Contemporary Tropisms
At home or in public space, images are everywhere. They seduce the eye, blur our shared stories and orient our future. For choreographer and dancer Maria Kefirova, they are rivers of meaning that a mere gesture of tenderness can reactivate. The Beach and Other Stories is a solo piece about photographic infiltration, that it is created in full complicity with the audience.
Somewhere between a neighborhood alley and a darkroom, a storyteller short-circuits the suggestive power of images, recasting our imaginary worlds and rewriting our stories. She lets herself drift from one photograph to another, slips among the various protagonists, comments, laughs, and recounts her own story. Her gestures and words flow along a current that runs freely, activating our sightlines, our memories, the material before us: a jubilant dance inspired by fiction, a rediscovery of the graceful art of play.
Credits
Concept, choreography and performance: Maria Kefirova
Text: Maria Kefirova + Michael Martini
Dramaturgical support: Hanako Hoshimi-Caines
Advisors: Diego Gil + Sophie Corriveau + Sebastian Kann
Lighting Design: Karine Gauthier
Costumes Design: Jade Tong Cuong
Sound Design: Nicolas Basque + Maria Kefirova
Consultants: Mladen Alexiev + Milla Mineva + Mira Todorova
Visuel Design Consultant: Johan Deschuymer
Photos: Bulgarian Visual Archive – Olivier Tulliez
Presented by Danse-Cité
In association with La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines
Produced by Maria Kefirova, Danse-Cité, FTA
Curated by Ellen Furey and Sophie Corriveau
With the support of Conseil des arts du Canada, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Agora de la danse, Créations Estelle Clareton, Studios Solidaires - Diagramme – gestion culturelle
Creative residencies: Stable, MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels), Toplotsentrala Centre for Contemporary Art (Sofia)
Premiered at Festival TransAmériques, on June 2, 2023
About the artist
In The Beach and Other Stories, i am weaving a corporal reality out of a fictional narrative, searching to bring multidimensionality to a photographical archive from the 90es in post communist Bulgaria. Body and text are short-circuiting the suggestive power of the images, recasting imaginary worlds and writing ‘alternative histories.
Practical Informations
Dates
November 16, 2023 — 7.30 PM, in English
November 17, 2023 — 7.30 PM, in English
November 18, 2023 — 7.30 PM, in French
November 19, 2023 — 3 PM, in French
Venue
La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines
3700 Saint-Dominique, Montréal
H2X 2X7
514 843-7738
Rates
Taxes and service charges included for online and by phone purchases.
Regular: 35 $
Jour de fête (Premiere) : 20 $
Under 15 years old: 15 $
Discounted : 30 $
Student in Performing Arts: 25 $
Box office
https://billetterie.lachapelle.org/Online/default.asp
Duration
Around 60 minutes
Accessibility
La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines is not accessible to people with impaired mobility. There are a dozen stairs to climb to enter the theater. No elevator.
Talkback with artists
After the show November 18, 2023. Animation : Michael Martini.
Notes
Two evenings in French. Two evenings in English.
La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines offers a bar service on site. Cash and debit/credit cards accepted.