Project Details
in the shade is an artistic research residency initiated by Ronald Rose-Antoinette, a curator, writer, and scholar from Martinique. Studio 303 is partnering with in the shade for the 2026 edition, supporting the travel and participation of two artists from Montréal (thanks to the La route de l’art program from the Conseil des arts de Montréal).
In the Shade is part of a long-term vision of transatlantic collaborations and sustainable exchanges, where artists are encouraged to rethink the relationships between territory, memory, creation and political engagement.
“The theme of the residency in the shade / à l’ombre evokes camouflage, displacement, cunning and adaptation, concepts fundamental to the dynamics of creolization. These notions are rooted in the Martinique context, where cultural identities and practices are constantly being recomposed, in a constant interplay between visibility and withdrawal. The residency invites artists to reflect on and create around these notions in a changing world, where the refuge, the parasol, the mango tree and the foreign land become metaphors and spaces for reinvention. This project goes beyond mere artistic mobility: rather, it affirms a commitment to diasporic creation and the decentering of perspectives in contemporary art” (Ronald Rose-Antoinette).
Biography
Athéna Lucie Assamba is a multi- and interdisciplinary artist, performer and emerging choreographer-researcher in dance. Her practice is rooted in African dance forms, which she explores as spaces for liberation, healing and collective transformation. Originally from Cameroon, she was introduced to traditional dances in her homeland as a child, which form the living foundation of her artistic research.
Her choreographic work is part of an Afrofuturist and interdisciplinary approach, combining dance, live music, fashion design and scenography. Through her works BOSEMBO, NKUL NNAM and African Celestial Beings, she explores the relationship between ancestry and the future, ritual and club culture, bodily memory and contemporary change. A graduate in neuroscience, Athéna is developing sensitive research on movement as a space for healing, knowledge and transmission. She is currently continuing her training at the Nyata Nyata centre with Zab Maboungou and at the École des Sables, in a constant desire to deepen and refine her practice.
Sherecia is a Montreal-based Hip Hop dancer with Caribbean roots from Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago. Since 2015, she trained at Urban Element Zone and later with artists like Alexandra ‘Spicey’ and Ja ‘Jigsaw’ Britton-Johnson, developing as a freestyler.
A 2022 intensive in Senegal at Ecole des Sables deepened her connection to African and Afro-diasporic dances. Since then, she has taken classes with Nyata Nyata, Wes Can (Caribbean Bele folklore), and the Montreal Steppers. These experiences have shaped her identity and helped her explore dance as a tool for storytelling, cultural memory, and self-discovery.