Daryna Dzyba arrived in Montreal three years ago after the invasion of Ukraine of Russia. She chose to emigrate to Canada, hoping to prosper here as an immigrant.
However, it was more difficult to adapt from what I expected.
Studying in Quebec was expensive, despite finding work in a sandwich factory and retail trade. Balancing the work with his courses in French five days a week was also a challenge.
He began to feel less hopeful about his immigration trip while fighting for the end of the month.
“I was afraid that we were not going to have the money to live,” he said.
He never imagined that joining a circus would be exactly what he needed. But not any circus, his company, the company of the D’Ailleurs, is composed of people like her: newcomers who came to Quebec in search of belonging.
The group met through a circus program that brought together immigrants who worked for two months to perform a final performance in front of hundreds of people.
“We loved the experience, so when the program ended, we did not want me to end. So it was when we created the Toupe d’Ailleurs,” said Jenny Filo, a member of the company specialized in aerial disciplines.
Established last year, the company is now presented at festivals and practices in parks and skating tracks. The actions make references to the experience of immigrants in Quebec.
“It’s not just about immigrants, but also this connection between immigrants and people who have been living here for a long time,” Dzyba said.
She said that this opportunity came at a time when she was lost and insecure what to do with her new life in Quebec.
“It’s the time when everything changed,” he said. “I started to meet again.”
Resilience through solidarity
Through Circus Arts, the company says they can express their cultural identities with costumes and makeup, all while they are integrated into the Quebec society.
Lysandre Murphy-Gauthier, a cross-trained quebe in circus arts that acts as a mentor of the new company, says it was surprised to see how the circus became a useful tool to integrate the newcomers into Quebec.
She says that for many, acting in the circus with others is an excellent way to improve the dominance of French and her trust.
“Resilience accumulates through this solidarity,” he said.
Toupe d’Ailleurs is proud of its multiculturalism. Filo, the aerial artist, says that in elementary school, he did some trapeze but never saw the circus as something that could be accessible to everyone.
“For me, you have to be extremely good to do some of that,” he said.
Filo works in finance, in addition to his actions with the company and says that the circus is a great tool to break the isolation and collaborate.
For Dzyba, the company became a safe space where he made friends of a lifetime and felt heard and understood by people of related ideas who had also experienced the immigration process in Canada. She said the company also helped her avoid the exhaustion of her other works.
Haydee Naomi Cortes García, a member of the company, said that when he met Dzyba, he was impressed by his French competition and how he managed to learn the language in less than six months.
Murphy-Gauthier described Dzyba as a great talent on stage and very resistant.
“She told me: ‘You know Lysandre, in Ukraine, where things are, humor has always served us well to move forward.”
She said that Dzyba is the type of person “who puts a smile, maintains a good humor and does not make us feel that her life is more dramatic than others, but you can see that it carries something heavy.”
The troupe d’Ailleurs hopes to register as a non -profit organization and continue acting at festivals and, hopefully, someday, have its own space to practice.
Dzyba said he hopes to continue spreading awareness about Ukraine, entering a theater school and continuing to act with the company as it expands.
Your next performance will be in a Montreal Festival From May 29 to June 1.
