« Le résultat ? Émouvant. Stéphanie Colle était troublante dans son interprétation du deuil. La voix tonitruante d’Emmanuel Prud’homme portait comme nulle autre. Le courant passait au sein de ce groupe hors du commun. »
- Catherine Handfield, La Presse, October 23, 2023
« On a pu se régaler des excellentes performances... Des impros courtes et rythmées, inspirées parfois de tableaux, ponctuées de musique improvisée aussi... une bien belle formule qui a permis à tout le monde de passer un beau moment et aux artistes de se mettre en valeur dans le plaisir. »
- Yanik Comeau, Théâtralités, Zone Culture, 2019
« A perfect show for our ravenous time. »
- Mario Cloutier, En toutes lettres, February 27, 2019
« All three performers do well with honors through their triple mastery of performance, song and step dancing, a demanding art that reveals here its surprising theatrical potential. »
« From the opening, with the Complainte de Sainte-Marie harmoniously sung in chorus, the charm operates. »
- Marie Labrecque, Le Devoir, February 27, 2019
« The Director of Productions des pieds des mains converges her passions in a highly decisive way (…) It’s by turns funny, critical, tender, poetic and poignant. »
- Christian St-Pierre, Revue Esse, February 27, 2019
« Supported by a Marilyn Perreault of a surprising intensity and an Olivier Rousseau whose body discipline offers rich moments without words, Marion-Rivard surrenders without restraint to a rare, genuine performance. »
- Alexane Roy, Monthéâtre.qc.ca, February 22, 2019
« Cendres is a work of contrasts, both comical and particularly touching. »
- Nacie Boulay, Alternative Rock Press, February 22, 2019
« Through many musical asides, composed of songs and traditional dances, Nagrani succeeds in deepening her initial reflection on identity by giving it a national impact for all those who are attached to Quebec, so it is very easy to be moved by the performance of the actors. »
- Marie-Anne Audet, Le Culte, February 25, 2019
« A really beautiful text by Emmanuelle Jimenez; it’s her best to date (...) the step dance works! It is possible to step dance your sadness. »
- Marie-Christine Blais, Culture Club, Ici Première, February 23, 2019
« Thanks to the rich and creative staging of Menka Nagrani, the spectator plunges into a universe that is both funny, scary and singular. »
- Emmanuel Martinez, Journal de Montréal, February 25, 2019
« It's a success: very strong proposals and ideas from the designer Menka Nagrani. The dance steps come to support, increase the emotion, it is well done! »
- Evelyne Charest, Gravel le matin, February 21, 2019
« Just as in its unique version of the Chemin des Passes-dangereuses, Nagrani is inspired by the elements of our heritage to reinvest them in a process of contemporary creation with the accents of home (...) a new form of musical and dance theater. »
- Denis Daniel Boullé, Fugues, February 23, 2019
« The step-dancing, solidly camped by the performers, integrates so well with the unfolding of things that it becomes an integral part of it, it is the theatricalized breath of the play. »
- Marie-Christine Lemieux-Couture, Revue Jeu, February 24, 2019
« Cendres is to see for the accuracy of its words, the sensitivity of the actors and the authenticity of the staging. »
- Maëlle Souffrin-Ammoun, Océane’s Family, March 2, 2019
« With her adaptation of Michel Marc Bouchard's play, Menka Nagrani achieves what many dream of, but few succeed: a dance-theater fusion where the two disciplines triumph because of its exceptional performances. »
- Mario Cloutier, La Presse, February 20, 2015
« Fabulous staging by Menka Nagrani, (...) All the success of Menka Nagrani's work lies in a certain restraint she used while incorporating her pet subject to the original text. Every choreographed scene supports perfectly what was already there. Rhythms created by the actors-dancers' flaring steps give momentum to the text, mark it with a kind of urgency, a direction we can't escaped, although we sense where it will lead us to. Fate is inevitable, we can only revel in the turns and detours. And what detours they are!
»
- Thomas Dupont-Buist, Artichautmag.com, February 19, 2015
« Beautiful performances by Arnaud Gloutnez, Félix Monette-Dubeau and Dominic St-Laurent who were able to reveal the vast richness of traditional dance. »
- Audrée Plamondon, Boucle magazine, February 18, 2015
« We sense the trio was well directed, particularly in step-dancing training. At the premiere, the audience greeted cheerfully the actors' performance and the creativity of Menka Nagrani. »
- Micheline Rouette, Alternativerockpress.ca, February 15, 2015
« At théâtre Prospero, I saw a real fine piece of a man! A guys' play, a manly show! A unique, unusual and surprising version of the dramatic text Le Chemin des passes-dangereuses. (...) An unexpected suspense, with a final outcome even more tragic than what we might expect. It's tough, it's muscular, it is deeply human and well worth the trip. »
- Francine Grimaldi, Samedi et rien d'autre, Radio-Canada, February 14, 2015
« The alliance between dance and theater proposed by Menka Nagrani in Le Chemin des passes-dangereuses (...) does justice to the beautiful text by Michel Marc Bouchard. Creating an 'in your face' provocative impact. (...) Hats off to the actors, who jump, roll, play with their feet and hands, sweat, all the while delivering their lines with sensitivity. All this establishes a very, how to say ... male tension. »
- Roxane Léouzon, Journal Métro de Montréal, February 10, 2015
« Bold, this choice in form and structure could have come across as artificial in its display; in my view, that mixture actually reveals the deep, current and theatrical aspects of our wanderings and collective paradoxes. »
- Alexandre Cadieux, Le Devoir, February 10, 2015
« Nagrani succeeded with brio in the challenge she'd given herself: to use dance to illuminate a contemporary theater text. And Michel Marc Bouchard's text is a perfect choice for this exercise. »
- Sara Thibault, Monthéâtre.qc.ca, February 9, 2015
« Nagrani's actors astonish by their versatility and intense physical investment (…) they successfully transmit their joy of movement. (...) It's as if, through step-dancing, the brothers were finally approaching the edge of the truth, rhythm becoming a full-fledged language. »
- Émilie Coulombe, Les Méconnus, February 8, 2015
« Le Chemin des Passes-Dangereuses is a big favorite (...) Staging is very beautiful and rhythmically punctuated with traditional music, moments where step-dancing, Quebec's traditional dance, can shine. A beautiful tribute to Quebec culture! »
- Sophie Gérard, Kulturellement vôtre, February 8, 2015
« The actors are as astonishing in their acting as they are in their dancing. The combination of jig and theatre is a successful bet ... Menka Nagrani managed a tour de force. »
- Francis Lepage, Le Polyscope, January 29, 2016
« The performances by Felix Monette-Dubeau, Arnaud Gloutnez, and Dominic St-Laurent, are some of the most impressive (...) movement, dancing and jigging combine very well with Michel Marc Bouchard's powerful story »
- Cassandre Chatonnier, pieuvre.ca, January 19, 2016
« Vos productions artistiques sont des innovations en ce qui concerne l’art de la scène, car vous avez été l’une des premières au Québec à avoir réussi à monter des spectacles professionnels et audacieux avec des personnes handicapées intellectuelles. »
- Christina Brassard, Revue Jeu, n 151, February 2014
« Amazing! Exactly what you want from theatre. »
- Jean Siag, theatre critic, La Presse, June 4, 2012
« “[Menka Nagrani] is at the vanguard of what may become a socially inspiring trend, boldly forcing awareness through the issues she confronts, the way she presents them and her audacious choice of performers. She may be a genius ahead of her time. She may be an icon in the making. »
- Olivier Koomsatira, dance critic, Dance News Montreal, November 20, 2011
« I was staggered by the power of the show. The actors’ special characteristics gave a totally new meaning to the already absurd play. The frank, naive, playful interpretation was perfect for the staging and the play’s subtext. It was a highly symbolic, intelligent, unusual and moving show... »
- Arianne Clément, Reflet de société, 15(1), December 8, 2010
« Looking back over 2007, [... one] of the five best productions in [...] dance-theatre [...] Le Temps des Marguerites... à la folie ou pas du tout![...,] a beautifully moving socio-political statement about age, image and identity. »
- Paula Citron, The Globe and Mail, December 31, 2007
« Le Temps des Marguerites... à la folie ou pas du tout! is a charming play that is more powerful than many other technically superior performances: it puts smiles on faces and makes hearts sing. »
- Christine Laguë, DF Danse: Le Magazine de la danse actuelle à Montréal, March 17, 2007
« I was in tears at the end of Le Temps des Marguerites... The stage images and the winsome performances stay with one long after the show has ended. This ambitious, provocative and imaginative little company deserves to be seen across the country. »
- Paula Citron, The Globe and Mail, March 17, 2007
« Sponsored by actress Janine Sutto, who apparently ‘loved’ the show, Leçons is a clever mixture of contemporary dance and theatre of the absurd... »
- Dominique Lachance, Journal de Montréal, March 12, 2005
« Getting young people with intellectual disabilities to act in a comedy is an ambitious project that has become an international success! »
- Michel Joanny-Furtin, Courrier Ahuntsic, January 23, 2005
« The play [Le Temps des Marguerites] is surprising and whimsical... The performers with disabilities bring amazing enthusiasm and professionalism to their roles. Their acting is definitely different, but it is just as intense and convincing of that of their colleagues... Choreographer Menka Nagrani has given the whole play the rhythm of a waltz, which just adds to its lightness. »
- Stéphanie Brody, dance critic, La Presse, December 3, 2004
« ...the performance of actors with intellectual disabilities has undeniable value. Their way of delivering their lines and dancing is transparent and sincere—I’m tempted to even say pure. »
- Julie Parent, La Presse, October 12, 2004
« Les Productions des pieds des mains have just put on a very moving show in Montreal... In Leçons, actors with and without intellectual disabilities dance a well-conducted ballet, very faithful to the dreamlike spirit of the master of the absurd. »
- Michel Vaïs, Jeu, 113(4), 2004, p. 6.