KICK & PUSH RESIDENCY: Warm Up

In response to the climate crisis, Mykalle takes on the challenge of powering her performance by generating her own electricity with her body and a bicycle. However, her system demands more energy than she can produce, trapping her in a cycle of exhaustion. She must break free from this consumerist logic to envision new ways of living that respect nature and herself. As a powerful metaphor for the burnout capitalism inflicts on both bodies and ecosystems, the performance exposes the exploitation driven by the ideology of infinite growth. It tackles the blind spot of sustainable development head-on: the unbridled use of natural resources. At the intersection of sport, manifesto, concert, and ritual, this ultimate warm-up is an experiment in self-sufficiency that pushes consumer society to its limits. It asks a simple yet profound question: how can we truly be eco-responsible? Warm Up is presented in partnership with Summerworks.

Part of the 2024 Kick & Push Festival, Kingston's annual celebration of innovative live performance, sponsored by the Tett Centre.

@thekickandpush

Ages 14+

About the Artist

As a singer, multidisciplinary artist, composer, sound designer, author and producer, Mykalle has now been creating at the crossroads of music and live arts for over a decade. Specialized in vocal performance, her work blends song, music, poetry and ritual gestures. Her trilogy on the sacred (2015–2021) consists of three musical performances that place the artist’s voice at the heart of a spiritual journey: Gloria (2015), a 360-degree solo multimedia opera, Mythe (2018), a mystical ceremony for five voices, and Warm up (2021), an ecological ritual in which the artist generates her own power. Since her graduation as a performer from l’UQAM’s École supérieure de théâtre in 2011, she has composed and performed for over fifty theatre, dance, film and podcast projects. She also worked as a radio commentator, lent her voice to various productions (7 doigts, Cirque du Soleil), and wrote Mythe, précédé de Gloria, a book of poems published at Les Éditions du passage in 2021. So far, she has performed all across Québec, Canada, and in Europe.

IG: @mykallejosha

FB: @MykalleBielinsk

www.mykallebielinski.com