal’s cultural calendar. I designed it so that everyone—especially people who don’t have money—could have access to culture through dance.”
The backdrop to this adventurous man’s dream is the Paris Quartier d’été festival. Created in 1990 and renamed Paris l’été in 2017, this event — which takes place in various venues across the Île-de-France region — reinforces his desire for a form of dance that connects with local communities. “At first, some people spoke with a bit of contempt about the ‘neighborhoods’ and thought I was spreading myself too thin,” he recalls. “Today, people talk about the event’s inclusivity. Dance must break out of its walls and belong to those who don’t think they know it and suddenly discover it around a street corner or in a park.”
Dance must break out of its confines and belong to those who don’t think they know it
Ready to rumble
Fortunately, the sun was shining two days later, on Friday, September 11, at the Atwater Market. Located in southwest Montreal, a 15-minute drive from downtown, this historic, designated market — which opened in 1933 — brings together local producers and a host of bistros. Amid rows of potted plants and fruit stands, the team set up its temporary headquarters in the parking lot. It’s noon. Two technicians are on site. A truck serves as a green room. A red umbrella shields the sound system. A dance mat is taped down. An FQD promotional banner falls over in the wind.
Among the audience — which included about ten international broadcasters — was the borough mayor, Véronique Fournier, who has been funding the event since its inception; she highlighted its values of “sharing and transformation.” Montreal has 19 boroughs, and FQD collaborates with three or four of them each season. Three performances followed one after another and succeeded in captivating the onlookers. “This is Montreal’s next generation”, someone whispers to us. Intrépide, a trio of hip-hop dancers — including choreographer Mélissa Martin, who presents her debut work here, titled Bordélique — kicks it up a notch with a bold exploration of acrobatics. The same desire to let loose, blending movement and sound, is evident in the work of performer Lamont, who is actively involved in queer communities and gives her all in her solo nodus tollens.
It is, however, through its dramatic tension — a challenge in a volatile environment where one’s eyes and ears are quickly distracted by everything going on — that the duo Vâtchik Danse, composed of Iranians Nasim Lootij and Kiasa Nazeran, makes L’Inconsistance stand out. “We decided to support this company for two years because of the difficulties Iranians face in expressing themselves in their own country,” says choreographer Pauline Gervais. With a simple white paper banner fluttering in the wind, Nasim Lootij and Kiasa Nazeran draw the audience into a dance-theater piece that is soberly committed to opposing all dictatorships. The voices of Hitler and Khomeini ring out. “Presenting our piece outdoors gave us the opportunity to rethink its relationship with its ‘real’ audience — the citizens — and to ask them directly: ‘Where does this tendency to submit to empty rhetoric come from?’ says Nasim Lootij.
Performer Lamont, who is actively involved in the queer community, gives it her all in her solo piece “nodus tollens”
A crowd of tourists
This variety of choreographic offerings underscores the festival’s aesthetic openness. And it comes with unbeatable conditions. “The productions must be accessible and appeal to a broad audience,” insists Rafik Hubert Sabbagh, who has staged performances at 70 venues in Montreal over the past 24 years. “Every year, we try out a new venue without knowing if audiences will show up,” says Caroline Beaudry.
And for the first time, the event is taking place in the Village, long known as the “Gay Village.” On Saturday, September 12, at 3:30 p.m., Aly Keita, a Montreal-based artist from Guinea, will present Danser au rythme du Manden (Dancing to the Rhythm of Manden), a solo piece blending tradition and contemporary dance, which won the Envol Award for Diversity in Dance Practices, presented by the Montreal Arts Council in 2025. The audience, whose numbers are gradually growing, will participate in the workshop following the performance.
Nettement plus facile et rassembleuse car ultra-fréquentée, la place d’Armes dans le Vieux Montréal est l’un des rendez-vous de prédilection du festival. Dimanche 13 septembre, devant une foule de touristes qui font la queue pour visiter la Basilique Notre-Dame, le hip hop est en vedette. Le chorégraphe Punit, venu de Vancouver, et Michael Baboolal emballent en douceur par leur complicité souriante et délicate tandis que la compagnie montréalaise Molokhia Squad, habituée à danser dans la rue, accroche ferme avec un break solide et déterminé. « La rue est toujours un challenge, confient les deux interprètes de Molokhia Squad. Le public n’est pas captif comme dans un théâtre. S’il aime le spectacle, il reste, et sinon, il s’en va sans déranger personne. Nous aimons cette liberté des spectateurs. » Une liberté que le Festival Quartiers Danses cultive avec vaillance et
modestie, abritant soutien à la nouvelle génération de créateurs, démocratisation et tourisme culturel sous un petit parasol.
Festival Quartiers Danses, à Montréal, jusqu’au 19 septembre. Lyre Liar, de Liam Francis, au Théâtre de la Ville- Les Abbesses, Paris, du 13 au 15 novembre.