Marie-Josée Corriveau and Jason Morel’s audition on Canada’s Got Talent 2024 proved that actions speak louder than words. Taking their interpretive dance act to the show’s fourth season, this duo from Montreal, Quebec, brought judge Trish Stratus to tears with their heartbreakingly realistic depiction of physical abuse in a relationship.
When Marie-Josée and Jason first stepped out on stage, it was clear the judges had been briefed that the next act wasn’t the usual family fun that’d eventually wind up on a ‘most ridiculous auditions’ YouTube compilation. Instead, a poignant sense of respect overcast Trish’s pre-audition interview with the duo when Marie-Josée foreshadowed, “[the dance] is a personal story that I have lived. I’ll leave it at that.”
As Judge Lilly Singh later pointed out, the duo held the entire CGT theatre in pin-drop silence. Their dramatic routine unfolded: a silent battle between love and hate, mimicking violence between partners on a stage propped out with bedroom furnishings; a table, chair, bed, lamp, and clothes rack, each integrated explosively into their performance.
To a bittersweet French rap beat, Jason mock-twisted Marie-Josée’s neck in jolting motions. She stood and fended him off, dancing in disturbing harmony before mirroring abuse and defense stances, like a kick to the head and dragging across floors. Their gymnastic, martial artistry captured the beauty of love alongside its ravaging fire.
Laced through each moment of cohesive, parallel dance are subtle slaps and punches so quick they’re almost hidden within the duo’s wider impression of unity. The erupting violence is muddied with love; Jason throws Marie-Josée face-up on the table, then spins her round light-handed like a ballerina, lifts her like a princess before throwing her back down. A vengeful grab to Jason’s neck resolves in a passionate kiss, and Marie-Josée is thrown like a ragdoll until the dance’s dramatic finale (no spoilers here!)
Trish Stratus had been suppressing tears through the whole ordeal, and called the duo’s audition “an incredibly powerful performance with an incredibly powerful message,” praising their vulnerability, strength, and courage to talk about such a subject through their art. Howie Mandel called the performance “absolutely brilliant,” while Kardinal Offishall thanked the duo for sharing their story, adding, “it was extremely beautiful, and that’s what really blew my mind.”
Only two years back, the duo had won the fourth season of the French-Canadian TV dance competition Révolution, where they performed the second part of this abuse story, where Jason dances with a ragdoll Marie, unconscious or deceased. Marie and Jason are already fan favorites to win the current season of CGT, with their breathtaking audition garnering over 310k views on YouTube in only one month.
Marie and Jason summed up their act with few words, stating, “It’s a hard subject to talk about which is why we use our tool which is dance. Words simply can’t express enough or it’s hard to find the right ones […] We’d love to start a conversation and speak a truth that is happening amongst many, many people.”