extraits_excerpts louise Lecavalier_Fou glorieux
revue de presse_press clippings 2009-2010-2011 18-19 DANCE David Jays has a close encounter with TilE SUNDAY TIMES 22.04.12 the queen of the 'horizontal pirouette', Louise Lecavalier, who has pushed her limits for 30 years
For 30 years, she has put her body on the line and wowed audiences with her total commitment. How does Louise . lecavalier still do it, asks David Jays The bion 1I c woman
or almost 20 years, Louise British choreographer. It has a show at the Maubeuge festival, in "It is how my body is made. Some very calm, very tentative, taking Lecavalier was the face - killer score - Leonard Cohen and northern France. There's no trace things I can do intuitively, others my time," she says. "Like a turtle. and the body and the Maria Callas, Janis Joplin and of diva in this woman sipping a I have to find gradually." Some But my mind was always going." wild hair - of modem Billie Holiday - that suits a work beer in an anonymous dressing barriers are more emotional than She disliked ballet class: "It was dance. Hitting the stage with dark currents. The live-wire room. In jeans, black cap and soft physical, as Charnock found when too austere. And going on stage in Flike a missile, she pushed the Lecavalier is in black; beefy red shirt, she looks less like a star be urged her to bait the audience a tutu, portraying a pretty girl - boundaries of movement with the Patrick Lamothe wears a white than a member of the stage crew. in Children. "Louise can't bear it wasn't possible." Once she French-Canadian company La wife-beater; and they excavate a Only her energy gleams: she's improvising," he says. "I think found the perfect medium in La La Human Steps, winning turbulent relationship. They play wiry and restless. And fearless? she's a little bit afraid of it" the burgeoning contemporary devotees as wide-ranging as parents who hold their inner child That has long been the default The restless pulse in her dance scene, she refused to David Bowie and the film director close - panicky cuddles that feel adjective for Lecavalier. Anyone mobile body is unmissable. It's a waste a moment "In New York, I Kathryn Bigelow. Her daredevil like needy assaults, pillow fighting who can hurl themselves into surprise to learn she wasn't a was improvising berween classes, signature was a "horizontal pirou to Puttin' on the Ritz. They space must surely lack the fear perpetually jiggling kid during thinking, 'Now I'm warmed up, I ette" that slammed to the floor move with rapid, supple energy gene? "Yes and no," she replies. her Montreal childhood. "I was want to dance.'" and made audiences scream, (Lecavalier doesn't have a slow given extra fizz by her untamed setting). Raw love rugs their hearts mane of platinum-blonde hair. from their chest and squeezes: 'David Bowie is a Thirteen years after she left there's nothing solemn here. La La La, the hair is in tight plaits So it's an emotional wringer - fantastic person. It was and Lecavalier throws fewer she told Charnock she found his audacious moves, but her spark is piece "the most exhausting" she's a big break, but soon I undimmed. This month, her latest done. For his part, Charnock thought, I don't want double bill comes to the Inter delights in her concentrated national Dance Festival Birming charisma. "I can't take my eyes to do this any more' ham, where she will join fellow off her," he says. "She has this mavericks such as Sylvie Guillem, innate magnetism." David Toole and Dave St-Pierre. Lecavalier's fierce stage per The main event in her pro sona is belied by the warm but gramme is Children, a duet by unassuming and surprisingly Nigel Charnock, the unpredictable tentative person I meet after her
18 Lecavaller with If her stint as a rock chick was tinkering with phrases until they Keir Knight and, baffling, Hollywood was simply hum is her forte, and Charnock, below, on David dull. In 1995, long before her who hates "that detailed stuff", Bowie's Oscar for The Hurt Locker, was bemused to see how hard Sound+Vision Bigelow cast Lccavalier alongside she worked at his piece: "It was so tourinl990 Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Lewis endearing and admirable." in the millennia! thriller Strange Her stage-slamming style Days. "I was always into dance," inevitably put huge demands on Lecavalier says, "but people kept her body, requiring a succession telling me, 'Movies! Movies!"'This of operations. "She's the original worker who adores beavering bionic woman," Charnock mar alone in a studio bridled at the vels. It's incredible to think that industrial scale of film-making. Lecavalier is now well into her "There are hundreds of people on fifties. At the curtain call, while set," she says. "Maybe if you're the star and everything happens her younger male colleagues look / around you, it is different." And wrung out, she seems raring to how about all the waiting around? start all over again. Meeting her at It must have been torment for the hotel buffet next morning, it's someone who thrives on perpet no surprise to hear she didn't ual motion. "I did lots of training," sleep at all that night. Hasn't age she says grimly. "I would wake up had any effect on her at all? at six to go boxing." "Because I'm less limited in my mind, my body is freer." l3 Acclaim smoothed La La La's punkish edges: Lock hired classi cally trained dancers and put them The Imemational Dance Festival Birmingham starts tomorrow and in pointe shoes. "The work always interested me," Lecavalicr says, runs until May19; Lecavalier "but it was more of a ballet appears on Friday and Saturday company. I was invaded!" To the ,... tomboy, a spun-sugar ballerina mbeing devotedly squired about the ffi stage is an alien concept. "It's ~ another mentality. That's what I ~ hated about dance, being made ~ beautiful. I like being the same as ~ the guys." With each new piece, "' her roles became less central; by ~ the time she left, in 1999, she was ~ making only cameo appearances, ~ having been the company's poster ~ girl. "I felt less part of the show," she says. "I was happy to leave - no tears, no nothing." Edouard Lock's work for La La and Lock were in a relationship. Establishing herself as an La Human Steps, the company Did La La La consume her com independent force was tough. he formed in 1980, spoke to her pletely? "I had a life," she pro "For the first year, nobody phoned . deeply: "His early work made me tests. "I was not the maniac that me." Her timidity kicked in, so cry, it touched me. There was you sometimes see in the ballet she didn't tout for sparky colla something sad about it. When I world. I was not the perfect girl..." borators. Gradually, however, she joined, it was starting to evolve Glance in her direction and began to commission pieces that into something more punkish, you're hooked. Those caught in distilled her intensity. The match and I wanted to push it more. I her dazzle have included Bowie, with Charnock, via a mutual felt we were on a track - there who asked Lock to direct his friend, was especially fruitful. was a special connection between Sound+Vision world tour in They had more in common than Edouard and me." She responds 1990. The dancers, especially she expected. "He's wild on brilliantly when I ask how she Lecavalier, were the spectacle. It stage, but he's shy, reserved - liked being called Lock's muse. was the biggest of breaks, from and I'm shy, in a way. He can't "He was my muse!" she exclaims. the goldfish bowl of modern stop moving, and it's unusual to "He was inspiring me." dance into the arena with the see someone who moves as much From the moment she joined Thin White Duke, but Lecavalier as me." La La La in 1981, the pair urged looks back with mixed emotions. Lecavalier's ravenous appetite each other towards revelations "David is a fantastic person. It for work hasn't dimmed. Char about propulsive movement. "We was a big break, yes, and there's nock describes how he'd arrive at worked on dance all the time - not so much stress at presenting the studio to find her already on in the studio, it was movement, your own stuff." She remembers the treadmill or honing a phrase. movement. I didn't want to miss the bewildering tsunami of noise "I like to impose discipline on a detail. I even watched his from the stadium crowds. It was myself," she admits. "It was not eyelids flickering." heady, but not what this quietly so much fun for the others." Hot, raucous shows such as contrarian performer needed. "I Nowadays, parenthood imposes Human Sex (1985) and New didn't crave it, but it happened. its own work/life balance: "I can't Demons (1987) created an inter I really loved him, but soon I spend so much time in the national buzz. Lecavalier worked thought, 'I don't want to do this studio, because I have kids [twin and toured, and for a while she anymore."' daughters, now 10)." Even so, Louise Lecavalier/Fou Glorieux takes Vancouver by Storm | The Vancouver Observer 11-11-15 18:10
ARTS BEAT
Louise Lecavalier/Fou Glorieux takes Vancouver by Storm
Day Helesic Posted: Nov 5th, 2011
Read More: Arts Beat Dance contemporary dance DanceHouse La La La Human Steps Louise Lecavalier Vancouver Playhouse
Louise Lecavalier in A Few Minutes of Lock
In the same way the camera loves movie stars, the stage loves contemporary dance icon Louise Lecavalier. Just try to take your eyes off her. Brought to us by DanceHouse, the first piece of the evening is Children, a Nigel Charnock commission danced by Lecavalier and Patrick Lamothe. Alone at first under effective strobe lighting, Lecavalier wears a simple black tank and slacks and launches herself across the stage like four-legged animal. Her hunger for movement is palpable, as is her devotion to each danced moment. Not only is her powerful physicality beautiful, so is she—sharp bone structure, a long mess of blond hair, and soft eyes. She is riveting.
Children is classic Charnock: epic, episodic, extremely physical, and scored with songs that vary from Leonard Cohen to Billie Holiday to Puccini. Charnock delves into his theme that we are all children from every angle, especially when Lamothe appears. The duets are playful or competitive with pillow fights, water bottle wars, flashlight solos, and emotional moments of affection. It never gets too literal; the vocabulary is grounded in Charnock’s robust contemporary movement.
Prop-dependent pieces can be hard to pull off choreographically, but in this case, it works. Highlights include a section of stylized stick fighting drills, where Lecavalier is so fast, compact, and adept at the handwork required to manipulate the metal pole, that after seeing it once, you wish you could press rewind to see it again.
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The ending is a standout. Having doused themselves with water until sopping wet, Lamothe dies and Lecavalier grieves, trying to bring him back to life. As Lamothe returns to life, Lecavalier dies, leaving Lamothe to try to bring her back. As the piece winds down, he lifts her high in his arms under a pool of light, and she returns to life, as they slowly rotate in an embrace. It’s a powerful and beautiful conclusion, illustrating a human need to be loved, and to matter to someone else.
After a five-minute break for mop up, costume change and a little hair braiding, we are treated to A Few Minutes of Lock, excerpts from Édouard Lock’s 2 (premiered in 1995) and Salt (premiered in 1998), the last two pieces Lecavalier starred in during her 18 years with La La La Human Steps. As soon as the lights come up and the Iggy Pop score plays, the audience is dumbstruck. The reasons are too many to count: sophisticated choreography, exquisite partnering work, inventive lifts, holds, flips, spins, and the gestural work Lock made famous, borrowed by a million choreographers after him.
Keir Knight joins Lecavalier, looking tall and gorgeous. He is a silent accomplice, so accomplished a partner that the manipulations and holds and catches look effortless, when they’re anything but. Lecavalier is simply stunning in this work. Well over a decade later, she is just as explosive and powerful in Lock’s choreography, a dare devil who attacks revolution on the vertical and horizontal planes like no other dancer. Her trademark horizontal flips are still gravity defying, almost too fast to fully register. She and her partners (Patrick joins them for a section) dance entirely in the moment, like they’re doing the movements for the first time, yet the execution is incredibly clean, like the dance is in their blood. To see Lecavalier dance choreography from the creator and company she will be forever linked to is both a privilege and a gift.
A standing ovation and two curtain calls later, she dances a short encore with her partners. Still on their feet, the audience watches enthralled. A short, charming trio ensues, and when the dancers finally collapse on top of each other, the lights snap to black and the crowd erupts again. We have loved every second.
J’aime Anne Viau et 3 autres personnes aiment ça.
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http://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/artsbeat/2011/11/05/louise-lecavalierfou-glorieux-takes-vancouver-storm Page 2 sur 3 Louise Lecavalier – Fluid Festival | Calgary Herald 11-11-16 17:56
Calgary Herald>Blogs >Entertainment>On the Scene
Louise Lecavalier – Fluid Festival
October 21, 2011. 10:17 am
Review
The Springboard Performance Fluid Movement Arts Festival presents Louise Lecavalier and Fou Glorieux tonight at Theatre Junction Grand. Tickets: Call 403-205-2922.
Judging from her Fluid Festival double bill at Theatre Junction Grand on Thursday, Montreal dance artist Louise Lecavalier never stops moving. Or at least, only long enough to catch her breath - and just barely, in the case of the 10 sections of breathtaking restlessness and virtuosity that comprised the first piece on her Fou Glorieux program, British “bad boy” choreographer Nigel Charnock’s Children.
The work, ostensibly a study of the push-pull in the play and strain between a man and a woman – Lecavalier is soon joined in Children by her Fou Glorieux dancer, Patrick Lamothe - starts off with a pulsatingly high-pitched, strobe-lit prelude that has Lecavalier moving quickly around the bare stage on all fours before taking up a bewildering array of anngst-ridden twists, turns and rolls on the floor.
All of a sudden, she claps – and it stops.
And then we find ourselves with a whooshing, samurai-meets-Star Wars-meets-baton- twirling session of playful ambivalence that ends with children’s voices, African drums and the return of the starkly lit harshness at the start of the piece - only this time the strobe effect comes from a camera held by Lamothe and it ends with applause on the soundtrack.
Which ushers in a frantic “inner” dance of Lecavalier and Lamothe to Leonard Cohen’s wonderful Dance Me to the End of Love.
And on it goes.
Sometimes set up like a scrimmage between the two performers - a kind of breaking apart, grasping for nothing, at one moment, and reaching out in unison, but alone in their separate worlds, at the next - Children moves like child’s play (it’s anything but, in the dancing of Lecavalier and Lamothe) through the music of Billie Holiday, a Tom Waits-y number by Richard Desjardins, ”cool” Miles Davis, Janis Joplin and Puccini, among others.
(Appropriately, the Puccini aria – Vissi d’arte from Tosca, sung by Maria Callas - provides the musical template for the beautifully realized and very poignant, wet-look, Romeo and Juliet slow-dance conclusion to Children.)
http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2011/10/21/louise-lecavalier-fluid-festival/ Page 1 sur 2 Louise Lecavalier – Fluid Festival | Calgary Herald 11-11-16 17:56
Humour abounds in Charnock’s child-is-father-of-the-man piece. The Billie Holiday song, for example, gets Hollywood vaudeville treatment, while a Terry Snyder version of Puttin’ on the Ritz gets pillow treatment – reminding you of kids plowing around the floor during Kindergarten and pre-K rest period. But here, too, there’s a quick change of meaning: when Lamothe remains alone onstage with a pillowcase over his head, breathing in and out, it reminds you of something far more sinister - of a Ku Klux Klan hood, say, or of someone about to be executed.
The richness and serious physical fun of the Charnock choreography contrasts, but not too sharply, with the work that ends Lecavalier’s show – a 15-minute tribute to choreographer Edouard Lock, founder of Montreal’s La La La Human Steps, the contemporary dance company that Lecavalier was instrumental in bringing to international renown several decades ago.
Here danced by Lecavalier with Keir Knight and the participation of Lamothe, A Few Minutes of Lock (excerpts from Lock’s Salt and 2, we are told) was simply a knockout.
Done to the steady crescendo of an Iggy Pop canon, Lecavalier’s signature slicing-and-dicing gestures represent a kind of rapid robotic sign language semaphore that seems to wind her up into paroxysms of movement that often send her on collision courses with her partner(s).
Faster and faster and further she goes, as the movement broadens and the beat builds.
An incredible show.
****1/2 out of five
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http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2011/10/21/louise-lecavalier-fluid-festival/ Page 2 sur 2 Louise Lecavalier is still an energetic force - The Boston Globe 11-09-12 19:12
Lecavalier is still an energetic force By Janine Parker Globe Correspondent / July 16, 2011
BECKET - It’s often thought that dance is a young person’s field, but this is only partly so: Louise Lecavalier, who danced with Édouard Lock’s company La La La Human Steps for nearly two decades, is performing at Jacob’s Pillow with the truth and beauty that can only be gleaned through a lot of living.
It’s tempting to say that Lecavalier dances with abandon, but abandon suggests giving oneself up, whereas every cell of her seems to reach out, without fear or reserve. Though she is tiny, her form of dance is extremely weighted, sweaty, and tactile, but the way she interacts with the air, or the ground she flings herself onto, or the partner she hurtles into, is striking. It seems as though the space around her is bent and shaped by the very force of her; it meets and envelops her.
Nigel Charnock’s 2009 “Children,’’ the first of the program’s two works, is not about children but about two adults - Lecavalier and Patrick Lamothe, her worthy partner - struggling to manage their passion without destroying each other. The music consists of a series of songs by singers from Billie Holiday to Janis Joplin, interrupted occasionally by the opening notes of an aria that, because the record is skipping, becomes a plaintive wail. This wail is like a siren in the couple’s relationship, the warning that the relationship is souring, the skipping suggesting a recurring theme.
The title, Charnock’s program note, and some of the choreographic motifs are wistful remonstrances: If we could only retain that sense of play, if only neurotic impulses could be kept at bay. But the very presence of passion suggests the possibility of reconciliation, for you can love or hate someone with passion, but you can’t be indifferent with passion.
Memory is provocative for all of us, and poignantly so for dancers. “A Few Minutes of Lock,’’ a series of excerpts from dances choreographed by Lock, is Lecavalier’s exploration of that intangible sensation known to dancers as muscle memory. What will this movement from earlier in her career be like on her now, she wonders. The heartfelt standing ovation she received at the end contained her answer.
Janine Parker can be reached at [email protected].
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
file:///Users/anne/Documents/Documents%20Anne/Louise%20Lecavalier/Critiques/Boston%20Globe.webarchive Page 1 sur 1 Dance Review: Montreal’s Louise Lecavalier breathtaking in ‘Children’ - Arts, Theatre - Toronto.com 11-05-18 15:32
Dance Review: Montreal’s Louise Lecavalier breathtaking in ‘Children’
By Michael Crabb Apr 14, 2011
LOUISE LECAVALIER – FOU GLORIEUX: CHILDREN
(out of 4)
Choreography by Nigel Charnock and Édouard Lock. Until April 16 at Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West; 416-973-4000 or www.harbourfrontcentre.com
Scampering on all fours might seem an odd, even ignominious way for a contemporary dance icon to make her entrance, but not if you’re Louise Louise Lecavalier and Keir Knight perfomr in 'A Few Minutes of Lock' Lecavalier. Even standing still, the world renowned Montreal dancer radiates Massimo Chiarradia riveting intensity. In full flight she’s like a lightning bolt.
Lecavalier does all this and much more in her welcome return to Toronto, no longer as the star of Quebec choreographer Édouard Lock’s La La La Human Steps – she quit the troupe in 1999 – but as the centre of her own universe and five-year-old company, Fou Glorieux.
Not that Lecavalier has entirely put Lock behind her. The short second part of the 75-minute program Fou Glorieux opened on Wednesday as part of Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage series has Lecavalier revisiting in condensed, streamlined – and, if memory serves, accelerated – form excerpts from a couple of works from her later years with La La La.
In A Few Minutes of Lock, Lecavalier, partnered with notable élan by Calgarian Keir Knight – also a La La La alum – summons up the whiplash movement and hallmark kamikaze barrel rolls that made her a star. Yet, though the movement will be familiar to Lecavalier’s longtime fans, the inflection is different.
It’s not that age has dulled the edge of her physicality. Even at 52 – and as the mother of 9-year-old twins – Lecavalier remains formidably breathtaking. Yet her personal investment in the movement is more evident, lending emotional weight, particularly in a trio sequence involving Patrick Lamothe, to what had sometimes seemed like detached pyrotechnical display.
This artistic maturity is even more apparent in the show’s major offering, Children, choreographed at Lecavalier’s commission by Britain’s Nigel Charnock, once dubbed “the unreconstructed bad boy of physical theatre.”
It’s here that she makes her scampering entrance, peppered with strobe lighting and the recurrent ear-splitting sound of a cross between a car alarm and a needle caught in the groove of a soprano’s high C.
For the first 10 of the episodic Children’s 50 minutes Lecavalier dances alone. Scampering yields to spread-eagled floor work and space exploring runs before she picks up a long metal stick and starts wielding it like a samurai sword.
Charnock’s program note makes clear that the title is not to be taken too literally. When Lamothe appears the dance continues as a catalog of contrasting emotions, a push-pull of attraction and repulsion, need and fear.
The jukebox score – Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday and more – is supplemented with the intermittent sound of small children. file:///Users/anne/Desktop/TorontoStar.pdf.webarchive Page 1 sur 2 THE GAZETTE• montrealgazette.com • SATURDAY,A PRIL 23, 2011 dance
Abolt of dance lightning strikes twice in Few Minutes was very physical. I'm so dif ferent from him, but I thought something about his movement could link us. "I discovered finally some· body with as much energy as me. He's wild. Us two together would be very funny." VICTORSWOBODA Lecavalier descr ibed Char nock as super nervous and ex tremely funny. She imagined that if they danced together, she hirtyyears after she flewon would look calmer next to him. stage as La La La Human As it is, she feels that she looks Steps' r esident female rock· still more energetic when dan Tet, Louise Lecavalier con cing in Children with Patr ick tinues to astonish. In perform Lamothe, who is calm. ance, she remains a bolt of pure Many might wonder how Le dance energy. When required, cavalier, who is 52, main tains her limbs still move lightning dancing tr im. fast, as she demonstrated to "I do yoga five morn ings a great artistic effect last year in week. Recently I went back into the marvellous double bill of A cardiovascular training on ma Few Minutes of Lock and Chil chines, and I'm just starting back dren. The same program returns to runn ing after stopping many next week to Usine C. years. I was injured between 1993 Lecavalier is certainly a virtu· and 1999, and my only training oso - one could admire just her was cardio. I was too injured to speed, fluidity and refined move do yoga, ballet or contemporary ment. But what's truly memor ANDRECORNELLIER dance. The only dance I could do able is how her technical mastery Louise Lecavalier shows in A Few Minutes of Lock and Children that at 52 she can still command was what I did on stage." is filtered through her personal the stage with speed, f luidity and ref ined movement, all shot through with art ist ic intelligence. Had Lecavalier been an athlete ity to stamp the choreography and not a dance1; she would have with meaning. It's not about stopped. virtuosity. Lecavalier could com· La La La Human Steps' show in Lock's reluctance to revisit his r hythm. Afterwards she felt the "Because athletes measure mand attention on stage simply Montreal next month). When past creations, Lecavalier is to need again for speed (there's results and see you're less good. by folding her arms. they dance, their every muscle be congratulated for retur ning something Form ula One about That 's disappointing. But be Exactly how the great dancers seems charged with artistic in these duets to view. Perhaps they her). cause it's artistic, my main goal accomplish this is one of the telligence. will encourage Lock to raid his "I wanted to be in a duet that is not physical achievement. It's mysteries of art. Lecavalier's double bill at once treasure chest. was very physical," said Lecava a mind thing. It never stops - it Words can' t explain it, b ut looks back in time and forward. Children is a 50-minute work lier in a recent interview in a gets better." one immediately senses it when A Few Minutes of Lock has three that Lecavalier commissioned cafe across the street from La La watching Lecavalier and other duets adapted from two shows from Brita in's Nige l Char La Human Steps' Park Ave. stu A Few Minutes of Lock and world-statu re perfor mer s - that Edouard Lock created for La nock. She'd j ust finished work dios (Lecavalier rehearses in a Children, Wednesday to Sat Baryshnikov and Evelyn Hart in La La Human Steps in the 1990s, ing with Benoit Lachambre on studio below but loves to pop in urday, April 30 at Usine C, their heyday, or the Mariinsky Salt and 2. Lecavalier's capable Is You Me, a duet whose slow to watch the company at work). 1345 Lalonde. Ticket s, $29, Ballet's Uliana Lopatkina and partner is Keir Knight, also a pace and constr icting costumes "When I saw Nigel performing under-3 0, $22, seniors, $26. Diana Vishneva (a guest with former company member. Given largely concealed her natural he's a very good performer - he Call 514- 521-4493. LIECAVAL- I IE~;- { ! 1s .s j UNLOCKED'
Today, her company Fou glorieux gives her the freedom to work with choreographers and dancers of her choosing
first saw Louise Lecavalier dance with La La La Hu man Steps, in Toronto, in by Karen Barr the late 1980s. I had never seen anything like it. Her style was aggres Lecavaliet' s dancing in Children/A Few bers this time in her life as very intense. sive, her moves gravity Minutes ofLock brought the crowd to its Her days in the studio were filled with defying and she was feet. the creation and discovery of dance. strong enough to lift her male dance She is smaller than one would imag There were always challenges to push partner in the air. Dressed in black, with ine, with a shock of long curly blond the limits of movement. Works such as her platinum hair flying, she was a com hair. Her jeans and long-sleeved black Oranges (I 98 !), Businessman in the Proc manding presence demanding attention. T-shirt hide the well-toned body and ess ofBecoming an Angel (1983), Human Soon the whole world would be watch sculpted arms she reveals onstage. One Sex (1985), New Demons (1987}, lnfonte mg. thing remains clear when we talk- she (1991), 2 (1995) and Exauci/Salt She danced in David Bowie's Sound is passionate about dance. (1998}, made the company and I.ecava and Vision Tour in 1990 and later the Our conversation starts with the be lier famous. same year was the featured dancer in his ginning of her journey. She signed up to "It was a reflection of my life as a music video for the song Fame. Frank take dance classes at age 16. Within young adult." She thrived on change. "I Zappa asked her to perform in his 1993 three years, she was noticed by choreog kept creating. There were new dancers Yellow Shark concert, with Ensemble rapher Edouard Lock, then in his pre-La coming along. I didn't want Edouard to Modern of Germany, in Frankfurt, Ber La La Human Steps days. He asked use me for just one thing." lin and Vienna. Hollywood beckoned Lccavalicr to be part of a piece he was But, ultimately, it was change that and in J 994 Lecavaliet appeared in the developing- a fact she still finds unbe caused Lecavalier to leave La La La Hu movie Strange Days, starring Ralph lievable, even today. man Steps after almost two decades. Fiennes and Angela Bassett. "[ did not have self-confidence in my "The company was moving on a differ Awards and accolades would follow ability to dance. I couldn't understand ent path. I tried it for a while, but I including the New York Dance and Per why he picked me. I had to unlearn all wasn't happy." She said farewell, after formance Award (known as the Bessie) rhe things I had learned, to learn the new her 50th performance of Salt. in 1993, the Jean A. Chalmers National way of dancing. This is a hard thing to She has no regrets, however. When Award in 1999 and she was named an do even when you want to." asked how she managed to stay with the Officer of the Order of Canada in 2008. She wasn't convinced she could make company for so long, especially given the What is most extraordinary about her a career out of dancing. "I enrolled in physical demands of the choreography, career is that she never made the deci university with the thought of having a she replies, "It didn't feel long. I didn't sion to become a dancer. normal life. I went for one day and realize how long it had been until I left "Life has decided for me," she con thought, 'Maybe I'll give dance a the company and someone said I had cludes, as we meet one November day in chance, for one year."' danced with them for 18 years." Ottawa. It's the day after her opening Lock would go on to form La La La Today, her company, Fou gloricux, night performance with her company Human Steps in 1981, with Lecavalier gives her the freedom to work with cho Fou glorieux, founded in 2006. as his inspiration and muse. She remem- reographers and dancers of her Spring 2011 I Dance International 17
She wasn't convinced she would make a career looking for something new. Canada is home, however, and she is deeply rooted out of dancing "I enrolled in university with a in Quebec. This is where her heart is. thought of having a normal life. I went for one day When touring in Quebec, she takes her nine-year-old twin daughters with and thought, 'Maybe I'll give dance a chance for her. Like their mother, they enjoy dance, one year."' too. "They followed a friend to ballet class and they love it," she says with a smile. choosing. By chance, a producer gave A Few Minutes of Lock takes on three When asked about dancers from the Lacavalier a DVD featuring the work of reworked pieces from Edouard Lock. past or present whom she admires, she British choreographer Nigel Charnock. Each were shortened and in some cases stops to contemplate. After a moment She was surprised to see something so sped up in pace, to keep a more contem she names Russian dancer Nijinsky, Ana different and improvised. She found it porary feel in choreography that was Laguna, famous for her work with Swe provocative and very straightforward, in originally designed to show slower den's Cullberg Ballet and Dana a humanistic way. A year later, they met balletic tones. It was interesting for Caspersen of the Forsythe Company of and their collaboration was the birth of Lecavalier to see if she was still capable of Germany. Then she adds, "I loved Children, a piece choreographed to re performing the pieces 10 plus years later. watching Michael Jackson dance." flect the life of a couple raising a family. "]wanted to sec if! still had the means With all that Lecavalicr has accom In it she dances with Patrick Lamothe. to do it," she says with a laugh. plished in her career, when did she feel Aside from his obvious dance ability, she In the fall she performed her show in like she made it as a dancer? "Never," she likes the fact that he doesn't look like a Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Hun replies quickly. "I could never figure out typical dancer, which makes the roles gary, Turkey and Brazil. She enjoys trav what 'it' was. If! thought I had done all they are playing more believable to the elling and shows a particular fondness I could in dance, I wouldn't be danc audience. for Paris, where the audiences are always ing." Lucky for us she's still searching. T Dance International / Spring 201 1
fter touring with her company Lccavalier's dance partner Patrick Fou glorieux through Europe, Lamothe held his own in this piece, which with a brief stop in South showed the joy and turmoil of the lives of a A America, Louise Lecavalier, re couple raising children. turned home to Canada for two perform The second part of the performance enti ances at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. tled, A Few Minutes oJLock, was a retro look The performance I attended was on N ovem back at Lccavalier's time with La La La ber 19,2010. Human Steps and choreographer Edouard On a darkened stage, strobe lights began Lock. This short but dynamic 13-minute to the shrill, note-skipping, mono-syllable of piece reworked three segments of Lock's operatic soprano Maria Callas. Lecavalicr work - two from Salt and one from the appeared. She was barefOot and wearing a production of 2. black long-sleeved shirt with loose brown Lecavalier made a high-energy entrance pants. Her blond hair was pulled backoffher to the music of Iggy Pop, with additional face. She crawled on her hands and feet electric guitars by Sylvain Provost. across the stage, which within the pulsating The Ottawa performances introduced a light, appeared to be in a fast-forward night new partner, Keir Knight-a former La La mare quality. La Human Steps dancer, who appeared in When the strobes stopped, she sprawled the company's original version of Salt. on her back spread-eagled and rolled onto Lecavalier's black outfit revealed her her stomach, for a dance involving floor toned legs and famously sculpted arms. work. She then stood, clapped and the music With her partner, Knight, lifts and poses stopped. The stage was so quiet, you could seemed almost balletic - until a flurty of hear her breathe. fast feet revealed more contemporary tones. She picked up a fighting stick and swirled Her trademark barrel roll was used to great it with Samurai grace, making it part of her effect as she leapt into Knight's anns. The routine. It swung up and overhead and later choreography provided quick bursts of ac it was twirled in baton style. Various poses tion all of which required careful teamwork showed off the strength of her body. and riming. The couple rolled individually In her next sequence to the haunting lyrics on the floor, jumped over one another, of a song entitled Dance Me to the End of bounced skyward and reconnected as one. Love, by Montreal singer/songwriter Lamothe appeared onstage again for a Leonard Cohen, Lecavalier worked the stage short trio, which rounded out the pro as if being danced toward her destiny, an gramme. It all ended dramatically, unseen band pulling her to and fro. HalfWay Lecavalier lying down, back against the through the song a man dressed in black stage floor, Knight gently lifting her hori joined in, at first tentatively, as in the stan of zontally in his arms and looking out to the a new relationship. He stroked the right side audience. She did not move except for the of her face. She removed his hand. He tried light fluttering of her feet. again on the left, but she pulled away. He A Few Minutes of Lock is pure nostalgia pleaded, holding her face in his hands, but for anyone who has followed Lecavalier's she continued to resist. career. One can't help bur notice her A battle of wills ensued in this first act growth as a dancer, from platinum blond entitled Children by Briti
Posted by Gareth K Vile, Tue 15 Mar 2011
Although Nikki Millican has spent the last decade pushing the New Territories**** Festival beyond simple definitions, Louise Lecavalier is almost too easy to categorise. Fast, furious, athletic and acrobatic, Lecavalier is firmly within the contemporary dance tradition that found new erotic and celebratory potential in movement: while the emphasis on technique is not lost, the restraint of formalism gives way to an expressive, yet narrative driven, ecstasy.
Children has a clear plot: it traces a relationship from meeting, desire through sex, conflict to death. Lecavalier, now racing past her half decade, is a thunderstorm of energy and versatility. Bouncing around her male partner, exhausting him and holding the story with humour and explosive leaps and twirls, Lecavalier is a remarkable performer, whether in the pas de deux or spinning a metal pole like a skilled martial artist. Choreographer Nigel Charnock, one of the founders of Louiselecavalier British Physical Theatre through the company DV8, uses her physique to evoke the excitement, violence and sensuality of love. EVENT REVIEW
The simple set and lighting, the small cast, the use of popular music Rating and the direct narrative arc focus concentration on Lecavalier and her Event name Children**** partner: only a dancer of supreme confident and finesse could hold Venue Tramway that attention for an hour. The second dance, more like a brief Date 10 Mar 2011 encore, recalled Lecavalier's work with La La La Human Steps: equally volcanic, it is a sharp reminder of how straight up, old fashioned RELATED VENUES choreography can hit both the mind and body. TRAMWAY>>
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0 comments ,1;;;1, I] •• ~ :.i:J ~~7 Kurier 29.07.2010 Erscheinungsland: Österreich | Auflage: 196.776 | Reichweite: 625.000 (8,9%) | Artikelumfang: 11.220 mm² Seite: 27 1/1
Thema: ImPulsTanz Autor: Silvia Kargl
ImPulsTanz: Eine Ikone des Tanzes in Hochform Kritik-Eine Ikone des zeitge-einem schwungvollen Tanz nössischen Tanzes gastierteä la Ginger Rogers und Fred in zwei Choreografien beiAstaire münden.Konflikte ImPulsTanz im Akademie-fallen hartaus, einStab wird theater: Louise Lecavalier, vom Tanzbegleiter zur Waffe. von 1981bis 1999 Solistin Dazu gibt es A Few Minu- der kanadischen La La Lates of Lock"-ein konzen- Human Steps, bereichertetrierter und intensiver Rück- den zeitgenössischen Tanzblick aufChoreografien umspektakuläreSchritte,AJouard Locks für LaLa La Drehungen und Sprünge.Human Steps, in denen die IhrebewegungsorientierteLecavalier brillierte. An der Ästhetiksetzt einen Kontra-Seite Elijah Browns erinnert punkt sowohlzum Tanzthe-sie sich an den Stil jenes En- ater als auch zu konzeptlas-sembles. Unter Hochspan- tigen Performances. nungvermittelt sie die Es- Nigel Charnock schuf mitsenzder Handschrift Locks, Children" eine Choreogra-ausgehendvon einer extre- fie für Lecavalier, diezu-men Dehnung des Körpers, nächst widersprüchlichausder heraus blitzschnelle wirkt. Doch die über 50-jäh-Schritte, Sprünge oder He- rige Protagonistin ist in Top-befiguren folgen. Noch im- form. Zusammen mit ihremmer beherrscht Lecavalier PartnerPatrickLamotheihren faszinierenden wirkt sie wie ein träumendesSchraubensprung in die Ho- Kind, das auf allen Vierenrizontale, derzumMarken- den Bühnenraum erobert.zeichenvon La La La Human Verspielt sind auch ZugängeSteps wurde. -Silvia Kargl zum Partnerangelegt, die mit Tasten beginnen und in KURIER-WERTUNGE Anfragen für weitere Nutzungsrechte an den Verlag Presseclipping erstellt am 29.07.2010 für ImPulsTanz zum eigenen Gebrauch nach §42a UrhG. © CLIP Mediaservice 2010 - www.clip.at Kurier¸ Vienna, July 29, 2010
ImPulsTanz: A Dance Icon in Top Form
By Silvia Kargl
An icon of contemporary dance made a guest appearance at the ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival with two choreographies at the Akademietheater: Louise Lecavalier, principal dancer with Canadian company La La La Human Steps from 1981 to 1999, enriched contemporary dance with spectacular steps, spins and jumps. Her movement-oriented aesthetic offered a counterpoint to dance theatre and concept-heavy performances.
Nigel Charnock’s Children, choreographed for Lecavalier, appears contradictory at first glance. And yet the over 50-year-old protagonist is in top form. With partner Patrick Lamothe, she comes across like dreamy child, conquering the stage on all fours. There is something playful, too, in the way she approaches her partner, beginning with tentative touches that give way to a spirited dance à la Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Confrontations are brutal, and a stick that first stands in as a dance partner becomes a weapon.
Also on the program is A Few Minutes of Lock—a concentrated, intense look back at La La La Human Steps works choreographed by Édouard Lock and showcasing Lecavalier. Accompanied by Elijah Brown, she recalls the ensemble’s style. Under high tension, she conveys the essence of Lock’s signature, in which an extreme extension of the body gives way to lightning-quick steps, jumps and lifts. Lecavalier still masters her fascinating horizontal barrel jump, which became the La La La Human Steps trademark.
Wiener Zeitung 29.07.2010 Erscheinungsland: Österreich | Auflage: 20.000 | Reichweite: k.A. | Artikelumfang: 11.673 mm² Seite: 12 1/1
Thema: ImPulsTanz Autor: k.A.
Reigender Gefühle Von Christina Köppl lautet der Titel desStückes, das der britischeChoreo- III Eine Frau, einMann, siegraph Nigel Charnockfür gehen aufeinanderzu, dochLecavalierundLamothe sobalder die Hand nach ihrentwickelt hat und dasmit ausstreckt,stößtsieihnkraftvoll dynamischenund weg. Das Spiel kann begin-zugleich anmutigsanften nen. Das so bekannte SpielBewegungen eineDichtean zwischen denGeschlech-Gefühlen widerspiegelt. tern. Ein ewiges Hinund Im zweiten Teil des Her, Himmel undHölle ei-Abends greift Lecavalierauf nes Paares. Manchmal allei-A Few MinutesOf Lock" ne, manchmal vereint, rin-zurück und tanzt mit Elijah gend,nach einandersu-Brown und PatrickLamothe chend, um sich dannwie-Ausschnitteaus den La La der fallenzu lassen und imLa-Stücken Salt"und 2". nächsten Augenblickzärt-Auch hier bestichtLecava- lichzu umgarnen. lier durch ihrerasanten, Ein Reigenvon Gefühlenteils riskantenBewegungs- ist diese bittersüßeChronikfolgen. A FewMinutes"- ungezügelterTanzenergie,fastzu kurz, aber von unbe- die die kanadischeTänzerinschreiblicher Schönheit. II Louise Lecavalier,langjähri- ge Solistin der Extremtanz- kompanie La La LaHumanPerformance Steps, und ihr PartnerPa-Children/A Few trick Lamothe Donnerstag-Minutes Of Lock abend im Rahmenvon Im-Von Nigel Charnocku. a. PulsTanz im Akademiethea-ImPulsTanz-Festival ter zeigten. ,,Children"-so* * * * * Anfragen für weitere Nutzungsrechte an den Verlag Presseclipping erstellt am 29.07.2010 für ImPulsTanz zum eigenen Gebrauch nach §42a UrhG. © CLIP Mediaservice 2010 - www.clip.at Wiener Zeitung, Vienna, July 29, 2010
Round Dance of Emotion
By Christin Köppl
One woman, one man. They approach each other, and yet the moment he reaches a hand out to her, she pushes him away. The game begins. The famous game between the sexes. An endless back and forth, a couple’s heaven and hell. At times alone, at times together, they struggle and search for one another, only to let each other fall one moment and then become gently ensnared again the next.
This bittersweet chronicle of unbridled dance energy is a circle dance of emotion, presented Thursday as part of the ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival at the Akademietheater by Canadian dancer and long-time lead of La La La Human Steps, Louise Lecavalier, and her partner, Patrick Lamothe. Children is the name of the piece that British choreographer Nigel Charnock has developed for Lecavalier and Lamothe, and it evokes intense emotion through powerfully dynamic and yet also gently graceful movements.
In the second part of the evening, Lecavalier goes back in time with a A Few Minutes of Lock, dancing excerpts from La La La pieces Salt and 2 with Elijah Brown and Patrick Lamothe. Here too Lecavalier captivates with her rapid and sometimes risky movement sequences. “A Few Minutes” – not quite long enough, but indescribably beautiful.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Master class in Lock craft· Latest program returns Lecavalier to an earlier time
KATHRYN GREENAWAY THE GAZETTE
Nobody does Edouard Lock like Louise Lecavalier. No body. Lecavalier opened her · two-part program at Usine C as part of Festival Trans Ameriques on Wednesday. (The program repeats to night.) Lecavalier and partner Patrick Lamothe opened the COURTESY OF FESTIVAL TRAN~AM~RIQUES evening with'Brit bad-boy Louise Lecavalier opens her two-part program with Children. choreographer Nigel Char The second part was A Few Minutes of Lock. nock's duet Children. Lecavalier and a differ ent partner, Elijah Brown, with Lec.avalier front and away layer after layer.;. flirty with a brief appearance by centre, thatwasplenty. fun and sensual discovery Lamothe, closed the evening Brown was both aphysical disintegrated into apathy with A Few Minutes of Lock and chartsmatlc fit through and boredom and fatigue - a 13-minute compilation out. One dancer could not and yearning, ·e~entually of excerpts from Lock's full-. exist withOut the other. ·They smothering all but the raw length works Salt and 2. were jo!n&d .in spirit and pain of realization. There It has been 11 years since body. is no such thing as happily Lecavalier left La La La Hu After Leeavalier left La La ever after. man Steps and Lock to pur La, Lock went on to chorea· It took awhile for Lamothe sue a solo career. But those graph for classically trained to extricate himself from Le• in the know haven't forgot dancers with long, lithe bod· cavalier's shadow, but by the ten that she was Lock's muse ies and beantiful))ointework. time the relationship beg$ before all others, and it was Lecavalierdoesn'tdanceon to seriously shred, he· had her magnificence that helped pointe. She doesn't need to. fully asst:1rted himself with put his company on the inter Her tiny, androgynous body confidenoo and cool. national dance map. is ~:roanding, impressive, Wednesday's performance expressive and tireless, shoes Festival TransAm6rique's of A Few Minutes was like a ornoshoes. . ends tomorrow. Louise master class in Lock craft. The moment she skittered' Lecavalr.r dances at Usine t That's because Lecavalier onstage on all fo~s in the tonight «t 8. · doesn't just feel Lock's vibe opening seconds of Chil· and move the way he wants. dren, the audience snapped Ot~r.FTA dance shows to' Lock is in her DNA. to attention. She could have day: Japan's Saburo Teshi.l.. His quirky, quick, demand· paused to count cracks in the gawara performs Miroku ing dance vocabulary can linoleum and nobody would (Future Buddha) at Theatre' look forced and unnatural in have complained. Maisonneuve today and td;_ less capable hands. Lecava Opening the evening, the morrow at 8 p.m. lier slipped seamlessly into duet Children traced the her Lockself, sculpting each life spap. of a relationship For PTA ticket and pro;. emotion and move and leav- through a series of vignettes gram deta.ils, call 514;... . ing a trail of power and c1ar~ and the use of fab muSic by 844-3822 or go to www.fta. ity in her wake. giants including Leonard Co· qc.ca, www.admission.com. I A Few Minutes of Lock did hen, Janice Joplin and Maria
1 not need to mean anything Callas. kgreenaway@ j or tell a story. It just was. And The choreography peeled thegaz:ette.canwest.com ' I = : .tanz haus nrwI dU:s~etdorf Rheinische Post Dusseldorf 07.12.2009 Die alterslose Tanzlegende Die jahrelange Frontfrau von ,La La La Human Steps" prasentierte ihr TanzstUck ,Childern" zum ersten Mal in Deutschland. Zli sehen war Louise Lecavalier im ,Janzhaus NRW". Ein au!Sergewohr!icher Abend.
VON REGINA GO~Dl0C~E
Verfolgt von zuckenden Blitz en, irr~ in ein spannungsfeld aus Distanz Hchtert cfie schmale Gestalt iiber und Nshe, Hingabe und W1der die Jeere schwarze Bfihne. Kullert stand, St1!rkc und Schwache. mit aternberaubendet Geschwin Auch die Musik schlagt einen digkelt iiber den Boden, rappelt kUhnen Bogen, fugr eine Arie der sich auf, fa.Ilt 'Wieder hin, steht Callas mit Popsongs von Leonard schlieBlich aufrecht auf den Bei· Cohen und Janis Joplin zusammen. nen. ln faszinierenden Moment· Dan•r.is:.:hen irriti:ert Kinderge· aufnahmen, die -.vie ein Zeitraffer· schrei, fUr das jeder 5e1ne eigene FiJm vm:beiflimmem, ve;ranschau~ Deutung fl;lden rnag. StOrt es die licht Louise Lecavalie; dew Prozess Paar-Bezieh~mg oder hi:Ht essie gdr d~r men<~chlkhen Entwick.hJng :.:usammcn? vom Babv bis :2:llr envachsenen Dem 50-miniltigcn Kraftakt und Frau. ,,Children", ei11 Werk des briti ei!Jer ;\tempause folgte die Urauf schcm Choreografen Nigel Char filhrung .,A Few Minutes of Lock". nock, ist das jtingste Duett der ka Darin kchrt Louise Lec2.vaUer zu L1. nadischenAusnahme-Tanzerin. :;:en Vlurze1n zurO.c.k. Auf 13 Minu Nach der Urauffuhrung im italie· ten "'erdichte:: und unterlegt mit nischen Rovereto im Sommer 2009 Song-Fragrnenten von IggyPop, in verlegte sie die deutsche Premiere terpretiert sie mit dem T~e:r Eli nach DUsseldorf. Am Wochenende jah Brown Passagen aus .,2" (1995) beglllckte LoUise Lecavalier die Zu und .,Salt" (1998)- z:wei Erfolgsstii 1 schauer im ~Tanzhaus NRW mlt cke des Chor~ogra(en Edouard ihrer betOrenden Kunst. Als Front Lo-ck, mit dem sie in den aoer Jah frau der Compagnie "La La La Hu ren Tanzgeschichre·schrieb. man Steps" wurde sie zur Ikone des Jubel und Ovationen im Tanz ~eitgenOssischen Tanzes, akroba~ ha.us fUr einen auBergew5hnlichen thsch, athletisch ,und lcraftvoll wie Abend. keine andere. Lagendlir lst lbre vertlkale 1 Schraube, das aggressive Gegen s};N£P2fLXi!'>\~-E'c ';/ 'X7>1 srtlck zur anmutigen Pirouette. 20 Jahre · spater und verfeinert Aus der Vita durch die neue Diiuension e:motio~ Louise lecavaHer wurde 1958 in naler Tiefe, erscheint ib.re Dy.nlrinik M~ntreaVKanada geboren. Von beinahe noch beeindruckender. 1981 bis 1999 warsie Frontfrau dor Die Mlilme wild, der Kllper drshtlg, Formation .,ta La ta Human efschelnt LoUise Lecavalier alters Steps• und Muse des Choreogra los. Sie entfacht e.in. Feuerwerk fen Edouard look 1985 gewann atemberaubenderSprlingeundBe sle den B~ssie-Award (Tanz-Qscar). wegungen, deren Schnelligkeit Heute halt sie Meisterklassen ab kaum nachvollziehbarist. und produziertTam:projekte. Mit Patrick Lamothe, ihremPart· ner in "Children", findet sle im Gleichklang der Schritte zu vollen deter Harmonie zusammen. Dann entfernt sich das Paar und taumelt
1/2 I ~ 'l tanzhaus nrw dUs~eldorf Rheinische Post Dusseldort 07.12.2009
louise Lscaval~r lartnch init ·Patrick Lamothe in .children" FOTO:KAUFI.\ANN
Zeitlose legende zu Gast im Tanzhaus Die Kanadierin Louise Lecavalier (Foto) prasentierte ihre neuen . Duette ,Children" und ,A Few Minutes of lock". s.11e cs '
2!2 Rheinische Post, Dusseldorf, December 7, 2009
Ageless Dance Legend by Regina Goldlucke
Louise Lecavalier, longtime principal dancer of La La La Human Steps, presented the German premiere of the choreography "Children" at Tanzhaus NRW. An extraordinary evening.
Chased by flashes of light, a slight figure skitters across the dark, empty stage. The dancer rolls over the floor with breathtaking speed, gathers herself up, falls again, and finally stands upright. In fascinating images that flicker past like a time-lapse movie, Louise Lecavalier illustrates the stages of human development, from infancy to adulthood. "Children", a work by British choreographer Nigel Charnock, is the exceptional Canadian dancer's latest duet.
Alter premiering the work in Rovereto, Italy in surnmer 2009, she has now brought it to Dusseldorf for its Cerman premiere. Last weekend, Louise Lecavalier treated audiences at NRW Tanzhaus to her beguiling artistry. Acrobatic, athletic and powerful like no other, Lecavalier becarne the icon of contemporary dance as front woman of La La La Human Steps.
Her barrel jump, an aggressive counterpart to the graceful pirouette, is legendary. Twenty years later, refined by the added dimension of emotional depth, her energy is almost more impressive than ever. Wlih her mane of wild hair and her wiry body, Louise Lecavalier seems ageless. She unleashes a fireworks display of breathtaking leaps and movements, at a speed that is hardly comprehensible.
Falling into step, she and Patrick Lamothe, her partner in "Children", find complete harmony together. And then the couple breaks apart, reeling through a space charged by the tensions of distance and proximity, surrender and resistance, strength and weakness.
The music takes an abrupt turn as well, piecing together an aria by Callas with songs by Leonard Cohen and Janis Joplin. At times, the music is interrupted by the jarring sound of children's cries, leaving one to wonder: do they interfere with the couple's relationship or hold it together?
The 50-minute tour de force and intermission were followed by "A Few Minutes of Lock", a return to Lecavalier's roots. Condensed into 13 minutes, with an underlay of song fragments by lggy Pop, it has her paired with Elijah Brown to interpret passages from "2" (1995) and "Salt" (1998)-two classic works by choreographer Edouard Lock, with which Lecavalier made dance history in the 1980s.
Enthusiastic cheers and ovations marked the end of an exceptional evening. z ~· =::> ?'<; c: =c: ~ Die Dinge des. Lebens s· Cl Die kanadischeTanz-lkone louise lecavalier beruhrte im tanzhaus nrw das Publikum zutiefst c:' OJ Nenncn wir es ruhig einen ' son, dem Jazz und dcr K1assik. zaUbernden Geflecht von An diescc deutschcn Ers!auffi.lh hat au(:hschonin eincm Video "'CD gam: besondcren Abend. Was Schon von den ersten Scbrit ::dehung und Absto.Bung. dje rung noch cine Ul·nttini.hrung. fUr Iggys.Kumpd David l3owic Cl.. 0 Louise Lccavalier, die kanadi ten an ist man gefangen. Tanzsprache changiert mUhe , A Few Minutes of 1.. ock)' ist g~tanzLSind diese 13 Minuten 1 =+. ~chc1~tinzcrin, die mit der Bine Sirene heult auf,· weiw Jos zwischen harten, eckigen gen.au das, was der Titel vcr zum Bewwulern, waren die 50 Komp.anie l.R Lu La Human Ees Licht·flackert, und Louise Bewegungen und Jeicht da spricht, cine dreiz~hn-J11intition ,Children" ehcr zwn Trllu Steps berijbrntwurdc, im tanz I...ccnvnlicr h~cht· auf allen hinfiieBen.dcn Gcstcn. Und .ge Rek.Lx:.a(ion von Choreogra men, von den Dingon des Lo- hHUS dm·bot, w'ar Kunst dtu Vieren Ober die leere BOlme, · wic chntmant das Duo das fien von Edouatd Lock mit Eli bens, von k.ind.Jicheo J3efind hOchsten Ordnung, zugting die niemals zu groB fUr sie und Jazz-Lied ,Getting some Fun jah Brown als P· The Little Things in Life Canadian dance icon Louise Lecavalier leaves audience deeply touched at NRW Tanzhaus Let's just say it was a very special evening. What Louise Lecavalier, the Canadian dancer who became famous with the company La La La Human Steps, brought to the Tanzhaus theatre was art of the highest order, accessible and yet complex, graceful and powerful. First on the double bill was Nigel Charnock's choreography Children, a 50-minute round of scenes set to pop songs, with dance following the lead of old musical forms-the blues, French song traditions, jazz and classical music. It was captivating from the very first steps. A siren wails, white light flickers, and Louise Lecavalier scampers on all fours over an empty stage that never becomes too large for her and partner Patrick Lamothe. Lecavalier's apparent lightness is striking from the start, and the fact that she is already 51 years old is virtually irrelevant, given her power. "Dance Me To the End of Love," by fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen, becomes a mesmerizing interplay of attraction and rejection. The dance vocabulary shifts effortlessly from harsh, angular movements to gently flowing gestures. And the great charm with which the pair interprets the jazz standard "Getting Some Fun Out of Life" by Billy Holiday is deeply, strangely moving. The round ends with the parody of a death scene, but only once the dancers have poured the contents of their water bottles over each other's heads. After the intermission, this German premiere was followed by another first performance. A Few Minutes of Lock delivers exactly what the title promises: a 13-minute recreation of choreographies by Edouard Lock, with Elijah Brown as partner. The tone is more classical, almost harsh. Scenes from the past are brought into the present, set to an acoustic guitar-driven sound composed, incredibly enough, by punk forefather lggy Pop. But Lecavalier knows the genre well, and has danced in a video for lggy's friend David Bowie. While these 13 minutes may inspire awe, the 50 minutes of "Children" are the stuff that dreams are made of-the little things in life, a child's sensitivity-interpreted by an exceptional artist. The drawn-out applause clearly indicated that the art had connected. What is it that Billie Holiday says? "When we want to work, we work, when we want to play, we play." Lecavalier's great achievement was her skillful combination of work and play. :sabato s settembre 2009 - · Oriente Ocddente !La dania esisterizi MANUELA PB.LANDA • ROVERETO- «Siamo tutu bam' ' ·bini. -Niente _madri, niente:pa~ -dri. Vogliamo qualcurio che en, trr nella tios,tra Vitcl e r_enda le · cose migliorL Vogliamo qual Cuno che non ci lasci miti an dare ·e-che ci riporti ~_casa. Cerchiamo tutti di an dare a: ca- ; sau · .- i So~o sufficient! Je parole- del- - ;· .coreografo Nigel, Charnock per · condensare il sensa profondo. dello spettacolo «Children», in terpretatp giovedl sera in pri ~a (issoluta {ieri in. replica), : nella cornice di un auditorium c Melotti al completo, daLouise :--Lecizvalier e Patrick Lamothe: ·_: Onintenso duetto che ha vi .-~to Ia stella degli esplosivi «La :.La La Human Steps« Oa mitica f:-compagnia di Eduard Lock) i .:i:>iimeggi!lre sui palco e parla, · · re con i!linguaggio del corpo -' di ddio, arnore, possesso, stah chezza-~ disperazione. Un coa~ -~,~~_vo di eD:J:~~}. gerlo con.uguale impeto e con ! malta .alto e che lascia poi i i sica, attraverso !l movimento, rapidi guizzi; eccolasorregger- .! due soli sui palco, bagnati dal- ! .che o/trepassa Ia materia e s'in lo,'con-una-forza rriascolina e :·JroscuritAefinalmehteimmer-· . i ·stnua nell'qn'ima. quasi paterna, eccola chiede- j si nel silenzio. · __ . -----'--~c:. re affetto, con tenerezza e di- 'I Unacoproduzionede!Festival · screziOne:Uii bastone per sfo- ! Oriente.Occidente (salutata garela rabbia e perinscenare favorevolmente dal pubblico), una baitaglia che si scioglie seguita da un ipnotico solo- · dopti in -liil abbraCcio, per pOi ·"I_/s Memory»~ 1irmato ·dal co- tiasf6rma:rsi' ailcorit' in un ge- reografo~COncettuale Benofl La- Sto di stiZza·.-:E; come un leit- ·1 · c/lambre,":che_ ha vista Lecava Iilotiv, voci di:bambini, grido- · , -Uer sul-palco-aiJvolta -in un'at lini feStosi ·alternati- a piahti · mosfera-Cupa, sottolineata da Snervartti; che irrompono e de- : ; una·-colonna 'Sonora· fatta uni cretand.-rivohizioni nei movi- .- camente di musica e/ettronica. menti dei d~ __danzatori. -, ! '· 0/tre quaranta min uti che scor- .rono /eniamente (l'esasperata Review, Children (premiere) and "I" Is Memory. Festival Oriente Occidente, Rovereto, Italy L'Adige, September 5, 2009 by Manuela Pellanda Oriente Occldente I The existential dance of Children with Louise Lecavaller This childlike humanity ROVERETO- "We are all children. No mother, no father. We want someone to come into our life and make everything better. We want someone to never let us go, and to take us home. We are all trying to get home." Nigel Charnock's words encapsulate the deeper meaning of Children, performed on Thursday as a world premiere (repeated last night) in the setting of a full Auditorium Melotti by Louise Lecavalier and Patrick Lamothe-an intense duet in which the star of the explosive La La La Human Steps (Edouard Lock's legendary company) excels on the stage, speaking the body's language of hate, love, possession, exhaustion, and despair. A mingling of emotions supported by a powerful, multi-form soundtrack composed of the voices of Maria Callas, Leonard Cohen, Yasar Akpence, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Terry Snyder, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Merja Soria, Stephen Stapleton, Janis Joplin, and Michael Nyman. The beautiful Louise Lecavalier-blond, slender, apparently fragile but with steely muscles succeeded in riveting the audience's attention, taking them on an unpredictable voyage with schizophrenic elements of calmness and anxiety, rage and immense love. Alternately, she clings to her stage partner, rejects him with equal vehemence in rapid, darting movements, holds him up with masculine, almost paternal strength, and tenderly and subtly seeks affection from him. A stick is used to vent anger and to stage a fight, ending in an embrace that reverts to a gesture of anger. As leitmotiv, children's voices: happy, excited cries alternating with enervating bawling burst out and decree revolution in the two dancers' movements. On one hand, Children touches the inner child in everyone, the desire to feel loved and protected, while on the other hand, it evokes the fears and burdens of maternity and paternity, evident in a part of the choreography that is brusquely broken off, precisely at the moment of maximum intensity. The need for intimacy slips in, taking the form of a pillow-fight, and surprising the audience when the two dancers' actions. irrupt from the stage into the rows of seats. Finally, the shower of water, which may bring about a rebirth, but at the cost of an enormous sacrifice, leaving the two alone on stage, bathed in darkness, and finally, immersed in silence. A co-production of Festival Oriente Occidente (well-received by the public), followed by a hypnotic solo, "/" Is Memory, by conceptual choreographer Benoit Lachambre, who visualized Lecavalier on stage, enveloped in a dark atmosphere intensified by a soundtrack of exclusively electronic music. In more than forty minutes that unfold slowly (an exasperating slowness, resulting in a certain heaviness, may constitute the limit of both works), the charismatic Canadian dancer is placed front and centre in a harmonious struggle against the force of gravity. In a sweatsuit she puts on like a weightless aerial outfit, she contracts and · expands-elastic fibre in fusion with the soundtrack. She closes herself up again, pulling the fascinated audience into another world, composed of shadows, taut bands of muscle and contortions, silence, and meditation. An arduous metaphysical search through movement that surpasses materiality and insinuates itself into the soul. ,j (I r~ttimainau~ale, contiuua~~n ~allet a Danza_Dopo prova si· iCotnp!erionsContemporary I !:a 1:1:1 1 l;;i , . Emoztonante·'lntensa--L0llts•. ,! Lecavalier . . - ' . ·... . > . i 1·.1:::1= L'aperturaeli unfestivalra~presencpriQ bepe: perqueUo clei ;gli. La ~teDancemetotheenltoflove danza'spaguoladelgruppoPeDakc!a- ' !:'1 ta sempre un momento delicato, so- spl\!lldida esibizione della Lecavalier, eli Leonard Cohen. L'iclilliodella cop- !usa. · .. · 1:-! prattutro St: lo spett?c ..-·g a. ~ fl: fi g. 0 Review, Children (premiere) and "/" /s Memory. Festival Oriente Occidente, Rovereto, Italy Carriere del Trentino, September 5, 2009 by Lara Deflorian Dance: After a successful baptism of fire on opening night, the festival continues with Complexions Contemporary Ballet An Intense, exciting Louise Lecavaller A festival opening is always a delicate moment, especially if the proposed work is a world premiere. It was a courageous choice on the part of Oriente Occidente to begin with Canadian Louise Lecavalier in a Festival co-production, Children, choreographed by Nigel Charnock, of Great Britain. The result was more than positive and the audience showed their appreciation of the creativity of Charnock, the conceptor of an original contemporary piece accompanied. by an equally curious and unusual musical collage. Charnock, known for reflecting his favourite themes of love, sexuality, and death in a humorous key, writes: "We want someone to come into our lives and make everything better." Here, a couple is trying to stay together out of necessity and selfishness, for their own good and for the good of their children. The splendid showing by Lecavalier, who was partnered by Patrick Lamothe and afterwards performed the hypnotic and difficult "/" /s Memory, was affecting, to say the least. Movements were developed around Lecavalier's crawling on stage like a child; the children were present in taped laughter and crying interspersed throughout the work. A refined energy permeated the sequence of rapid movements, leaps, holds, races, and hugs between the two protagonists, to the poignant notes of Leonard Cohen's Dance me to the end of love. The couple's idyll is brief, and after playfully throwing pillows at the audience, the two protagonists grope their way through darkness, alternately supporting each other and displaying their martial arts skills in a fight. The tragic end of the couple's life together is played out in a dramatic finale to the strains of Puccini's Tosca. (... ) Review, Children (premiere) and "/"Is Memory. Festival Oriente Occidente, Rovereto, Italy Trentino, September 5, 2009 by: Sandra Matuella Oriente Occldente. An opening with a choreography co-produced by the Festival itself All the power of dance in the feminine mode Louise Lecavalier carries Children in its world premiere Rovereto. Uncontested Icons of a dance characterized by strong physical impact and of aesthetic research combined with an Instinct for provocation, the two stars of contemporary world dance, Louise Lecavaller and Nigel Charnock, opened the Festival Oriente Occidente on Thursday. Oriente Occidente was inaugurated on Thursday at the Auditorium Melotti (in MAR1) by Louise Lecavalier, the emblematic dancer of Canadian company La La La Human Steps (the acrobatic, virtuoso dance company made known to wider audiences by David Bowie), performing the world premiere of Children, a choreographical work coproduced by the Festival itself and created for her by Nigel Charnock, the former emblematic dancer of London iconoclastic rebel group, DVB. Louise perfectly exalted the most unpredictable and explosive aspects of Charnock's sensibility in a dance executed in one seamless sequence with dancer Patrick Lamothe, who, however good and intense his performance may have been, had to work to hold his own with respect to Lecavalier. Wholly playing on reckless movements on the ground and ruinous falls, rapid scuttling on all fours, collisions, and moments of tenderness, set to melodious music that is regularly interrupted by a nerve-wracking leitmotiv in the very taut audio backdrop, the work is open to many interpretations. In the meeting with Charnock and Louise Lecavalier yesterday morning at the Magic Mirror, one audience member said that the work was a concrete rendering of the range of emotions felt by two parents in the presence of a newborn who upsets the couple's dynamic. Another spectator saw a kind of return to childhood. Faithful to his reputation as a provocateur, Nigel Charnock joked: "I hate children. I don't have any and I live with cats, so I'm compensating for what I'm missing through this work." Regarding the diverse reactions on the part of the audience, he said: "To me, it's impossible to control the emotions of spectators, who see what they want to see in a work, depending on their own experience. I never think of transmitting a particular message, only my feelings. However, I feel very childlike inside, and in general, people always remain children-especially in Italy, where the mother-child relationship is so strong." In Children, the female figure unequivocally prevails over the male. "In this choreography, as in life, the woman often supports the man, and even if I'm interested in the person, not the person's gender, I believe women are stronger than men." · The audience's curiosity also focused on the secret of Louise Lecavalier's extraordinary physical prowess (1 959 vintage). Although she is very small and slender, she possesses an absolutely exceptional physical energy and body control, attained, as she put it, "simply by a lot of dancing upright and on the floor, without workouts or weightlifting, and rarely, sports activities like running or bicycling. Ute takes care of the rest, and children always keep us active. To keep in touch with my inner self and to have my own space, I do one hour of yoga every day." A recipe rich in ingredients that everyone can find room for, to a certain degree, in his or her daily life.