The Quartiers Danses Festival (FQD) has just released the program for its upcoming edition, which will take place on September 6 to 15. Over 50 performances will be presented in seven Montreal neighbourhoods, at the Salle Bourgie, and the Place des Arts’ Cinqui me Salle during the 10 days of the FQD. Dancer, actor, and director Marc B land will return this year as the festival’s president and spokesperson.
Indoor shows by artists from near and far
The Quartiers Danses Festival’s opening night will take place on Friday, September 6 and will present Pauline Gervais, one of our favorite upcoming Montreal choreographers, recipient of FQD’s Prix D couverte in 2017. The Canadian-Swedish duo, Tentacle Tribe, who took FQD’s 2017 Prix du Jury, will close the evening with a new piece paying homage to their style.
This year, the FQD will welcome creations by 17 Montreal choreographers. New choreographers such as Charles-Alexis Desgagn s, Wynn Holmes with Nicholas Archambault, Dorotea Saykaly as well as Sarah Henley will join festival veterans such as Kyra Jean Green, Janelle Hacault, James Viveiros, Cai Glover and Jane Mappin.
Of the events that should not be missed this year: the FQD has invited eight national and international choreographers and companies. Among them, Danish choreographer Lene Boel and her company, Next Zone, will present two pieces including IMMORTALITY, which explores the dream of immortality. Polish company HOTELOKOproposes a completely wacky and offbeat creation, while L ve Un Peu Les Bras (France), will offer WITH, a duo mixing dance, acrobatics, and true camaraderie.
Finally, the closing evening will see the return of choreographer and dancer Alex Neoral and his company, Focus Cia De Dan a, with STILL REICH, a program comprised of four choreographic pieces, each celebrating in their own way the dancers’ beauty, resilience, and profound humanity. He will also return to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Salle Bourgie with, following its success in 2016, FOCUS DANSE BACH. For this veritable ode to composer Jean-S bastien Bach, Alex Neoral will be accompanied onstage by a trio of musicians and his eight dancers.
Making dance accessible to all
True to its mission to democratize original dance, the FQD will make you consider dance in a fresh way with three screenings of short films on dance at the Cin math que Qu b coise, two round tables addressingsubjects currently relevant to the dance world, and, finally, three workshops offered free of charge outdoors and in studios to dance alongside festival artists.
In addition to its rich indoor programming, the FQD will offer free performances in urban contexts in different key locations around Montreal. The public will discover, among many others, percussive dance with LAB 1, a danced tour created by renowned choreographer Sandy Silva and the [Z GMA] collective,as well as contemporary dance in the unique style of Indigenous choreographer Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo. On August 20th at 11 am, the complete program will be unveiled and described during a press conference at the Place des Arts’ Espace culturel Georges- mile-Lapalme.
For more information, head to: quartiersdanses.com
