JUNKYARD/PARADISE
	SATURDAY OCTOBER 16, 2010 | 16:00 h AND 20:30 h AT THE SIR JAMES DUNN THEATRE |GET TICKETS
	Mayday - Melanie Demers: Artistic Director and Choreographer
	In a simultaneous diptych exploring the contradictions of everyday life. Junkyard/Paradise depicts a garden of debris coexisting with a Garden of Eden. “Junkyard”: Discharge, a dumping ground, dump site for waste, garbage. Place where people judged mediocre are relegated. “Paradise”: Enchanting place or stay. In various religions, the abode of righteous people after death. Upper gallery of a theatre. And in the same vein, raises the question of how to live knowing both horror and happiness, elegance and repugnance, grace and desolation…? Prismatic is proud to present the Canadian premier of this innovative, electrifying dance performance that had its world debut at the Rencontres Choregraphiques Internationales de Seine Saint-Denis (France). Canadian choreographer established in Montreal where she founded her dance company Mayday, Melanie Demers‘s experiences are testimonials of her determination to perfect her art and to put her talent at the service of the mind and soul. Her theatrical works with surrealistic resonances impress by the strong impact of a raw poetry, which questions the state of the world we live in and our responsibility as individuals. From the beginning, her work has charmed by its originality, intensity and its complexity. Even though her first works reflected some fantasy and playful qualities, they also explored the darker zones of the human condition. Light and refreshing in Les Oubliettes, Failles and Le Même Ciel, in Mayday, Mayday created in 2006 for the collective Échine Dô, her theatricality is sharper and we can start sensing the strange like dimension so characteristic of her recent work. The explosive energy of the beginnings is then released in the sensuality of Transistor before being condensed in the dramatic intensity of her latest creations. Socially engaged as an artist, Mélanie Demers traveled to teach dance in Kenya, Niger, Brazil and Haiti, her father’s birth country, where she was also involved in the development of two arts centres. The harsh reality of the developing countries and the daily struggle of their impoverished populations strengthened her belief that the role of art is to address political issues and to stimulate a debate of ideas. Les Angles Morts (2006), Sauver sa peau (2008) and Junkyard/Paradis (2010) have all been created from this point of view. Because she strongly believes that there always remains a reason for hope, even in the worst situation, she named her company Mayday, created in 2007. To date, Melanie Demers choreographed fifteen works and was presented in some thirty cities across Europe, America, Africa and Asia.
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