Dana Michel, an emerging artist on the Montreal underground scene is definitely not to be missed.

As a child, she used to wrap her hair in a yellow towel in order to emulate her blonde-haired class-mates. Taking this anecdote, which formed the basis for a poem she wrote, the choreographer and performer revisits, as an adult, the imaginary world of her otherness in a frank and uncensored performative ritual. In this tragical, burlesque portrait which shifts between the very serious and the absurd, Dana Michel explores black culture stereotypes, before turning them on their heads to see whether or not she can relate to them. From the depths of her deepest memories, a strange creature emerges, and with it an abstract language. Yellow Towel is a playful piece infused with a delightfully child-like spirit. Through the judgement-free, unbounded eyes of the child, the piece summons up a joyous form of naivety, a mixture of candor and the carefree. But what is so fascinating about this moving, unsettling gradual metamorphosis is the primal, sensorial language that the artist conjures up, interspersing dialogue with intimate monologues.

With an initial interest in fashion and video clip aesthetics, queer culture and comedy, Dana Michel’s work now explores new creative fields. She examines what she terms as negritude and invents her own form of black dance, an intensely physical, fever-pitch ritual coupled with an unbridled imagination.

Updating: June 2016

Dana Michel, a Montreal-based choreographer and performer, was once a football-playing marketing director before becoming a major figure on the Montreal underground scene. Her work explores the multiple facets of identity through intuitive improvisation. Pieces by Dana Michel have been presented throughout North America (Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Boston, Salt Lake City and New York) and Europe (Austria, Belgium, France, Serbia and Switzerland).

Since 2001, the National Center for Dance (CND) has been making recordings of its shows and educational programming and has created resources from these filmed performances (interviews, danced conferences, meetings with artists, demonstrations, major lessons, symposia specialized, thematic arrangements, etc.).