Type de fiche: Artist

nico contreras

Nico Contreras is an Ecuadorian Canadian interdisciplinary artist working between movement and text in theatre, contemporary dance, and film. Honoured to have learned with mentors across the Americas, from Quito’s Teatro Malayerba to Toronto’s Aluna Theatre, Nico has spent the last decade exploring the curious relationships between identity and abstraction in artmaking on a personal and community scale. Founder of the expresARTE program for Panamerican youth, he has most recently led research and creation processes bringing together artists from a variety of diaspora to critically reflect on the roles our practices play in our life and work. 

Nico is currently working on ñaño, a play exploring the relationship between brothers in connection through absence, grief and loss. It is a farewell letter and a collection of ephemeral reminiscences, an exploration of how the moments we have shared make us who we are, and a testament to the power of memory to freeze, distort, and perhaps reveal those who we have loved and lost.

Photo credit: Naïma Contreras Tejpar

mara dupas

Mara Dupas is the recipient of the CAM+MAI Joint Support Fellowship 2023-2024.

Mara Dupas is a queer multidisciplinary artist of Martinican descent. He relocated to Montreal with his family at a young age, where he took up dance training. Mara perfected his classical ballet and contemporary dance techniques, first at the Académie du Ballet Métropolitain, then at the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal (2019-2022). Concurrently, he began learning urban dancing and Haitian folk dances by following workshops. Mara collaborates as a performer with Louise Bédard (choreographic research), Charlie Prince (states of body produced by an emergency) as well as Rhodnie Désir (Symphonie de coeurs).

His choreographic works, which explore the themes of métissage, the Afro-descendant body and Caribbean culture, have been presented in Montreal at Danses Buissonnières (Tangente Danse), the Vue sur la Relève Festival and the OFFTA. His personal writing practice has resulted in the publication of several texts, notably by Éditions Bruno Doucey (Poésie en liberté, 2018), in Zinc magazine (2022) and in the Moveo dance magazine (2023).

Photo credit: Bianka Pierre

dani carter

Dani Carter is a Tkaronto-born, Tiohtià:ke-based writer and performance artist.

Project Description: TIPS is an interdisciplinary exploration of Blackness, desirability, the internet, and the hidden erotic underbelly of labour. It follows the myth of the Black body into the noise of cyberspace.

The work is an aggregation of data—an absurd, burlesque, corrosive archive—collected from imageboards, message boards, Reddit communities, TikTok live streams, and the artist’s lived experience. How does the internet and its content, pornographic and non-pornographic, affect the shape of fetishization? Can a text that dehumanizes be radicalized by the dehumanized? As Gayatri Spivak writes, can the subaltern speak? These are questions that TIPS is interested in asking—if not answering, given their vastness—in the context of writing, performance, and their intersection.

Photo credit: Dani Carter

melinda yeoh

Melinda is the recipient of the 100LUX+MAI Joint Support Fellowship 2023-2024. Melinda will take part of the annual 2023-2024 Les Soirées 100Lux programming.

Born in Singapore, and growing up in the prairies of Calgary, Alberta, Melinda “Melofunk” Yeoh has trained in Locking for 12 years. A member of the LockUnity collective and Ingenious Lockers crew, she fell in love with Locking when she went to the Elite Locking Camp in Las Vegas in 2011. There, she had the opportunity to learn from pioneers and first-generation Lockers such as Scoo B Doo, Damita Jo, and Fluky Luke who were present in the scene when it was created in the late 60s/ early 70s. From then on, she returned to Calgary and tried to grow the local Locking scene little by little through performances, classes, and sessions. In 2014, she moved to Montreal to train with LockUnity and grow as a Locker, and since then, she’s competed in various Locking jams locally and internationally such as Bust A Move, Under Pressure, Unlock The Funk, Vancouver Street Dance Festival, Lock City, and KOD. In addition to competing, she taught Locking classes in Montreal, and choreographed and performed in Locking performances in jams and on stages like 100Lux Festival and Breakin’ Convention.

Melinda seeks to consistently develop and find ways to grow her Locking expression and artistry by training in other dance styles such as Tap Dance and Lindy Hop while at the same time continuing to train with the LockUnity collective.

Tangente thanks the Caisse Desjardins de la Culture and the SAQ, two great heroines who faithfully contribute to the success of Tangente’s activities.

Photo credit: Melika Delz

amandine gay

Director, author, and activist, Amandine Gay divides her time between research, creation, and “paper business”. She has been back in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal since June 2022 – after an eight-year immigration saga.

Following, Ouvrir La Voix – her first self-produced and self-distributed film giving the floor to twenty-four French-speaking Afro-descendant women – released in French, Belgian and Swiss cinemas in 2017 and Quebec in 2018; she directed a second documentary, A Story of Its Own. This archival film is on national adoption from the point of view of 5 adopted people, now adults. She is a regular speaker on Afro-feminism, film, intersectionality, and adoption. In 2018, she founded the Mois des Adoptées, a series of events: conferences, screenings, performances, workshops. This is held every year in November between France, Switzerland, and Quebec to allow adoptees to reclaim their narrative. In 2021, she published her first book at La Découverte (France) and Remue-Ménage (Quebec), Une poupée en chocolat, an autobiographical essay on adoption.

Its new projects aim to continue and deepen its dialogue between the world of research and art, through a multifaceted reflection-creation around white supremacy involving the writing of an essay, curation of an exhibition, and publication of an exhibition catalog. She also intends to rely on Alliance’s support to develop her career on the English-speaking side of North America, in particular by working on the translation and English-language edition of her first book.

Website: https://linktr.ee/orpheonegra
Photo credits: Jean-Baptiste Demouy (Radio-Canada)

auro moura

Auro Moura is a singer/songwriter, composer, and music educator who has been working in the field of music for nearly 20 years. He holds a Master’s in Music and a degree in Music Education from the Federal University of Paraná (Curitiba, Brazil) as well as a diploma in Audiovisual Production from the Institut Grasset (Montréal). Auro has a long and prominent career as a music educator. He is currently the co-founder of the program Les Brasileirinhos, and music director to the “Choeur Scénique Brésilien”, both in TioTia:Ke/Montréal. As a researcher, Auro has published in congresses and symposiums in Brazil, Italy, Canada, and in magazines specialized in education. He published the book “Making Music with Children”, currently in its 3rd edition. As a musician, he has composed and performed music for 4 albums, 1 EP and 1 DVD. Besides his personal projects, Auro also works as a composer of songs and soundtracks for children’s projects, short films, and advertising, among others.

Website: www.auromoura.com

emilio wawatie

Emilio Wawatie is an Algonquin-Anishnabe from Kitigan Zibi and Barrier lake, Quebec, and is a musician, filmmaker, researcher, and educator. Born in Maniwaki and raised throughout Anishnabe Aki in parc la Verendrye, Abitibi, and Gatineau; he now resides in Moniak, where he studies at Concordia University in Music and First People’s Studies. Emilio began his musical journey when he discovered playing the guitar at the age of 12 through the influence of his grandfather and continued his passion for music and classical guitar studies at the age of 22. It was at Cambrian College where he began to build his musical foundation and received training on the Classical guitar with Mathew Gould and Alan Yzereef, where he prepared, organized, and performed a graduating recital. In the last few years, Emilio’s work has been geared towards research and creation with strong focus on Algonquian music and artistic styles of both traditional and contemporary practices. He is currently undertaking work on his first EP as an artist with InPath and composes for the Classical guitar.

natsumi sophia bellali

Natsumi Sophia Bellali was born in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, and raised by a Japanese mother, and a Moroccan father. She graduated from The Ailey School in New York, where she
cultivated her love and respect toward modern dance, amongst other styles the city showed her. She has performed with MICHIYAYA Dance and Ping Chong + Company,
and has been an understudy for the Mark Morris Dance Group. Bellali utilizes every platform directed her way as a vessel to share the wonders of her roots; from short works for competitive events, to large entertainment productions, to her own solo work Salam Tata currently in creation. She further shares her practice, and her passion to make people feel empowered in their bodies, by teaching in different settings such as wellness centers, yoga studios, pre-professional schools, and by supporting athletes of other disciplines through dance training. What is it to be a child of immigrants in Montreal? Salam Tata illustrates this unique and complex identity through telephone conversations with an aunt living in Morocco. The work addresses the themes of beauty standards, marriage, religion, and womanhood, through dance and theater.

zahra buali

Painter, printmaker, sculptor, and ceramist. From the figurative to the abstract, to the mixed media, she works with a multi-layered approach. Zahra is of Arabian/Persian origin and lives and works in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. She is the founder of Atelier Inana, where she continues to create and teach art. She holds a BFA. from Concordia University 1996, Montreal, Canada, and a B.Sc. from the University of Arizona, 1983, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A.. She combines mediums and techniques, challenges boundaries, and superimposes layers of form, color, and space. Her work is strongly linked to her constant search for identity, cultural history, and influences. Her artwork is exhibited locally and internationally and is part of public & private collections in Bahrain, Canada, China, Egypt, Iran, France, the K.S.A., Spain, U.A.E., the U.S.A., and the United Kingdom. Some partial list: Shen Zhen Print Museum, Shen Zhen, China, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt., Almansouria Foundation, Jeddah, K.S.A., & Hozeh Honari, Tehran, Iran.

Zahra participated in various International artist’s residencies, and workshops in Canada, the U.S.A., Spain, China, Jordan, Iran,Bahrain and K.S.A. Her project will consist of 16 works of art and a video installation, around the theme of displacement and re-rooting. At its center are two triptychs: a 3-panel mixed-media mural triptych, and a mixed-media ceramic triptych. The additional 14 pieces are mixed media and paintings, that vary in size from (40 x54cm) to (212 x 102cm). The video, approximately 5-8 minutes, will take the viewer on a visceral journey through the process of destruction of created artwork and re-creation from destruction. 

tam khoa vu

The PRIM Centre and the MAI have partnered to offer long-term joint support to an artist wishing to experiment, develop their skills and create work in the field of media arts. PRIM provides the artist with filming equipment and facilities for the production of a work in video art, documentary, fiction, and audio art. The selected artist will be offered the opportunity to present their work in the MAI spaces as part of the official program during the 23-24 season.

Tam Khoa Vu is an artist based in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal. His work challenges common representations and depictions of Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Canadian identity, while playfully opening up spaces of abundance, possibility, and nuance. Using various visual and digital art forms, his practice explores themes of production, manufacturing, power, representation, and identity by exploring the nuances of the “third space” resulting from the diasporic experience between Vietnam and Canada. Notable presentations of the artist’s works include MAI – Justice Project (2022), Montreal, QC (2022); ARTCH Emerging Artists Exhibition, Montreal, QC (2021), Eastern Bloc, Montreal, QC (2016). He has received grants from funding bodies and institutions such as OBORO (2022), Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (2022, 2021), and the MAI (2022). In 2017, he completed his BFA at Concordia University in Design and Computation Arts.