Fear of a red planet: Dancer Travis Knights brings The Mars Project to Montreal from Jan. 15 to 18

Travis Knights wants you to reconnect with the stars — specifically, the one that shines bright red to the east when the sun falls: Mars. 

Many people have become disconnected from this appreciation of celestial bodies because of light pollution, which obscures the view from Earth — reflecting a broader tendency in the digital age to overlook the extraordinary aspects of the natural world. With the Mars Project, coming to Montreal’s Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts from Jan. 15 to 18, Knight hopes to inspire audiences to look up and reconnect with the beauty and wonder of the skies overhead.

“The show is meant to encourage audiences to look up again,” says Knights. “And if you can’t see the stars sufficiently from where you are, drive out a couple of kilometers to see them and remember our collective humanness.”

But beyond simply appreciating the stars, the Mars Project is about fostering a mindset that questions the status quo and encourages exploration and curiosity. It symbolizes a larger metaphor for humanity’s potential and the choices we make.

“When I ask people generally, ‘Hey, would you ever consider going to Mars?’ Immediately, their knee-jerk reaction is, ‘Hell no.’ So it’s not just like, no, it’s hell no,” says Knights. “When I get that reaction, the question that pops up in my head again and again and again is, ‘Okay, what else in your life are you saying ‘hell no’ to?’”

He suggests that the reluctance to consider such an extraordinary venture demonstrates our habit of accepting the status quo without questioning it. 

As he explains it, “The Mars Project is a call to action. It’s beginning to answer the question of who we will be on the other side of the decision to go to Mars.” 

But it’s also an opportunity for Knight to work with talented artists. The music, composed and played by artists based out of Toronto, features the “out of this world” singing of Joanna Majoko. The costumes were designed by his father, Reginald Knights. 

Joining Knights onstage are Thomas Wadelton, Brinae Ali, Reona, and Greg “Krypto” Selinger, tap dancers who, like him, represent a contemporary generation seeking to break the mould and challenge the traditions of tap — while remaining sensitive to its history mired with racist connotations. 

“A large part of what’s in, at least, the Black community’s mind in regards to tap dance is minstrelsy,” he says, referring to old song and dance shows where white performers would dress up in Blackface and perpetuate racist stereotypes. 

“There’s a lot of trauma that’s associated with minstrelsy and tap dance being a part of that. However, before minstrelsy, enslaved people danced rhythmically with their feet because the drums were made illegal in 1740 with the Negro Act, so it’s like this continuation of African rhythmic traditions.”

Knight believes that it is crucial to acknowledge this history while also moving beyond it to create a more authentic and respectful representation of the art form. This involves not only recognizing the trauma associated with its past but also celebrating the artistry and cultural significance of tap dance in a contemporary context, as the Mars Project strives to do.

“We need to present tap dance in a way that honours its roots without being shackled by its past.”

Knights is deeply familiar with the roots and evolution of tap — he trained under Ethel Bruneau, the tap dancing sensation who performed in Montreal’s nightclubs in the 1950’s and 60’s and later taught people of all ages at her dance school. Bruneau died in 2023 at the age of 87, but not before making her mark on the lives of the many who passed through the doors of her school. 

“Ethel Bruneau is very much my mother in rhythm. I love talking about her. I miss her. I think the heartache now, in terms of the evolution of my own personal healing, the heartache now is more about my explosion of gratitude for her existence.”

Talking to Knights about the Mars Project, it’s abundantly clear that the piece is contending with some big issues that will shape the future of humanity, issues that very well may make space travel to Mars necessary for our survival — and how we all have a part to play.

“How many of us think that the problems that are in the world are too big for us or maybe they have nothing to do with us, and so we choose to look down at the ground instead of up at the sky?”

His message is clear: if humanity decides to accept the status quo without questioning it, we risk ignoring significant problems that require our attention and action.

“If we collectively as a people are just deciding to go along with the status quo, we might be dismissing the extraordinary possibilities that lie ahead.” ■

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The Mars Project will be performed at Place des Arts’s Théâtre Maisonneuve (175 Ste-Catherine W.) form Jan. 15 to 18, from $49.

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