Danse Danse Reveals Fall Program

Danse Danse has announced five major events to mark the fall of this 28th season, starting with the famous JOAT Festival international de Street Dance from August 26 to September 1.

Among the highlights of the new season are Ihsane by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, a masterpiece blending Eastern and Western influences, and Theatre of Dreams by Hofesh Shechter, a dreamlike, powerful plunge into the unconscious.

Danse Danse continues to make dance accessible to all with inclusive initiatives: discounts, post-show talks, workshops, welcoming newcomers and blind or partially-sighted people thanks to the audiodescription program. This season, the Théâtre Maisonneuve lobby is also being transformed into an inviting cocktail space to extend the experience before and after the shows.

SEPTEMBER 2025

For the fourth year running, JOAT Festival international de street dance takes over the heart of the Quartier des spectacles to celebrate street styles on stage. Spearheaded by Handy "HYA" Yacinthe, a major influencer in the Canadian and international street dance scene and recipient of the Jury Prize of the Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal 2023, the Festival celebrates street dance culture as a cultural and social factor. This week of programming and activities featuring more than 200 artists will immerse you in the world of street dance: high-level battles, breaking, popping, hip hop, krump, beatmakers, kidz battle, master classes, exhibition! An opportunity to discover some of the Afro-American community dances that have become popular around the world. For the whole family!

OCTOBER 2025

A monumental work, Ihsane is a stunning initiatory quest featuring some twenty performers, a vocal duo and an instrumental ensemble, at the crossroads of the Middle East and the West. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, who since 2022 has been artistic director of the prestigious Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, never ceases to build bridges between artistic disciplines. “Ihsane,” which means “kindness” and “benevolence” in Arabic, is an invitation to commune with the universe. Surrounded by talents from throughout the Middle East, Cherkaoui retraces his family history in a sumptuously portrayed Morocco, from the music to the decor, reconciling memory and the present.

NOVEMBER 2025

Acclaimed time and again by Danse Danse audiences, Hofesh Shechter and his formidable tribe take us on a dizzying dive, headfirst, into a fantasy world where dreams and reality collide. Hofesh Shechter has been shaking up the dance world for over twenty years with his powerful, visceral works. His latest creation catapults his inimitable dancers into the realm of imagination and the subconscious. What is the strange stuff our illusions are made of? To a percussive soundtrack by Shechter himself, performed live by three musicians, the dance pulses, feverish and wild, under lights sculpted by his long-time collaborator Tom Visser.

KOMOCO

At the forefront of European dance, Sofia Nappi displays her talent in an initiation rite with an irresistible groove, inspired by the famous puppet that has enchanted our childhood. With her captivating, hyperdynamic movement language, blending the Gaga technique of Ohad Naharin with the exuberance of Hofesh Shechter, Italian choreographer Sofia Nappi is charming european audiences. In Italian, the word “pupo” means both “child” and “puppet.” Inspired by Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi's iconic wooden character, Nappi explores transformation and the passage to adulthood.

Côté Danse

After bringing us his Hamlet, blending dance and theatre and created with Robert Lepage, choreographer Guillaume Côté sets the stage alight with his latest work for nine performers. A powerful metaphor, Burn Baby, Burn tackles a hot topic: climate change and the need for collective awareness. What if the flame that burns within us could be put to good use? Fire, with its passion and intensity—a double-edged sword capable of consuming us as well as inciting us to act—is the common thread of this heightened dance, at times joyous and carefree, at times mounting to a relentless crescendo.