Threading By and By (2020-2021)

It is with great pleasure that the company Le Radeau wishes to invite you to a presentation of Le Fil des jours, a choreography by Catherine Lavoie-Marcus. This work is presented as part of Leonard & Bina Ellens Art Gallery's exhibition Going to, Making do, Passing Just the Same, by artists Édith Brunette and François Lemieux. 

Threading By and By

« At nightfall, dancers perform a silent gestural relay along a thread that crosses through the former Royal Victoria Hospital. This mysterious “chateau” on the mountain is now partially abandoned. Pending new uses, certain buildings have been converted as sites of transition for vulnerable communities: here a clinic for unhoused people, there a shelter for asylum seekers. As these architectural and human transitions overlap, Le Fil des jours acts as a crepuscular current that encircles, watches over, and absorbs these surges. It reveals how bodies can act on one another. Between the day and the night, past and future, proximity and distance, Le Fil des jours is a liminal choreography, a discrete ode that asks: how to care for the sites of care? It sets out the hope that the Royal Victoria has in rehabilitation, prolonging and amplifying its social function of reception, care, and resilience. The 7th and 8th October*, the public will participate in a choreographic excursion in the exterior and interior of the hospital, guided by dancers and musicians. *In case of rain, the performances will happen on the 14th and 15th October » 

Le Fil des jours is conceived as a choreographic excursion that crosses through the exterior and interior of the former Royal Victoria Hospital. The excursion takes place at the end of the day, lasting about 20 minutes outside and another 15-20 minutes inside. Although risks are minimal, it is good to know that the route is pitched at points and involves climbing and descending stairs. The buildings are not always well maintained. The ground is uneven.