MAYDAY, Cabaret Noir
February 7 | 8 PM
February 8 | 8 PM
February 9 | 2:30 PM
Westbury Theatre, Fringe Theatre Arts Barns

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"One of the characteristics of Mélanie's work that interests me to no end is her exploration of the intersection between dance and theatre. What results is an amazing dance of the body! In doing this, she isn't afraid to explore any element. As a Black Woman, Mélanie confronts the politics of today as well as she celebrates the humanity of every one of us!"
- Brian Webb

Cabaret Noir is both a giant celebration centred around the idea of négritude and a space, so to speak, for resisting being essentialized and pigeonholed by the limitations of this concept, this blackness, this gloominess. Since it’s impossible to escape our bodies, why not pay tribute to this condition, this identity, this burden, this beauty? After taking a look at the playground in front of us, a combination of cotton field and circus ring, stranded between essay and cabaret, we’re diving in eyes shut, fists raised.

Equal parts High Mass, happening, and plea for recognition, Cabaret Noir is a nod to both the flippant attitude of Cabaret Neiges Noires and the carefree atmosphere that marked the bals nègres of Paris during the 1930s.

We play around with clichés, folklore, and prejudices. We summon up the words of Frantz Fanon, Nina Simone, Dany Laferrière, and Spike Lee. We let the discourse develop and contradict itself. We observe how a bodily shell has the power to both sharpen instincts and dictate destinies.

In an age where one can lay claim simultaneously to both George Floyd and Barack Obama, Cabaret Noir is a space both sacred and profane, a space for demanding the right to tell one’s own story, in one’s own words, the right to fashion one’s own identity and, in the final reckoning, the right to not let oneself be defined by any authority whatsoever.”

“Everything about this show is unforgettable. The various numbers that make up the work fit together despite their eclecticism; they possess a certain relevance that speaks to us in one way or another. You leave the hall buoyed by a sort of contagious
energy, strangely hoping that this experience, this formula that is not a formula, becomes one. An annual tradition, why not? With performers as talented as these, I’d go see it again any time!
”

— - Yanick Comeau, Théâtralités

CREDITS IDEATION, STAGING AND CHOREOGRAPHY
Mélanie Demers with the precious collaboration of the interpreters
DRAMATURGY Angélique Willkie
PERFORMERS Fabrice Yvanoff Sénat, Florence Blain Mbaye, Mélanie Demers, Paul Chambers, Stacey Désilier, Vlad Alexis
COPRODUCTION Le Groupe de la Veillée, Montreal, Canada
REHEARSAL DIRECTOR Anne-Marie Jourdenais
ORIGINAL MUSIC Anglesh Major and Florence Blain Mbaye
MUSIC EDITING Anglesh Major
LIGHTING DESIGN Paul Chambers
COSTUMES Sophie El Assaad
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Samuel Thériault

PRODUCED BY Samuel Thériault and touring producer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh supported by the Cole Foundation

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Carmen Jolin, Francine Bernier, Mani Soleymanlou, and all our generous co-producers and collaborators. Timothy Rodrigues. And thank you also to all the lines of ancestors, artists, activists from whom we went to draw. Théâtre français du CNA Ottawa, Canada.

The show contains adult language with text in French, English, Creole and a hint of Spanish without surtitles. The performance also includes:
Bright lights/Flash/Epilepsy
Nudity
Haze
Loud noises
Threat of Sexual Violence

A multidisciplinary artist, Mélanie Demers founded in Montreal her dance company, MAYDAY, in 2007, exploring the powerful link between the poetical and the political. Her body of works have all been created from this perspective. With each new creation, she deepened her engagement with cross-genre works and hybrid forms. Her fascination with the interplay between word and gesture crystallized with WOULD (2015), which won the CALQ Prize for best choreography. In 2016, Mélanie Demers began a new creation cycle with Animal Triste and Icône Pop; both works toured internationally. In 2017, Mélanie Demers was invited alongside Laïla Diallo to work as a guest choreographer at the Skånes Dansteater in Malmö (Sweden) for the creation of Something About Wilderness.

After the ambitious and international projectDanse Mutantehit the stage,La Goddam Voie Lactée(2021),Confession Publique(2021) andCabaret Noir(2022) are entering in the spotlight in various prestigious venues and festivals. In 2021, Mélanie Demers received the GRAND PRIX de la danse de Montréal which recognizes the unique mark she left on her era. The next year, she was awarded the CALQ Prize for best choreography forConfession Publiqueand Angélique Willkie received the best performance Prize for the same work at the ceremony of Les Prix de la danse de Montréal 2022. Lastly, she turned towards theatre and directed the pieceDéclarationsby acclaimed author Jordan Tannahill. In April 2023, Mélanie Demers is a finalist for the Jovette-Marchessault award. She teaches in the greatest theatre schools in Canada and is a regular contributor on radio and television shows. She also won the NAC Award as part of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. She is currently working on her new play l'amour ou rien, which will premiere in spring 2025 at Théâtre ESPACE GO.

To date, she choreographed thirty works and was presented in some forty cities across Europe, America, Africa and Asia.