Images by Kevin Calixte and Mathieu Doyon
MAYDAY DOUBLE BILL
TWO TORONTO PREMIERES!
Join us for a special MAYDAY double-bill event: In one weekend, you can see Confession Publique AND La Goddam Voie Lactée!
You can choose to see either work on its own, or both together in the same night for a discount. See below for information on both pieces and the choreographic laboratory from Montréal’s own MAYDAY, led by multi-award-winning director, choreographer, and performer Mélanie Demers.
Presented by dance Immersion + DanceWorks + Dancemakers
VENUE: Meridian Arts Centre (MAC), 5040 Yonge Street, North York
DATES / TIMES / PRICES:
La Goddam Voie Lactée – Friday, October 24 and Saturday, October 25, 2025 @ 7:00PM (75 minutes) – in the MAC Greenwin Theatre – $33.90 (plus box office fees)
Confession Publique – Friday, October 24 and Saturday, October 25, 2025 @ 8:30 PM (65 minutes) – in the MAC Studio Theatre – $33.90 (plus box office fees)
SPECIAL COMBINED PRICE – SEE BOTH SHOWS FOR $56.50 (plus box office fees)!
SPECIAL COMBINED PRICE – Student/Senior/Arts Worker – see BOTH SHOWS for $22.20 each show including taxes ($44.40 total)!
Content Warnings: La Goddam Voie Lactée has extensive fog, loud music, and minimal partial nudity and Confession Publique has fog, loud music, and full nudity
Note: No refunds for tickets can be provided
Click the links below for tickets to:
Discounted 2-Show Pack – Both Performances in One Night!
October 24 or October 25: Click HERE for tickets
La Goddam Voie Lactee
October 24 @ 7:00 PM – Click HERE for tickets
October 25 @ 7:00 PM – Click HERE for tickets
Confession Publique
October 24 @ 8:30 PM – Click HERE for tickets
October 25 @ 8:30 PM – Click HERE for tickets
Click HERE to sign up for the Choreographic Laboratory with Mélanie Demers on Saturday, October 25 at 2:00pm! $30
Confession Publique
Its title serving as a promise, Confession Publique explores ambiguity and paradox, probes the noble and the vulgar, oscillates between grace and brutality. Choreographer Mélanie Demers turns her trusted collaborator Angélique Willkie into her muse. Together, these two kindred spirits explore the act of telling others about yourself without reserve. The result is a hard-hitting solo show, where anecdotes become painful secrets and the body reveals as much as words, if not more.
Note: This performance includes nudity.
Company: MAYDAY
Ideation, direction and choreography: Mélanie Demers
Interpretation: Angélique Willkie with the participation of Anne-Marie Jourdenais
Direction of rehearsals: Anne-Marie Jourdenais
Dramaturgy: Angélique Willkie
Original music: Frannie Holder
Additional music: Excerpt from The Fairy Queen, composed by Henry Purcell and sung by Angelique Willkie
Scenography: Odile Gamache
Lighting: Claire Seyller
Costumes: Elen Ewing
Technical management: Hannah Kirby and Claire Seyller
Production management: Alec Arsenault
Thanks: Éléonore Loiselle
Teaser production: Stefan Verna
Toronto Production Stage Manager: Sharon DiGenova
Creation 2021: This creation is the subject of a doctoral research-creation at UQAM’s Département d’Études et pratiques des arts.
Coproducers: La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines (Montréal, Canada); Agora de la danse (Montréal, Canada); Centro per la Scena Contemporanea/Operaestate Festival (Bassano del Grappa, Italie). MAYDAY is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and the Conseil des arts de Montréal, and is a Member of Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique.
La Goddam Voie Lactée
La Goddam Voie Lactée’s reaction to the harshness and asperity of the world is to offer up a pagan mass. A celebration in the form of a challenge. Drawing inspiration from the constant mourning that marks our current age, Mélanie Demers dives into a reflection on the theme of incompleteness. Each one is camped out at their own lookout post; sometimes they jump into the arena and grab hold of gestures, words, music, to drape around themselves like a costume. They sketch out their universe, drawing and erasing it. An aesthetic little Big Bang, La Goddam Voie Lactée is an exercise in self-imagination, a means of finding our bearings in this imperfect and infinite world which is our common belonging and inheritance.
Note: This performance includes loud noises and vocalizations.
Company MAYDAY
Concept and Staging Mélanie Demers
Text and Choreography Mélanie Demers in collaboration with the performers
Performers Stacey Désilier, Frannie Holder, Brianna Lombardo, Chi Long, Léa Noblet Di Ziranaldi
Understudy Misheel Ganbold
Rehearsal Director Anne-Marie Jourdenais
Dramaturge Angélique Willkie
Music Frannie Holder
Lighting Design Claire Seyller
Costumes and Props Elen Ewing
Technical Director / Stage Manager Hannah Kirby and Claire Seyller
Sound Design Benoit Bouchard
Production Manager Mélanie Primeau
Special thanks to Alexandre Pilon-Guay
Toronto Production Stage Manager Sharon DiGenova
Co-production: Festival TransAmériques, Montréal, Canada Agora de la danse, Montréal, Canada; Centre chorégraphique national de Tours, Tours, France; Centro per la Scena Contemporanea, Bassano del Grappa, Italie; The Dance Centre Vancouver, Canada
MAYDAY is a member of Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique and an associated company at Agora de la danse. The project received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and the Conseil des arts de Montréal for their support.
