Saint Stella Will Bring LOUISE: THE LAST DANCE to Toronto
Louise: The Last Dance fuses live performance, projection, archival media, and dance to ask: whose stories get told, and whose get buried?
Saint Stella Productions has announced two exclusive Toronto preview performances of Louise: The Last Dance, a new feminist solo theatre and media arts work by performer and creator Stella Kulagowski (she/they), ahead of its international debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August.
Following three consecutive sold-out productions at the Toronto Fringe Festival (Lysistrata, Carmilla, Mayhem at Miskatonic), Stella returns with her most ambitious work yet: a 50-minute solo piece about Louise Weber, better known as La Goulue. The working-class woman who invented the cancan, became the first star of the Moulin Rouge, and died selling peanuts on the street outside the same club, forgotten by the world that had once made her famous.
Louise: The Last Dance fuses live performance, projection, archival media, and dance to ask: whose stories get told, and whose get buried? Drawing on archival research, period press, and rare documentary footage of Louise filmed weeks before her death, Stella inhabits Louise's story - giving voice, at last, to a woman who spent her life having her narrative controlled by others.
JUNE 5 — WORLD PREMIERE PREVIEW WORKSHOP & PRESS NIGHT
Society Clubhouse (967 College st.) | Doors: 7:00pm | Show: 7:30pm
Followed by an audience talkback with the artist
The June 5 performance is the world premiere preview of Louise: The Last Dance — the first public presentation and workshop of the complete work, followed by a talkback. Press and reviewers are warmly invited and encouraged to attend. Coverage ahead of the Edinburgh run is invaluable to this independently produced, self-funded project.
JUNE 19 — COMMUNITY SKIRT-RAISER, HELL-RAISER, FUND-RAISER
Society Clubhouse (967 College st.) | Doors: 7:00pm | Show: 7:30pm
The second night is a full evening of performance and community. After the preview of Louise: The Last Dance, the night transforms into a burlesque showcase and dance party celebrating the artists, queers, and rabble-rousers who make Toronto's performance community what it is.
Lineup:
7:30pm — Louise: The Last Dance (preview performance)
9:00pm — Burlesque showcase featuring Arra Kiss, Cleo Tantra, Evelyn Crane, Maximum Capacity, Sugar Holiday, and more
10:30pm — Dance party with DJs Melelectric and Butt Mitzfah
This night is for the theatre kids, the burlesque lovers, the queer community, and everyone who believes that art made by and for the margins matters. Come celebrate! And help send Louise to Edinburgh.
ABOUT THE EDINBURGH RUN
Louise: The Last Dance makes its international debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, August 7–29 at Greenside @ George Street (Ivy Studio), performing daily at 4:10pm. Edinburgh's Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world and this will be the first time Louise Weber's story has been told on an international stage, by a queer, independent Canadian artist.
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