Travis Knights
A Word from Danse Danse
Good evening, everyone,
It is with great enthusiasm that we begin 2025 alongside you, and we wish you a new year, dedicated to dance, filled with discoveries, emotions, and shared moments. Thank you for experiencing movement with us in 2024: your presence has brightened every show and amplified the magic of dance. We're looking forward to seeing you in the theater, so that together, 2025 will take us to new choreographic horizons!
To kick off 2025 with positive energy, we are delighted to welcome to this stage Travis Knights, a visionary artist who pushes the boundaries of traditional tap dance. With boundless creativity and a heartfelt desire to connect with his audience, he reinvents this art form, enriching it with diverse inspirations and a narrative framework.
The Mars Project is a fully immersive experience where dance interacts with a meticulously crafted visual and musical composition. Every element of the performance enhances the story Travis Knights seeks to share, inviting the audience on a vibrant and profoundly human journey.
We wish you a wonderful performance and a happy New Year 2025!
Pierre Des Marais — Artistic and Executive Director, Danse Danse.
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Territorial Acknowledgement
Danse Danse acknowledges that we are gathered on the traditional and unceded territory of the Kanien’keha:ka Nation. We honour the continued presence of Indigenous peoples on the Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal) territory, which has long served as a meeting place for exchanges between nations. With respect for the links to the past, present and future, we thank the Indigenous peoples for reminding us of the importance of living in harmony with ourselves, with each other and with nature, and we are grateful for the opportunity to present works of living art at Tiohtiá:ke.
A Word from the Choreographer
It is the joy of my career to present to you some of my favorite tap dancers from around the world. It is the joy of my life to work with some of my favorite musicians to create original music.
It is the goal of my time here on earth to live free, without fear. No fear. At its heart, The Mars Project is a celebration and an invitation to contemplate your place in the very near future. Would you take the leap? Would you go?
Travis Knights – Choreographer and performer.
About the Work
The Mars Project is an allegory of humanity's first steps on Mars and the creation of a new home on this planet. To explore the human challenge of shedding old beliefs that do not serve us in this unprecedented spacetime, Travis Knights immerses us in the very essence of tap dance while reimagining it in a Martian context. With original music that serves as a conversation between composition and choreography, audiences discover how the first humans on Mars transform and transcend their respective cultures on the new world, to effectively become Martian.
Artists
Credits
The Mars Project
Artistic Director / Choreographer Travis Knights.
Co-choreographer Lisa La Touche.
Producer Greg "Krypto" Selinger.
Production Manager Erica Cheah.
Director Mariah Inger.
Stage Manager A. J. Morra.
Musical Director Dwight Jones.
Video Design Daniele Guevara.
Assistant Video Design Daniel Tessy.
Singer/Songwriter Markus Aurelyus, Joanna Majoko.
Musicians Dwight Jones, Vennie Tu, Victor Xu, Justin McHugh.
Sound Design Curtis Whittaker.
Dancers Travis Knights, Thomas Moon, Brinae Ali, Reona, Greg "Krypto" Selinger.
Lighting Design Simon Rossiter.
Costume Design Reginald Knights.
Presenting Partner Fall for Dance North.
Performers
From the clouds to the depths of the ocean, the adventures of two illusionist dancers. A poetic coming-of-age story imagined by choreographer Philippe Saire, a pioneer of Swiss contemporary dance.
The new darling of the European dance scene, Portuguese choreographer Marco da Silva Ferreira presents his most ambitious work, celebrating the contemporary body with phenomenal intensity.
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.
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. Quite an event!
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.
