What if dance bridged the cultural gap faced by newcomers? Montreal artists invite young adolescents torn from their country of origin to find their roots, here, deep within themselves, thanks to semi-directed choreographies.
They come from Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Ukraine. Students at Saint-Luc secondary school, in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, find a form of peace in their hectic lives by introducing themselves to dance. “For uprooted teenagers, to reroot themselves in their bodies is fundamental,” says the artistic director of the project launched in 2021, Aurélie Pedron. “The body is the territory from which we can never be uprooted. »
The choreography is called “Trajectories”. The eleven professional performers invite these students one by one into a “kind of black box” where – the key to the experience – they dance blindly.
A sensory landscape revolves around them: noises, materials and smells “highly rich in symbolism”. During this sensory journey, the spontaneous movements of the young immigrant find themselves supported by the choreographers.
“If he opens his arm, we will create a continuation of their own arm,” illustrates Aurélie Pedron. “We use a very delicate touch. We listen to where the resistance is. […] We’re going to play with movements, micromovements. Choreography doesn’t have to be spectacular to be spectacular. »
The parts of the body touched by the dancers, such as the neck, shoulders or hands, leave little space for connotations and this opens the door to reciprocity. “We don’t expect anything from them. We just open spaces for them where they can settle down. It is difficult to explain. If [l’élève] is open to touch the body [des interprètes], we will leave it to him. »
Without words, without visual contact, the artists hope to “systematically remove the labels” that stick well to these young people from elsewhere.
The fifteen-minute dance is divided into two sessions. The first performance creates a bond of trust between the students and the artists, while the second deepens the therapeutic scope of the choreography. Some reluctance inevitably arises, since cultural mores and relationships with the body differ for each student. “In Iran, right now, if you dance, you go to prison,” exemplifies Mme Pedron.
“The chance to imagine and think”
To appreciate the value of this dance, you can read the comments of students who have gone through this experience. They are invited to draw or write a few sentences of reflection on what they remember once their improvised choreography is finished.
“I like it because I feel relaxed,” notes one of them with a drawing of war and explosions next to it.
“No means of transport will be a traveling companion if you don’t know where to go,” philosophizes another.
“It’s healthy to sometimes have the chance to imagine and think,” wrote a third.
“One of the words that constantly emerges from their experience is peace,” summarizes Aurélie Pedron. “Feeling at peace, peaceful. They don’t always come from easy countries…”
Barely one student per class refuses this semi-improvised dance. “80% of young people are fascinated by what they experience,” adds the artistic director. “They are fascinated because they don’t understand. It fascinates them. But it’s real. […] We manage to escape from the representation of something. It is the knowledge of the body that we come to touch. »
Already, nearly ten drama classes have been able to experience this extraordinary artistic work. Others should follow during this school year.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.