Ballets Jazz Montréal presents an evening of dance inspired by the rich Montréal-based poet, artist and songwriter, Leonard Cohen at the Vilar in Beaver Creek March 26.
Cohen gave his blessing to the dance company regarding the production before he passed away in 2016. Three renowned choreographers, Andonis Foniadakis, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Ihsan Rustem, created the dances to 16 of Cohen’s works that he wrote from 1967 to 2016. They include the poem “A Thousand Kisses Deep” and songs like “Hallelujah,” “Dance Me to the End of Love” and “Suzanne.”
Backed by videography and the bold dramaturgy of Eric Jean, Ballets Jazz Montréal’s 14 artists perform an 80-minute show designed to appeal to not just dance lovers, but also those who appreciate music and theatrical displays.
Founded in 1972, the contemporary dance company commissions internationally-known choreographers to create exclusive repertoires, with an eye toward accessibility to all audiences.
“All of Ballets Jazz’s work brings an element of humanity, fearlessness and emotion in addition to the highly technical skill that each dance requires. Additionally, each piece is nuanced, multilayered and often multidisciplinary — combining other artistic disciplines such as theater, video and music. With accessibility and quality as key values, the company successfully integrates pleasure and humanity into their strong, expressive and demanding pieces,” according to the program, adding that the company encourages discovery and stimulates the imagination.
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The company is made up of diverse dancers, from body types to culture and training, the latter of which ranges from gymnastics to musical theater and classical ballet.
“So much of the generosity and the sensuality and the artistry of the dancers make it a very unique company,” said Artistic Director Alexandra Damiani.
With such diversity comes some challenges, due to varying approaches to movement or cultural values. Yet, they come together through their love of physicality, curiosity and sensuality, she said.
“The versatility is something that is across the board. I’m always so impressed and inspired by dancers who can do so many different things,” she said, talking about the span of pieces, from sensitive, elegant, technical partnering and “extremely out there, in your face, extremely physical. … (It) has always been more about beautiful human beings — very rich — who dance super well, as opposed to just dancers. There is this full package that is very encouraged and nurtured in the studio and in the way of approaching the performance aspect. Each dancer is so unique. Like a mosaic, you have a glue that brings this all together and makes it stunning and unique, and that is the love for Ballets Jazz Montréal.”
She doesn’t seek out ballet dancers, but she does look for that technical training. Overall, she’s captivated by something beyond classical abilities.
“A lot of dancers (have) those skills and talent, so what makes it for me is the personality, the creativity, the curiosity and the versatility. There is not really a mold, because it’s a group of very eclectic dancers. They share a level of skills, but at some point, (I) say, ‘Hey, who are the dancers who will complement this group?’ Every time, I surprise myself. I like to go for different dancers depending on the group we have and what needs to be created as a whole,” she said. “They need to complement each other, and each one has to bring a different flavor, a different style, while still sharing a common level of skills.”
While some companies would shy away from such differences in dancers, she embraces it and considers it the company’s superpower, of sorts. Even when a dancer might showcase the opposite of his or her colleagues, she tries to incorporate those differences within the work. She views studio work as a creative lab in which the dancers can bring their ideas and take risks within the choreography.
“As long as there is an integrity to the movement language of the choreographer, there is so much room for interpretation. For me, this is something extremely important, so it permeates the daily work and the way I work with each one of the dancers,” she said, adding that she likes to feel the potential of dancers as full human beings. “You have to be at the service of someone’s vision, and it is kind of dangerous, even in the energy, the way of performing it … it comes from the dancers to feel that voice, and that sound is not stuck somewhere in the body, in the chest, in the throat, that they breathe this breath, and this voice (into works).”
She refers to this as embodied freedom — something she highly values and weaves into the fabric of the company.
“It becomes really embodied and not just talked about, and you see it so clearly on stage,” she said. “I still have these kind of goosebumps; I have a clearly physical reaction when I feel that there is so much generosity in a dancer. Yes, there is all this attention to technicality and integrity in the work, but there is a breath, there is an artistic (quality). There is a life that is totally flowing that is creating something quite electric and beautiful with the audience. And that’s why I will fight for performing arts, living arts, as long as I’m alive. Because I find this really transformative for everyone. This embodied freedom is extremely important because this feeling has this very deep way of communicating and reconnecting to our humanity. It bypasses the brain; it goes directly to the heart. I’ve seen so many audience members in tears, not knowing why, or getting this reconnection with humanity not on a cerebral level, but on a very direct level.”
This reconnection begins in the classes, with the way she provides corrections but also offers dancers self-agency and an opportunity to create.
Cohen’s music and poetry is also imbued with a transformative quality — a key to the heart, she calls it. The idea to dance to Cohen’s creations came from former artistic director Louis Robitaille, who left in 2020. It took a while to get rights to the music, so it premiered in 2017. To honor Cohen, the three choreographers took unique approaches.
“Andonis Foniadakis likes to go within the notes of the music — it’s not literal. Part of this musicality is very strong physicality. It’s very fast. It’s impressive. It brings a way of listening to the music — it’s almost like it goes through the cracks of the music. You know, Leonard Cohen said, ‘You need to have a crack in oneself to let the light in.’ And suddenly you hear the music,” she said. “And then Ihsan Rustem contrasts that — he’s very much about the origin of the song. It’s very much about storytelling.”
For instance, he did a duet where the woman never touches the floor, generating this floating, ethereal kind of relationship in which the couple never consumes the attraction to one another.
“Annabelle Lopez Ochoa does a beautiful duet at the end, and it’s very human — doing a bit to cleanse the palate, in a way, after seeing so much and listening so much to music,” she said. “Annabelle is also bringing a different facet, a very rich body of work.”
Montreal-based stage director Jean integrates these contrasting styles and makes them seamless in his way of putting different movement languages together.
“The audience can expect a most fantastic journey, taking a stroll with Leonard Cohen, from the earlier songs to his latest album. So, it goes through the seasons — expect to take a stroll through the snow and the rain and the sun and also with the more sexy and full of possibilities and also with loss and death,” she said. “The elegance of this show is that it gives an opportunity, an inner space and quiet moment, where each one of us can project ourselves and our own memories and our own nostalgia or our own hopes, or our own relationship with that music — that there is enough space for us to participate with the audience. I expect the audience to feel much better after the show about the world, about the possibilities of maybe making this world a better place. It’s so healing.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.vaildaily.com ’
