Equilibrium

Équilibrium celebrates the power of gentleness. A meeting between dance and visual arts that questions the place of women, motherhood and identity, presented by Ballets Jazz Montréal and Maude Arsenault.

To celebrate Women’s History Month, Ballets Jazz Montréal is proud to unveil a heartfelt collaboration entitled Equilibrium with renowned photographer, visual artist, mother and feminist Maude Arsenault.

Continuing in the tradition of the company founded by two incredibly strong women, Alexandra Damiani, our current artistic director, who also identifies as a dancer, mother, mentor and advocate of a feminine and human approach, is no stranger to the adversities that have afflicted women in the world of dance.

She recently stated: “The dance world is striving to reconcile a history of abuse and stigmatization of women who choose to become mothers with a deep need to respect and appreciate the artist as a whole. The situation is evolving slowly. With passion and humility, I want to play my part. I don't consider femininity to be specific to one sex. It is an energy that exists within each of us and is necessary to cultivate complete and balanced human beings.”

 In a recent article in Le Devoir, Maude explains that “a significant part of my recent practice denounces the oppression and aggression committed against women. Yet, all my work evokes a certain gentleness. I believe that the idea of using the power of gentleness as an act of resistance defines my practice. When my daughter became a teenager, I asked myself many questions about what society imposes on young girls, and I realized that there were serious problems to denounce.” Her work aims to reconcile these issues and find a way to express them with gentleness.

 After several years behind the camera in the fashion world, Maude redirected her artistic practice towards the visual arts in 2015. Her work explores themes of female representation, the body, and public/private spaces through a photographic and material approach that oscillates between abstract compositions, self-portraits, landscapes, and documentary images. She works with photographic, mobile, and printed images, collages, sculptures, performances, and installations. In doing so, her projects unfold bodies as spaces and unexpected spaces within the body, from a perspective of female self-determination.

 We hope you enjoy this creation as much as we enjoyed exploring this space. It's our small contribution to all the incredible women who came before us and to those iconic women whose voices and courage have shaped this company.