“Tonight, we will try to get at the real thing. The thing that fills a deep enormous hole, the thing that heals, that satiates, the thing that tastes like paradise … This thing we’re after is not sentimental in any way. This thing we’re after is political and erotic … We’re always somewhat thirsty for the real thing.”

At the pinnacle of all the tremendous work written by essayist bell hooks is the revolutionary All About Love: New Visions, her best-known and perhaps most rallying book. In this collection, one of the most widely read books in the world, hooks gives new meaning to the word “love” in all its dimensions, demolishing the taboo that often turns it into a saccharine and hackneyed subject. Defining love as an action rather than as an emotion, she tears down the obstacles that society poses against healthy intimate relationships and envisions an art of loving that is not limited to the thrill of attraction or simple tenderness. Referring to philosophy and psychology, she asks us to reflect on how we love and how we are loved.

To dive deep into this ethics of love, Mélanie Demers has brought together onstage eight performers from the worlds of theatre, dance, and music. Creating a bridge between the author’s reflections and the audience’s sensations, the artists draw on bell hooks’s words in order to translate our aspirations, inspirations, and desire for connection. The result is an atypical theatrical piece and an account of the social criticism and racial charge that hinders our search for love.

PREMIERE
April 15, 2025 at ESPACE GO (Montreal, Canada)

CREDITS

Ideation, direction and choreography: Mélanie Demers | Text developed from All About Love: New Visions bell hooks | Translation and adaptation: Lorrie Jean-Louis | Dramaturgy: Mélanie Demers & Angélique Willkie | In collaboration with: Vlad Alexis, Rachel Amozigh, Ariel Charest, Frannie Holder, Mimo Magri, Carla Mezquita Honhon, Fabien Piché, Laurie Torres | Assistant director: Anne-Marie Jourdenais | Music: Frannie Holder | Lighting design: Paul Chambers | Set design: Vano Hotton | Costume design: Elen Ewing | Costume assistants: Amélie Charbonneau & Pascale Bassani | Makeup and hair: Ange Blédja Kouassi | Stage management: Suzanne Crocker | Sound operation: Benoit Bouchard | Dresser: Jeanne Dupré | Film director: Xavier Curnillon | Director of photography & color grading: Yann M. Hernandez | Sound recording & mixing: Thierry Gauthier | Assistant director: Laetitia Demessence | Special thanks: Danse K par K, Lucid Dreams, SoftBox Intégration, Sonia Cesaratto, Lauriane Cuello, Marie-Frédérique Gravel, Jordana Natale, Marie-Eve Pelletier, Tim Rodrigues, Claire Seyller.