Mayday is a general distress call mostly used by ships and aircrafts. 
In use since the beginning of the 20th Century and probably borrowed from the French term M'aider (Come help me). 
When no hope is left, Mayday stands as the last SOS.

As an attempt to create an entity that would survive in the harshness of the world, Mayday was created by dancer / choreographer Mélanie Demers to reach out, speak loud and still whisper when the end is near.

In order to realize aspirations and inspirations, Mayday is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. It is also endorsed by European structures such as Centre National de la Danse, OperaEstate festival, Repérages Danse à Lille and Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis.

Socially engaged as an artist, Mélanie Demers travelled to teach dance in Kenya, Niger, Brazil and Haiti, her father's birth country, where she was also involved in the development of two arts centres. The harsh reality of the developing countries and the daily struggle of their impoverished populations strengthened her beliefs that the role of art is to address political issues and to stimulate a debate of ideas. Les Angles Morts (2006), Sauver sa peau (2008) and Junkyard/Paradis (2010) have all been created from this point of view. Because she strongly believes that there always remains a reason for hope, even in the worst situation, she named her company Mayday, created in 2007.

To date, Mélanie Demers choreographed fifteen works and was presented in some thirty cities across Europe, America, Africa and Asia.
In less than three years, Mélanie Demers established her signature and left her mark with works that are provocative and evocative, political and yet, poetic...

Demers brings her social conscience to the dance scene with a highly creative work that manage to juggle the strange, the political and the humorous without ever dropping the balls. A call to action that is fuelled by the power of imagination. S. Verstricht, Indyish, Jan 08

Junkyard: noun 1. Discharge. Dumping ground. Dump site for waste, garbage. 2. fam. Place where people judged mediocre are relegated.
Paradis: noun (from latin paradisus, greek paradeisos, garden) 1. Enchanting place or stay.2. In various religions,the abode of righteous people after death. 3. Upper gallery of a theatre.
Junkyard/Paradise exists in a fragile balance between beauty and atrocity, between elegance and aversion, between grace and desolation. When junkyard is often a shelter for what is still precious and paradise a dump for our disposable love stories, the piece sways between opposing forces. What can be read as a child's play soon becomes a power game. What is passion becomes compassion. What is inoffensive becomes fatal. And what is imminence of death turns out to be a ticket for life.
Welcome to a world where nothing is exactly what it seems.

Junkyard/Paradise is a co-production with Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis and Agora de la Danse (Montreal) with support of Canada Arts Council and Le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Circuit- Est centre chorégraphique, Usine C (Montreal), Operaestate Veneto (Bassano) and CCN of Caen/Basse-Normandie through creative residency periods.

Sauver sa peau/Sense of self
Creation: 55min
Length: 55 min
For general audience

After fine careers as dancers - Demers with Ginette Laurin's O Vertigo and Diallo with Wayne McGregor's Random Dance - both women rapidly came to prominence with their respective choreographic work. They join forces for this new opus with the shared aspiration of investigating some delicate questions linked to identity.
Created between Kenya, Canada and the UK, Sauver sa Peau (or Sense of Self by its English title) has already left its marks on three continents.
The piece unfolds as a fluid succession of physical tableaux offering as many perspectives on the multi-layered nature of identity. As skin is always renewing itself, is identity not also in a constant state of becoming?

Sauver sa Peau/Sense of Self is a co-production with Centre National de la Danse - Pantin (creation during a residency period) and was created with the support of Arts Council England South West, Canada Arts Council, le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Swindon Dance, The Place, The Brewhouse Theatre, The Quercus Trust, Random Dance, Diversions, la Maison de la culture du Plateau Mont-Royal, Tangente, Bristol City Council and Tanzwerkstatt Berlin.

Les Angles Morts
Creation: 2006
Length: 35 min or 60 min 2 versions available
For general audience

Les Angles Morts questions our ability to understand the world from another point of view than where we usually stand and observes from every angle, even the blind spots, the small details that make us all the same and perfectly distinct.
The piece, created in an international context, brings together artists that are deeply engaged in the process and highly engaging on stage.

[...] For the brave questioning of the role of the artist [...] For the emotional charge and coherence of a piece full of images and moods signed Mélanie Demers [...] F. Cabado, Voir, Dec. 07

MAYDAY
1587, avenue Mont- Royal Est
- Montreal, Qc, H2J 1Z3
Canada

www.maydaydanse.ca
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Tel: +1 514 524 7665 #224

Mélanie DEMERS - 
Artistic Director, Choreographer
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+1 514 299 3888

Valérie PARENT
 - Administrative Agent - Diagramme Gestion culturelle

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+1 514 524 7665 #224

Junkyard/Paradis (Nouvelle création) - Photographer : Larry Dufresne 

Sauver sa peau (2008) - Photographer : Larry Dufresne

Les Angles Morts (2006) - Photographer : Larry Dufresne