Mélanie Demers und Laila Diallo

Mélanie Demers und Laïla Diallo “A Sense of Self”
We meet on a snowy, blowy winter’s day in Montreal. Dusting off the flakes, and unwrapping coats and scarves, Mélanie Demers and Laïla Diallo laugh and gently poke fun at one another. They are the best of friends. There’s an infectious camaraderie between them. Demers and Diallo met as teenagers at L’École de Danse du Québec in Quebec City, but went their separate ways, pursuing their own dancing lives.

Now they’re together again, connecting strongly over social issues and building bridges, and offering their first collaborative dance.
The pair has had successful parallel careers. Demers established herself in Montreal, first dancing for O Vertigo for over eight years, then becoming a much in-demand choreographer with her own company, Mayday. She has been involv-ed in establishing a cultural centre in Haiti, and benefited from a residency in Nairobi, sponsored by the UNESCO-Aschberg Bursary. Diallo, meanwhile, established her credibility outside of Canada, pursuing her training with Régine Chopinot and at the London Contemporary Dance School. She was a member of Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance from 1997 to 2005. Choreographing for ...