In Age of Content, presented from February 27 to March 7, 2026, at the Maisonneuve Theatre of the Place des Arts in Montreal, the audience is hit head-on by a rolling fire of post-industrial transhumanist urban aesthetics. I can testify to the power of this hyper-contemporary creation that questions human nature, and this in a construction that goes against contemporary developments.
Machinist fetishism
The interior of an industrial warehouse. A car enters through the curtains at the back of the stage. A car carcass, rather, a simple remote-controlled skeleton, on which a first dancer will begin to curl up, leading to a kind of sexual fetishism reminiscent of David Cronenberg’s Crash. Isn’t there a kind of selfie masturbation in every person who seeks to appropriate a tool (mechanical/electronic) in order to climb to its peak and go viral? Why? Attracting attention? That’s exactly what happens. And when we invite others to admire what we are and what we possess, we also potentially invite them to want to take it away from us. There, you understand what’s coming.
Human beings are conflict.
Another dancer arrives, wants to take over the machine. Fight. Others join the brawl, which turns into a civil war. The car itself dances (an ingenious hydraulic system making it sway from left to right and back and forth), to music that oscillates between ambient electro, celestial choral, and pulsating techno. Bravo Pierre Aviat (excerpts from pieces like The Age of Dragons, Army of Love, Shishi Odoshi, etc.) for avoiding drowning everything in beats, while occasionally indulging in it. It makes the whole thing much more subtle, more refined, less literal. And absolutely not superficial.
Finally, what is this? A humanity that bows before machinery? Who fades away in front of the synthetic technique/culture of the web? That’s what we can guess. But there might be more as well. Your humble chronicler missed the pre-show discussion. I therefore allow myself to jot down some impressions and intuitions here. Also aided by the indispensable “+1” that accompanied my evening. Thank you, Claudia, for your insights!
Impressions and intuition will indeed be the main recourse for most of those who go to see this stunning show.
Here is the first act (there will be four) dissected. We are already captivated. LA(HORDE) is a trio of choreographers/dance artists who lead the National Ballet of Marseille. Have you ever seen that elsewhere, a classical dance company led by a trio of artists raised on street/geek/platinum culture? Well, hats off for the audacity. It works great.
But let’s continue.
Androids and their fantasies
A second tableau features a first character that we quickly identify as a robot. Not the kind from the 80s, a bit too stiff in its movements. Rather the more recent models. Those that are about to enter our homes, our factories, our restaurants. And who will do work similar to ours. There is still something jerky about the movements, but with a more beautiful elegance, a kind of fluidity punctuated by vital pulses, like mechanical breaths. In short, the aforementioned roboto is joined by others, and more. They are everywhere. Have they replaced humans? Dunno. But something is happening: they begin to examine each other, to “physicalise” together in violent and clumsy simulations of a kind of sexual exchanges.
At the back of the stage, the curtains have given way to a dark and misty set. We’re in Blade Runner, or something like that. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? That’s the original title Philip K. Dick gave to his novella that inspired the well-known film. Here, we wonder if they have sex using telescopic rods and motor oiled cavities. Always this music that mixes minimalism, choral transcendence, and a rumbling beat. Uncertainty, then, but beauty, seduction, despite the strangeness. And it moves, it bubbles with contained energy then released. You can’t look away.
Choreographing group intercourse
The third tableau leaves one a bit more perplexed, even though it is fascinating. One wonders if the humans have returned or if the androids have “mutated”? In short, continuing from the previous momentum, we see them become completely lascivious, in a sort of virtuoso orgy, both explicit and anti-vulgar. I have rarely seen such an ability to evoke different sexual acts, almost pornographic, with such perfect success in doing so with elegance and respect. You will have to see it to understand.
Final ecstasy
The final act is a kind of sensory ecstasy that summons the eyes (a true choreographic whirlwind) and the ears (music by Philip Glass: The Grid excerpt from Koyaanisqatsi). For about fifteen minutes, which turn into a collective buzz and an aesthetic-spiritual trance, the dancers seem to celebrate life in the most visceral and cathartic way possible, in an explosion of happiness.
Victory of the human? Humanism? Or a perfect symbiosis between machine and organic, what is called transhumanism? It doesn’t matter. It’s just masterful, captivating, enchanting, utterly gripping. We are out of breath. We can’t even imagine the artists themselves.
Age of Content continues until March 7, 2026. Don’t miss it.
Similar content:
Dance and music symbiosis : breathtaking ”Sol Invictus” in Montreal
The Creation by Haydn at the Grand Ballets: And they found it was Good…
