Alexandra Spicey Landé brings experimental hip-hop to Agora de la danse with rapper Jai Nitai Lotus
Mōnad, a collaboration between Montreal hip-hop pioneer Spicey and musician Jai Nitai Lotus, returns after 20+ performances across three continents.
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Alexandra "Spicey" Landé, a pioneer of hip-hop dance in Montreal, and rapper Jai Nitai Lotus return to the Agora de la danse with Mōnad, an experimental and intimate piece that has traveled from Montreal to Turkey and the United Kingdom over more than two years and 20 performances.
The work distills the artistic philosophies of both performers into a single, deceptively simple staging. Two tables sit onstage alongside a sewing machine, paper, piano, and harmonium. Spicey expresses herself through dance; Jai through sound and voice. Together they embody Mōnad, a term drawn from ancient Greek meaning "unity" — evoking a self-sufficient single-celled organism that contains multiple universes within it.
When asked what universes Mōnad harbors, both artists answer the same way: "Our life experiences." Those experiences span art and community work, and extend into the political. Jai directs NBS, a free community music studio in Côte-des-Neiges serving teenagers. Spicey founded her choreographic company Ebnflōh in 2015, moving away from performance saturation into creation after years of stepping and battle competitions.
Jai first encountered Spicey's work in 2015 and fell for what he calls her "conceptual and experimental" approach to hip-hop. When Danse-Cité invited Spicey in 2024 to create a solo work, she hesitated — the challenge of being a "beginning interpreter" in the contemporary dance world intimidated her, and she was determined not to conform to the established codes of either the dance world or the hip-hop community. That resistance shapes Mōnad: hip-hop functions as a simple component of their identities, manifesting naturally onstage rather than as a box to be checked.
Jai's role in the piece expanded through the creative process. Early rehearsals saw him hidden behind curtains. Spicey gradually asked him to sing, then play piano, then asked the lighting technician to illuminate him more fully with each show. "He has very honest and natural presence on stage," Spicey says. "Even if I had wanted to hide him, I wouldn't have been able to because his presence is immense." Jai has performed at the Festival international de jazz de Montréal in 2013 and 2015.
Although Spicey's movement is improvisational, she follows a defined structure — specific pathways and interactions with the audience anchor each performance. She has challenged herself to layer in lady styling, a street-dance aesthetic that pushes her beyond her usual reflexes. Jai's soundtrack, ranging from trap to spiritual jazz, remains consistent across performances, but timing and intensity shift with his state of mind. "I can cry out lyrics one night and whisper them the next," he explains.
Mōnad runs for three performances at the Agora de la danse.
The details
Where is Mōnad being performed?
Mōnad runs at the Agora de la danse in Montreal for three performances.
Who are the artists behind Mōnad?
Alexandra 'Spicey' Landé, a hip-hop dance pioneer, and rapper Jai Nitai Lotus created and perform Mōnad together.
What is the piece about?
Mōnad is an experimental work where Spicey expresses herself through improvisational dance while Jai performs through sound and voice, drawing on their combined life experiences in art, community work, and politics.
