09.05, 10.05, 12 — 14.05
Dana Michel Montreal
YOU CANNOT CAN
performance — premiere
Piscine du Centre/Zwembad van het Centrum
| ⧖ +- 1h | €20 / €16
Performance artist Dana Michel considers the ability to swim to be one of the ways in which we might embody self-trust and wonders why, despite many attempts at learning, she still cannot really feel at ease in the water. And what is it that holds back the majority of her family from swimming, despite hailing from an island that is surrounded by both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea? How safe can you feel in the world if you cannot float in the liquid that makes up a large part of your body?
With YOU CANNOT CAN, Michel creates a new solo performance in a swimming pool. Surrounded by the audience, she wades inside global histories and socio-economic realities of swimming and safe access to water. After MIKE (Kunstenfestivaldesarts 2023), in which she explored self-trust in the workplace, she now uses her signature kaleidoscopically-curious approach to focus on how we might approach shaking off fears. The performance takes place in the heritage-listed Bains de Bruxelles, in the heart of the Marollen, with its superimposed pools and offering a view towards the city through its glazed facade. Might this watery adventure be an entry point to ultimate liberation?
09.05
- 17:30
10.05
- 17:30
12.05
- 19:30
13.05
- 19:30
14.05
- 17:30
- This performance will be filmed for archival purposes
Presentation: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Stad Brussel/Ville de Bruxelles
Created and performed by: Dana Michel | Artistic activators: Alex Samaras, Angélique Willkie, Karl Notargiovanni, Peter James, Roscoe Michel, Sierra Holder, Simon Couturier, Tracy Maurice, Yoan Sorin | Scenographic consultant and technical direction: Romain Guillet | Sound consultant: David Drury | Distribution: neon lobster - Giulia Messia & Katharina Wallisch
Production: SCORP CORPS - Dana Michel, Viva Delorme | Coproduction: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Arsenic, Bergen Internasjonale Teater, Festival TransAmériques, Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm, MDT, Moving in November, O Espaço do Tempo, Tanzquartier Wien
Creative residencies: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Baltic Triennial, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity - Leighton Artist Studios, Battersea Arts Centre, Centre de Création O Vertigo - CCOV, Festival TransAmériques, Fierce Festival and performance, possession + automation with funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Institutet, Kinosaki International Arts Center, marvaða, Rimbun Dahan, The Chocolate Factory, Toronto Dance Theatre, Tangente St. Pölten
With the financial support of Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec and Conseil des Arts de Montréal
Performances in Brussels with the support of the Québec Government Office in Brussels and the Ammodo Foundation
