Achraf El Abed — Howa walla heya d’aujourd’hui

Achraf El Abed’s Howa walla heya d’aujourd’hui embodies rebirth. Between the country of origin and the land of exile, identity fractures and transforms. Neither fully here nor there, the artist learns to inhabit the in-between — between she and he — and to turn absence into presence, movement into a new grounding.

This solo explores وجيعة (waji‘a), a deep and multifaceted pain: leaving one’s country, living with HIV, and discovering oneself after rupture and distance. Through the body, Howa walla heya gives form to fragmented identities—between vulnerability and resistance, heritage and reinvention, masculine and feminine. Dancing becomes an act of healing, where the flesh carries paradoxes.

Kaia Portner — Capital Erotica

Kaia Portner’s Capital Erotica presents a fantasized illusion: the showgirl emerges from tensions between economics and sensual expenditure.

In a performance where glamour and vulnerability are synchronized, Capital Erotica explores the deconstruction of burlesque and go-go dance codes, desire as a hybrid contemporary state, and femininity as a system for navigating intimacy and power.

Rooted in Montreal’s nightlife practices—shaped by historical archetypes, cabaret, and DJ booth culture—this solo turns toward the personal and future implications of what it means to be a showgirl. Step into a world of metamorphosis where the body becomes a spectacle meant to be seen explicitly.

Artist talk with the performers: September 11, 2026
Ages 16 and up