The dancer and artist Dana Michel creates performative situations that follow a logic of their own. She creates a world of objects which she fills with new meanings – doing away with binary thinking and transcending linear time.
In ‘Mike’ Dana Michel facilitates an experiential space that is based on working culture and self-respect. In a three-hour performance, the public experience how their sense of time and space can shift to offer new perspectives on perception. The performer breaks with conventional ideas, working with humour and intelligence and prioritising curiosity above provocation. Supposed “minor characters”, objects in everyday use, turn into lead actors in this remarkable event.
‘Mike’ is an extension of the nomadic aesthetic that has become Michel’s calling card over the course of her career. Her works play on numerous influences covering improvisation, choreography, sculpture, comedy, hip-hop, cinematography, techno, poetry, psychology, dub and social commentary. Mike is confronted by the question: is it possible to live a life in public that mirrors what is inside us? Trust the solo artist, and one positive answer will be followed by the next…
Infos
Duration: approx. 3 hours
Language: no language
The performance lasts three hours. The audience is encouraged to experience the performance in its entirety. Entry, leaving the room and return possible at any time
Sponsors and Supporters
Created and performed by: Dana Michel
Artistic activators: Viva Delorme, Ellen Furey, Peter James, Heidi Louis, Tracy Maurice, Roscoe Michel, Karlyn Percil, Yoan Sorin
Scenographic consultant - Technical direction: Romain Guillet
Sound consultant: David Drury
Production: SCORP CORPS - Viva Delorme, Dana Michel
Distribution: neon lobster - Giulia Messia & Katharina Wallisch
Coproduction: ARSENIC - Centre d’art scénique contemporain (Lausanne, Switzerland / Suisse), Centre national des Arts (Ottawa, Canada), Festival TransAmériques (Montréal, Canada), Julidans Amsterdam (Netherlands / Pays-Bas), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels, Belgium / Bruxelles, Belgique), MDT (Stockholm, Sweden / Suède), Montpellier Danse (France), Moving in November, (Helsinki, Finland / Finlande), Wexner Center for the Arts of The Ohio State University in Colombus (United States of America / États-Unis d’Amérique).
Creative residencies: Alkantara (Lisbon / Lisbonne, Portugal), ANTI Festival (Kuopio, Finland / Finlande), Centre national des Arts (Ottawa, Canada), Kinosaki International Arts Center and Kyoto Experiment (Japon / Japan), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels, Belgium / Bruxelles, Belgique), Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt, Germany / Francfort, Allemagne), Montpellier Danse (France) résidence de création à l’Agora, cité internationale de la danse, avec le soutien de la Fondation BNP Paribas / creation residency at Agora, cité internationale de la danse, with support from BNP Paribas Foundation, RIMI/ IMIR SceneKunst (Stavanger, Norway / Norvège), Shedhalle (Zürich, Switzerland / Suisse) with the kind support of Tanzhaus Zürich and the Embassy of Canada to Switzerland / avec l’aimable support de Tanzhaus Zürich et de l’Ambassade du Canada en Suisse, The Chocolate Factory (NYC, United States of America / États-Unis d’Amérique).
The creation of this work is being made possible thanks to the financial support of Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie and Conseil des Arts de Montréal.