PuSh in the Community
Amplifying connection between local communities and festival artists.
Push is extending the invitation for global connection and inter-cultural sharing beyond performances to stimulating dialogue through local-national-international encounters unique to the vital festival environment. Join one of our community events to go deeper with the Festival program.
FREE Workshops and Events for General Public
Vietnamese Rap Concert for Babies with Chaû Kim-Sanh and Chittakone Baccam (Montréal, Québec)
29 January, 2:00 – 2:30pm
Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews
For babies aged 0-2 and their caregivers
In this intimate concert for babies, multidisciplinary artist Châu Kim-Sanh raps in a broken-Vietnamese, learnt on the internet. Her imaginary landscape unfolds, where purple suns and blue Saigonese mountains intertwine… But do we say núi or sơn for mountain? Her long-time friend, Chittakone Baccam, will accompany her on this journey, weaving deep Asian beats into the fabric of the performance. Together, they have been exploring themes of diasporic nostalgia through various artistic mediums, including dance, music, and film. This rap concert for babies explores themes of diasporic nostalgia as a tender, rhythmic poem dedicated to babies and second-generation immigrants who, like Kim-Sanh, have lost their language along the way (and are finding it again!).
Châu Kim-Sanh is the choreographer and performer of BLEU NÉON (Jan 28-29 at Left of Main)
Presented with
Supported by
Slow Social: Around Sound (and Music and Drag) with Gabriel Dharmoo (Montréal, Québec)
1 Feb 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
The Post at 750
Centered around an artist talk, Q & A, and open discussion with Gabriel Dharmoo, this event is part of The Only Animal’s Slow Socials, an ongoing series of gatherings that invite communities to connect through relaxed textile creation, environmental sound/music, and conversation, and Music on Main’s Around Sound, a long running series that features artist dialogues in an open, casual atmosphere.
Hosted in a textile installation by Barbara Adler, Slow Social: Around Sound (and Music and Drag) will explore how slow practice can sensitize relationships between people and place and set the stage for joyful climate futures. As you listen, The Only Animal will teach you how to create simple rope, aka ‘cordage’, from fibres you can find close to home, including fabric scraps, garden waste and leftovers from your hibernating craft projects. Materials and a beginner’s lesson will be provided.
Gabriel Dharmoo is the creator and performer of Bijuriya (28-29 Jan at the ANNEX).
Dharmoo studied music at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, finishing with the highest distinction honoured. His works have been performed in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa, winning awards and wide acclaim. He has toured extensively as a vocalist.
Presented with
L’eau du bain Theatre Company Sound Design Workshop
In English: 1 Feb 2025, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm: registration here.
In French: 2 Feb 2025, 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm: registration here.
Roundhouse Community Arts & Performance Centre
For ages 8+
During this workshop, the artists behind L’eau du bain invite you to plunge into magical Northern landscapes through the art of listening. L’eau du bain’s installations and stage works enlist a theatrical and digital language in which sound and light are designed to connect with the inner self of the spectator, whether adult or child. This workshop is an opportunity to experience the impressive sound design techniques used in their show De glace (From Ice).
L’eau du bain is the producing company of De glace (From Ice) (31 Jan, 1-2 Feb at The Roundhouse).
En anglais le 1er février, de 16h à 17h: lien d’inscription ici.
En français le 2 février, de 16h à 17h: lien d’inscription ici.
Lieu: Roundhouse Community Arts & Performance Centre
À partir de 8 ans
Avec la participation d’Anne-Marie Ouellet et Thomas Sinou (De glace)
Dans cet atelier, les artistes derrière la compagnie L’eau du bain vous convient à plonger, par l’écoute, à l’intérieur de paysages nordiques féériques. Ce sera ainsi l’occasion d’expérimenter différemment l’impressionnant dispositif sonore utilisé pour leur spectacle De glace.
Presented with
Supported by
Workshops, Talks and Consultations for the Arts Community
New Works In Practice Workshop
2 Feb 12:00 p.m. – 3:00p.m.
Scotiabank Dance Centre
For dance artists
In Practice is a workshop series for continued education, peer to peer exchange, and knowledge sharing for dance teachers and leaders. This workshop with PuSh Artist in Residence Majula Drammeh will explore how to create inclusive spaces that prioritize visibility, agency, and transparent power dynamics, while honoring the knowledge that everyone brings. Participants will reflect on their own experiences, learn to recognize individual challenges within group settings to foster more effective facilitation and connection.
Majula Drammeh (b. 1982) is a Swedish-Gambian-Finnish interdisciplinary dance and performance artist based in Stockholm. With degrees from London’s Laban Center and Stockholm School of the Arts, her work explores vulnerability and societal norms, blending choreography and participatory performance. Her projects span galleries, streets, and video installations.
Presented with
Dramaturgy Dialogues
Feb 1, 3:30-5:30 p.m.
The Roundhouse
Drop in
Join this forum of local, national, and international dramaturgs and performance-makers in sharing formal and philosophical approaches to dramaturgy. Participants will engage with a curated series of provocations that expand dramaturgy beyond standard play development or academic applications. This collaborative space is intended to develop dramaturgical toolkits and working methods while honouring the diverse contexts that shape each participant’s practice.
Presented with
Supported by
Dramaturgy Clinics
Feb 2, 3, 4, various times
Applications for the 2025 Dramaturgy Clinics are now closed. Please join us for the Dramaturgy Dialogues on Feb 1.
The Dramaturgy Clinics are free, 1.5 hr dramaturgical consultations for local artists from any performing arts or interdisciplinary practice currently engaged in any phase of a creative process. Consultations are offered by visiting national and international dramaturgs representing diverse artistic points of view and cultural contexts. Our partners at Playwrights Theatre Centre will select 25 applicants, prioritizing a diverse representation of artistic practices and a clear focus on creative inquiry. Inspired by Festival TransAmériques’ Cliniques dramaturgiques, this program nourishes individual practices while enriching our collective definitions and applications of dramaturgy.
Dramaturgs
Janice Poon is the leader of both Dramaturgy and Playwriting major programmes at School of Drama, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She inaugurates, develops and teaches both the MFA and BFA major programmes in Dramaturgy. She is an advocate of international collaboration of transdisciplinary and transcultural projects through curating, dramaturgy, directing and writing for performance.
Diego Gil is an artist and philosopher exploring the life of aesthetic processes through the lens of process philosophy. Born in Buenos Aires, Diego lived and studied in Amsterdam (School for New Dance Development – DAS Choreography). He obtained a PhD from the Interdisciplinary Humanities program of Concordia University in Montreal, where he has worked as an independent choreographer, performer, and dramaturge for the last ten years.
Marilou Craft (elle/she/they) lives in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang (Montreal), where she works as an artist, author, translator, editor, lecturer and dramaturgical consultant. Her artistic practice is rooted in the margins she inhabits and which inhabit her: situated at the confluence of poetry and the performing arts, she probes the gray areas of the intimate and the political to embody their porosity.
Andréane Leclerc draws from her 20 years in circus to deconstruct the physical language of spectacle and reflect on contortion as a philosophical posture to create inter/transdisciplinary scenic work. She completed in 2013 a master’s degree on the dramaturgy of the circus body at UQAM. Her approach, centred on listening, relational ecology and perceptive attention, is at the heart of new bodily practices emerging from the fields of somatics and performance.
Waylon Lenk (he/him) is a Karuk dramaturg and director living in the ancestral homelands of the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawa Peoples in Ashland, Oregon. His work has been seen at Native Voices at the Autry, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Lewis & Clark College. He is currently head of the theatre program at Rogue Community College. He holds a Ph.D. in Theatre Studies from the University of Oregon.
Produced in partnership with
Project funded by
Contortion: Opening Amplitude and Movement of the Spine with Andréane Leclerc (Montréal, Québec)
3, 5, and 7 Feb 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Scotiabank Dance Centre
For professional dance artists
Drop in for one, two or three classes
Contortion: Opening Amplitude and Movement of the Spine is for all physical performers to develop hyper-consciousness of the body’s inner sensations and an intimate dialogue with its limits as allies. In order to demystify the movement and amplitude of the spine, Andréane Leclerc offers tools for flexibility and addresses breathing, posture and endurance to explore the possibilities of amplitude in a safe and respectful way.
Andréane draws from her 20 years in circus to deconstruct the physical language of spectacle and reflect on contortion as a philosophical posture. She has been developing her somatic practice and scenic vocabulary since 2008 and continues to explore limits as a structure. Her approach, focused on listening, relational ecology and perceptive attention, is part of new body practices emerging from the somatic and performance fields.
Andréane Leclerc is a 2025 PuSh Festival Artist in Residence.
Presented with
What is already here? Studio Showing and Discussion with Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe (Democratic Republic of Congo), Majula Drammeh (Sweden), Thabiaso Kubheka Persson (Sweden)
7 Feb, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
VIVO Media Arts Centre
For general public
Drop in
This studio showing culminates two weeks of audiovisual experimentation for the futuristic (Afro)play What is already here?. Participants will experience this work-in-development and join the artists in discussing key conceptual themes including: surveillance and the dematerialization of social relations.
Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe, Majula Drammeh and Thabiaso Kubheka Persson are 2025 PuSh Festival Artists in Residence.
Presented with
To find out more about these opportunities, contact community@pushfestival.ca.