The Festival Quartiers Danses (FQD) is pleased to present the full details of the programming of its 18th edition, which will take place online and outdoors from September 11 to 20. With the current health situation forcing the cancellation of the attendance of international guests as well as the holding of indoor performances, this year the FQD offers a hybrid program featuring local talent.
During the ten days of the festival, 16 co-creations by Montreal choreographers and directors will be posted for free on the festival’s new webcasting platform. These short films co-produced by the FQD will have their world premiere, offering 33 Montreal artists a local and international showcase. In addition, Montreal passers-by will be able to enjoy 17 outdoor performances in the Quartiers des Spectacles, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the McCord Museum, and the quartier Sud-Ouest. Choreographers such as Kyra Jean Green, Andrea Pea, Charles Brecard, Morgane Le Tiec and Véronique Giasson will take over the public areas for spontaneous performances. The artists/performers will also visit five CHSLDs in the Sud-Ouest, Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Verdun and Plateau-Mont-Royal boroughs to offer Montreal seniors special performances in gardens, parking lots or on the terraces of their living environment.
In order to present to the public the artistic approach of all these artists, dancer, actor and director Marc Béland, president and spokesperson of the FQD, will conduct interviews with choreographers and filmmakers on the program. These interviews, filmed at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, will be available online on the FQD’s digital broadcasting platform.
At the same time, dancer Catherine Wilson, in collaboration with choreographer Andrea Pea, will present an interactive performance in the form of phone calls. In a desire to adapt to the new conditions for the dissemination of the performing arts, Catherine Wilson and Andrea Pea have imagined sound performances combining music, text, and sound. The voices of five performers will be put to sound in the project THEY, a story telling experience rooted in the experience, memory and experiences of each performer.
In addition, the FQD, in partnership with Diversité Artistique Montréal (DAM) and Concordia University’s Department of Dance, will present a roundtable discussion on diversity, inclusion and racism in dance. Choreographers taking part in the 18th edition Andrea Pea, Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo, Kyana Lyne and Thaina Rosinvil, all from different cultural communities, will discuss their perspectives on this issue, following the social movement Black Lives Matter with the moderator and ethnologist Jérôme Pruneau, CEO of DAM.
As usual, the FQD also presents a film programme consisting of 10 short films by national and international directors. This programming will be available on the festival’s digital platform on September 19th for a limited time!
Finally, the programming of the 18th edition of the FQD is complemented by a photo exhibition by the official photographers of the festival Jackie Hopfinger (London) and Romain Lorraine (Montreal), presented on the walls of the Atwater Market Square from August 2020 to April 2021. The exhibition will also be available online for the duration of the festival so that the public outside of Montreal can access it.
After September 20, the end of the festival, the digital content of the programming of this 18th edition will continue to be available in the form of television capsules broadcast on The Community Channel of Videotron, MAtv. This new partner will broadcast short films by duos of Montreal choreographers and directors, interviews with these artists, and the roundtable on diversity, inclusion and racism for one year.
For more information, visit: quartiersdanses.com
