Solide Salad
The Show
In 1984, Michel Lemieux's multidisciplinary solo performance SOLIDE SALAD made a mark on national and international live arts, being performed on stages across four continents for years.
A multidisciplinary performance combining music, dance, and visual arts, *Solide Salad* was presented for several months with sold-out shows at the Spectrum in Montreal in 1984, before embarking on a tour across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It was also featured at the Vancouver World's Fair. Michel Lemieux was one of the first Quebec artists to achieve global recognition with this groundbreaking work.
In 1984, Solide Salad and the album produced by Audiogram changed my life forever—and, according to the many messages I've received over the past 40 years, left a mark on its time. People still talk to me about it today! According to many, the cultural echoes of this show have woven themselves into the cultural fabric of Quebec to this day. There is so much to say about this experimental New Wave movement, overflowing with invention and creativity.
– Michel Lemieux
Solide Salad is unlike anything else. Music? Dance? Theatre? It’s all of that at once. The hallucinatory solo performance of a 26-year-old Québécois, which would be a tour de force were it not transcended by an unrelenting precision in its sequencing. A multidisciplinary show where Lemieux’s background in photography and graphic design enables a remarkable interplay between his body and light. His incantatory voice at times evokes Yma Sumac (…). Eccentric, his humor—unlike Laurie Anderson’s—aims at a broader audience (…). The beams of light this little prince casts into the eyes of the audience resemble arrows—not deadly, but stimulating—launched like signals from a Dadaist gatekeeper. A modern and truly rare style…” – Franck Mallet
LEMIEUX – L’ALBUM
Released in 1986 under the Audiogram label, the album Lemieux features songs from the performance Solide Salad, created by Michel Lemieux. Release on August 16, 2024, on digital platforms. More details on the Audiogram website.
Award and distinctions
1985, Winner of four Félix Awards in the categories of Show of the Year, Lighting Designer, Stage Manager, and Director of the Year.
Nominations for seven other Félix awards.
Credits
Creation and mise en scène : Michel Lemieux / Music : Michel Lemieux / Stage Direction Collaboration : René Richard Cyr, Silvy Panet-Raymond / Texts : Michel Lemieux, Alain Fournier and Simon Pressey / Lighting : Alain Lortie / Set Design : Robert Bobby Breton / Stage Projection : Paul St-Jean / Costume Design : Louise Vincent, Denis Lavoie, François Barbeau