Survival Technologies
2024
Image by Kamissa Ma Koïta.
Borrowing from the art of the griot and palaver circles, multidisciplinary artists Kamissa Ma Koïta and Elena Stoodley stage a performative assembly that rallies the power of an entire village. Concerned by artificial intelligence and its impacts, they turn to ancestral technologies with a radically joyful approach. In the centre of the circle, a battle unfolds between the machine, symbol of western progress, and dance—the ultimate tool of resistance and emancipation.
This latest work from the multidisciplinary group PME-ART provides a platform for powerful voices. Koïta and Stoodley, Quebec artists of Malian and Haitian background respectively, have both experienced uprooting, but they also share a profound, jubilant connection to traditional dances transmitting ancestral knowledge. Through a stream of images and songs in Bambara, Creole and French, Survival Technologies issues an appeal to end violence and let joy reign.
Produced by PME-ART
Co-Creator, Director, Sound Design, Performer Elena Stoodley
Co-Creator, Visual Creator Kamissa Ma Koïta
Performer, Cultural Consultant Jean Durandisse
Dancers Sophia Gaspard + Michèle Jean-Jacques
Percussionist Karl-Henry Brézault
Set and Lighting Design Paul Chambers
Assistant Set and Lights- Jordana Natale
Video content and interactive art Design Bay Dam
Costumes Michèle Jean-Jacques
Artistic Consultants Dana Michel + Karla Étienne
Artistic Facilitator, Dramaturgy Assistant Jacob Wren
Artistic contribution Sonia Hughes
Producer Sylvie Lachance
Technical Director Vladimir Cara
Production Manager Becks Lefranc
Co-produced by Festival TransAmériques + Forum Freies Theater (Düsseldorf) + Festspillene i Nord-Norge (Harstad)
Developed with the support of National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund (Ottawa)
Presented in association with Agora de la danse + Tangente
Premiered at Festival TransAmériques, on May 30, 2024
Written by Fabien Marcil
Translated by David Dalgleish