THE STATE OF CANADIAN DANCE AND DANCING WITH THE STATE FROM 1967-1983 By
Katherine Cornell, B.A., M.A.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2008
A dissertation presented to Ryerson University/York University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in the Program of Communication and Culture
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2008
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ii Abstract
The State of Canadian Dance and Dancing with the State from 1967-1983 Ph.D., 2008 by Katherine Cornell Communication and Culture, Ryerson University
This dissertation chronicles an important time in Canadian dance history but also offers a framework to analyze Canadian identity in dance. Cultural policy on dance offers insight into the nature of Canadian identity from 1967 to 1983. This dissertation uses dance as a lens to examine communities within the nation. Five choreographic works from the period are analyzed and represent Canadian western theatrical dance: Rose Latulippe
(Macdonald), Baroque Suite (Earle), "The Brick Series" (Adams), Marie Chien Noir
(Chouinard) and Joe (Perreault). This dissertation also uses cultural policy as a vehicle to analyze the State from the Centennial of Confederation to the publication of the
Applebaum-Hebert Report. Writings by Leslie Armour, R. Bruce Elder, Alan Filewod,
Northrop Frye, B.W. Powe, Grant Strate and Pierre Trudeau inform the research.
Ultimately, the relationships between individual artists, the dance community and the
State illustrate the complex development of Canadian choreography.
My research is driven by a desire to first, fill some of the gaps in the literature on
Canadian dance, and second, examine dance through cultural policy. This dissertation begins in 1951 with the Massey Report, but primarily focuses on the period from 1967 to
1983 including the "dance boom era." This research is an important contribution to the field because it compares the development of Canadian dance to theatre, literature, visual art, music and film from 1967 to 1983, to place it within a broader context. This dissertation argues that Canadian choreography embodies the dialectic of the traditional
iii and the contemporary, of the Francophone and Anglophone, and of the individual and community. Acknowledgements
First I want to recognize my committee members, Elizabeth Trott, Christopher Innes and
R. Bruce Elder. Their questions, especially comparing dance to other disciplines, made this dissertation stronger and more relevant. It was a pleasure to work with them and I am grateful for their input. In particular, I want to thank my primary advisor R. Bruce
Elder for his constant support.
In addition to my committee, I would like to recognize my colleagues at Ryerson's
Theatre School, especially Nadia Potts and Sholem Dolgoy. Nadia constantly offered words of encouragement and helpful suggestions. Sholem was a wealth of knowledge and expressed keen interest in obscure documents from the Canada Council's past. My teaching at the Theatre School fed this research, and I would like to also acknowledge the inspiration my students provided during the past four years.
Several archives and libraries were consulted for this research including: CBC Archives,
Bibliotheque de la danse, Toronto Reference Library (Performing Arts Division), Toronto
Dance Theatre and School of Toronto Dance Theatre, National Ballet of Canada
Archives, York University - Scott Library Archives, Canada Council for the Arts
Archives, Ryerson University Library, and Dance Collection Danse. I am grateful to the numerous archivists and librarians who helped me find these primary sources. I would like to single out Dance Collection Danse, Canada's dance publisher and archives in
Toronto. Miriam Adams, Amy Bowring and Seika Boye were incredibly helpful and contributed enormously to this research. The hours I spent in the 'pink house' were some of the most enjoyable of this research.
The first draft of this dissertation was read by my dear friend Nadine Saxton. She was instrumental in making this document flow; her suggestions helped me frame the work.
My husband, Tal Schacham, valiantly read the second draft and asked important questions about context and politics. They both went above and beyond the call of duty.
I will spend a lifetime thanking Nadine and Tal for their hours of patient work on this labour of love.
My entire family has always supported my writing and research. To the Schachams, thank you for understanding my constant need to write. Many thanks to Mom and Dad who didn't think I was crazy when I said I want to go back to school again, and eagerly read this entire dissertation. I am grateful to Grandma Mona, the first writer in the family, and Grandma Betty who repeatedly encouraged her grandchildren by saying "we need another doctor in the family." Finally, I want to acknowledge my inspiration, my daughter Eowyn.
Dedication
In memory of Mary-Lynne Ashby-Cornell
VI Table of Contents
Chapter One 1 Introduction: State and Nation, Culture and Identity, Individual and Community
Chapter Two 26 Methodology and Literature Review
Chapter Three 44 Dancing through the Centennial of Confederation in 1967
Chapter Four 75 Advocacy and the Economy: Dance in Canada Association, 1968-1973
Chapter Five 102 Education and Dissension, 1974-1977
Chapter Six 134 Distinctly Canadian Dance in Quebec, 1977-1982
Chapter Seven 167 Constitutional Reform and the Applebaum-Hebert Report: Tough Times Ahead for Dance Artists, 1982-1983
Postscript 202
Canadian Choreography, 1983 and Beyond
Appendix One 209
Appendix Two 211
Appendix Three 221
Appendix Four 222
Appendix Five 223
Appendix Six 224
Bibliography 227
vn The State of Canadian Dance and Dancing with the State from 1967-1983
Chapter 1: State and Nation, Culture and Identity, Individual and Community
The Royal Commission on the Arts, Letters and Sciences, commonly known as the
Massey Commission,1 examined Canadian culture and tried to protect it from the invasion of American popular culture. The five Commissioners, led by University of
Toronto Chancellor Vincent Massey, traveled the country from 1949 to 1951 searching for "national tradition[s] in the making"2 for the arts, culture and education in Canada.
The resulting Massey Report described the ongoing activities of several disciplines, including theatre, music and ballet, and made recommendations about how to protect
Canadian culture for the future: "The authors [of the Massey Report] saw the health of our spiritual lives as essential to our vitality and uniqueness as a nation, to our stature in the eyes of other countries, and to the unity of Canada itself."3 Their primary recommendation was for the creation of an independent funding body to support the arts.
In 1957, an act of Parliament created such a funding body, the Canada Council4, an autonomous arm's length5 agency of the federal government.
1 In this dissertation, the published findings of the Royal Commission are called the Massey Report, in order to distinguish it from the Commission itself. Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences, Report {Ottawa: Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1951) 1. 3 Charles Lussier, "The Canada Council: The Principle of Excellence and Its Implications in a Democratic Society." Speech to Annual Managers Development Program of Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. July 6, 1977, Speech 7702. 3. (found in DICA Newsletter, September 1977 at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Ontario.) The Canada Council is currently called the Canada Council for the Arts, but I have kept with the simple title of the Canada Council, as was common usage. 5 Arm's length refers to the distance between the federal government and the Council as an agency, not a ministry. The arm's length is meant to insulate a government agency from partisan politics.
1 The Massey Report became the foundational document in Canadian cultural policy establishing the State's6 preference for high arts of an imperialist nature. In the early fifties, Canadian western theatrical dance7 was still an emerging art form, at times straddling the line between the amateur and professional worlds. A body of literature exists on the impact of the Massey Commission, which details the Commissioners' preference for classical art forms such as opera and ballet. However, there are only two pages8 in the Report specifically devoted to a discussion of Canadian ballet/dance and these pages have not been the focus of much research to date.10 The Commissioners acknowledged that dance was a late-comer to the performing arts scene in Canada. The
Report stated that, "the development of ballet in Canada on a level with Canadian achievement in the other arts will depend upon the adoption of suitable and practicable means to provide professional careers for Canadians in their own country."1' Hence, this first cultural policy document identified dance as the youngest art form in the most need of direction. As the youngest performing art in Canada in 1951, the dance profession differed from theatre and music through its lack of organization. The Commissioners clearly recognized the importance of keeping Canadian (ballet) dancers in Canada. They also hoped to guide the dance profession through a funding policy that encouraged a
6 Pierre Trudeau capitalized the word State in his writings. 7 Dance, in this dissertation, is limited to the Western theatrical tradition of ballet and modern because of the Canada Council's definition of dance. 8 The Commissioners' understanding of ballet is based on one brief submitted to the Massey Commission by the Canadian Ballet Festival Association. All other art forms had several briefs from different arts organizations from across the country. 9 Notably, the Massey Report only recognizes ballet as the professional form of dance. 10 Since 1995,1 have written eight articles on cultural policy and dance. In addition, Canadian dance writers such as Allana Lindgren and Amy Bowring have begun exploring this field as well. 1' Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences, Report (Ottawa: Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1951) 53.
2 hierarchy with one flagship12 company, similar to other Canadian artistic disciplines.
This desire was not realized.
The same year the Massey Report was published, 1951, the National Ballet of Canada performed for the first time. Indeed, between 1951 and the creation of the Canada
Council in 1957, the ballet profession developed in several regions and moved away from the one flagship format. Specifically, this period saw the establishment of three Canadian ballet companies in three cities: the Royal Winnipeg Ballet,13 the National Ballet of
Canada (Toronto), and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (Montreal).14 The Winnipeg and
Toronto companies followed a primarily British tradition of ballet, whereas the Montreal company practiced Russian ballet.15 International companies, such as the Sadler's Wells
Ballet, also toured to Canada in this era. While classical ballet grew in Canada, the
United States was experiencing a new contemporary form of ballet created by eminent choreographer George Balanchine. American audiences also enjoyed modern dance led by visionaries such as Martha Graham. At this point, American dance was very different and did not compete for Canadian audiences. Canadian dancers, such as Patricia Beatty,
Grant Strate and David Earle, went to New York to learn new styles. Canadian modern dance companies would develop in the mid-sixties, again in Winnipeg, Montreal and
12 Flagships, a term used by Joyce Zemans in Where is Here, were large national companies that could potentially represent an entire discipline, such as the Canadian Opera Company. 13 Canada's first ballet company, the Winnipeg Ballet Club, was founded circa 1939. It did not receive the title the Royal Winnipeg Ballet until 1953. 14 See Appendix One for more information on the relationship between the three ballet companies in the fifties. 15 Different balletic styles and three strong-willed female founders meant that friction existed between the three ballet companies. For more information please see, Katherine Cornell, "The Ballet Problem" Proceedings of Estivale 2000: Canadian Choreography Then and Now, ed. Tembeck, Iro. (Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2002) 97-110.
J Toronto and again without a flagship company. In the decades to follow, numerous
dance companies would be created. Canadian choreographers would build a large and
dynamic body of work and Canadian dancers would gain an international reputation for
excellence. Yet Canadian choreography, like other elements of Canadian culture, resisted
formal definition.
Canadian dance experienced its greatest period of growth in the seventies. The cause and effect of that growth need to be studied. In an effort to limit this study, I will examine
Canadian choreography from 1967 to 1983, including the 'dance boom'16 period. These dates are book-ended by the Centennial and the publication of the Applebaum-Hebert
Report and span the majority of Trudeau's time as prime minister. This era is rife with examples of the interrelationship of dance with the State. The concept of the State, as considered in this thesis, is based on the writings of Pierre Elliot Trudeau. The Canada
Council, the arm's length funding body of the federal government, is the primary agent of the State (although others are discussed). The federal government, its policies and actions of its arts council provide the framework for this study of Canadian choreography. State-supported Canadian choreography demonstrates the cultural policy over this time; other non-funded Canadian choreography provides insight into the dialectic of the individual and community.
16 In Grant Strate's keynote address to the Society for Canadian Dance Studies (Toronto, 2006), he identified the post-centennial period as the dance boom, in reference to the emergence of several new contemporary companies, not to mention Canadian post-secondary education in dance.
4 State and Nation
Although sometimes used as synonyms, State and nation differ.17 The State is the machinery of government, whereas the concept of nation relates to its peoples. The writings of Pierre Trudeau,18 central to the time period studied in this dissertation, offer insight into the relationship of State and nation in the Canadian context. The difference between State and nation, as conceived by Trudeau, can be applied to the creation of art; when art is State-supported it can conform to political priorities.
For Trudeau, the State embodies political power and reason: "States are created to make it easier for men to attain some of their common objectives."19 In Canada, the central government, along with the ten provincial governments, constitutes the State.20 Federal and provincial jurisdiction, as dictated by the BNA Act, played an important role in the way Trudeau ran the federal government. Trudeau often criticized politicians for their
01 ignorance of the State; he asserted the importance of understanding the law and abiding by jurisdiction to prevent conflict between the federal government and the provinces.
Issues of jurisdiction often plagued the culture portfolio, in particular.
17 Trudeau's famous 1967 statement as Minister of Justice, "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation" demonstrates that he considered the state and nation to be different entities. 18 Trudeau was a law professor first elected to Parliament in 1965, he then became Minister of Justice in 1967 and Prime Minister first in April 1968. 19 Pierre Trudeau, Federalism and the French Canadians (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1968) 18. 20 Trudeau's writings on State do not make mention of municipal governments, to my knowledge. 21 Pierre Trudeau, Gerard Pelletier ed., Against the Current: Selected Writings 1939-1996 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1996) 210. 22 However, Trudeau also believed that the State was not static, but should change with the times. Hence, Trudeau pursued constitutional reform to address inequities and contemporary issues not covered in the BNA Act.
5 Tradeau considered a nation as a group of people with common values, history, language
and/or culture. His concept of nation was based first on the enlightenment writings of
Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau on the nation-state. But in addition to this canon on
nation, Trudeau's ideology was based on the philosophy of Johann Herder who wrote
about the nation as pluralistic, linguistic and cultural. Trudeau realized that the idea of the
nation was a way to unite people with an identity, born of romanticism and patriotism.
Art, as part of culture, helps establish people's identification with nation. In Canada, the
artist is an essential member of the nation who imagines the future,27 but the State has a
lesser need for artists.
As described in his article, "Federalism, Nationalism and Reason," Trudeau's Canadian
State is run with reason, whereas his concept of nation is much more emotional and
therefore not related to government. He explains that nationalism is the glue that binds
the State, especially in a federal system. For example, he used nationalist rhetoric to
implore the people of Quebec to vote no in the 1980 Referendum. Art, as evocative of
the nation yet supported by the State, can play a provocative and/or subversive role in the relationship between nation and State.
23 Hobbes argues, in Leviathan, that humans need a social contract with the sovereign or assembly to enforce the laws. His theories have been criticized because his social contract gives extreme power to the monarch or assembly. 24 In The Second Treatise on Government, Locke's state of nature is based on God-given laws prohibiting suicide or murder. Under his theory, society benefits from civil enforcement of laws, particularly in order to protect property. Notably, man has the right to overthrow government if it does not protect life, liberty and property. Locke's theory has been criticized as based in religious doctrine and as privileging the land owning class. 25 In particular, Trudeau referred to Rousseau's the Social Contract, which unites peoples under the banner of a common good (primarily the protection of life and property) without sacrificing freedom. 26 For more information, see Johann Herder, Herder: Philosophical Writings, ed. Michael N. Forster (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). 27 For example, the French-Canadian artists that signed the Refus Global in 1948 argued for a kind of quiet revolution in Quebec. More than a decade later, public opinion caught up with the artistic movement. 28 For example, Canadian artists have struggled to be recognized by the State (in terms of legislation and funding).
6 Artists intrinsically connect to and often influence the culture of the nation, whereas the artist's relationship to the State is more regulated. The artist's association with the State is dictated and controlled by cultural policy. Before examining the relationship between the dance community and the State as expressed in cultural policy, it is important to establish what is meant by the term "culture." The Massey Report generally avoids the use of the word "culture" because of its many loaded connotations.29 The Report does mention the relationship of culture to education, asserting that the education of artists described in the Report is beyond formal schooling, and therefore is not the jurisdiction of the provinces.30 The term "culture" has multiple connotations and has been utilized by the Canadian State since the mid-sixties. This thesis uses the term Canadian culture, which needs defining.
Canadian Culture and Identity
Most academic discussions of culture begin with Raymond Williams' writing.31 Williams based his definitions of culture on England in 1958. Cultural studies theorist Stuart Hall added to Williams' concept of culture by examining the intersection of culture and nation in his 1993 article, "Culture, Community, Nation." Hall, using Benedict Anderson's term
'imagined communities,' suggests the importance of shared mythology in the creation of a national culture or even a local culture. Like Williams, Hall contends that culture and identity are always under construction, especially in the ordinary modern experience.
29 Massey related culture with education and avoided the complex term that, in 1951, was not clearly defined. 30 Massey Report 6. 31 Garry Sherbert begins the introduction to Canadian Cultural Poesis, " It is commonplace in introductions to culture to quote Raymond Williams' observation that 'culture' is one of the most complex words in the English language." See Garry Sherbert, Annie Gerin, Shelia Petty, eds., Canadian Cultural Poesis: Essays on Canadian Culture (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2006) 1.
7 The transitory nature of culture requires a lens through which to examine its nature.
Specifically, Hall recognizes that the arts offer such a lens for British culture.32 Even though Hall was considering culture in the British context, his arguments have applications in Canada. This dissertation considers the importance of culture and nation in Canada using Hall's definitions and parameters.
The Canadian State's concept of culture has differed from the nation's idea of culture.
Although the Massey Report was reticent to use the term in 1951, culture quickly became a term used by the State in the sixties and seventies, beginning with the Royal
Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism in 1963. From that point on, culture became something to cultivate. Scholar Douglas Verney asserts that, "to Canadians, the
State has been seen as an instrument to nurture Canadian culture." As such, the State's concept of culture could be considered self-serving (depending on the party in power) or directly related to the people's needs.34 Culture, in the post-war era, often meant
Eurocentric high art as described by Massey. Trudeau introduced the idea of the Pan-
Canadian who could identify with a French, English or an immigrant culture and believed in equality. The Pan-Canadian concept led the State to develop the official policy of
Multiculturalism that embraced both bilingualism and immigration.35 It was not until the nineties that the State felt it necessary to try defining culture within the Canadian context.
32 Stuart Hall, "Culture, Community, Nation," Cultural Studies 7 (1993): 349-363. 33 Douglas Verney, Three Civilizations, Two Cultures, One State: Canada's Political Traditions (Durham: Duke University Press, 1986) 15. 34 More recently, Canadian culture has become an ambiguous umbrella term that the state avoids defining altogether. For example, the Department of Canadian Heritage's Canadian Culture Online initiative ironically does not include a definition of Canadian culture anywhere on the site. 35 The first multiculturalism policy was created in 1971 under Trudeau; the Multicultural Act was passed in 1985 under Mulroney. See Janice Gross Stein, "Searching for Equality," Janice Gross Stein et al., Uneasy Partners: Multiculturalism and Rights in Canada (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2007) 1.
8 For example, the Task Force on Professional Training for the Cultural Sector (1991) suggested four distinct meanings for the word culture, including, "first one's personal knowledge, beliefs, values, etc.; second, the anthropological sense of a cultural community; third, 'cultivated culture,' i.e. what a person knows of his or her cultural tradition; fourth, culture as art."36 The Task Force's four definitions focus on culture within the multicultural context. These four definitions expand Williams' concept of culture, but notably weaken culture's association with art in the Canadian context. The
State's use of the term culture has transformed because of the media and the public's understanding of the term. Specifically, issues of immigration, language rights, and periodically, arts funding gain attention. In recent history, the federal State has often avoided dealing with the term culture altogether.37
The State's definition of culture is broad; but other groups within the nation employ the term with more specificity. One group that attempts to limit the boundaries of the term
Canadian culture is academia. Writer B.W. Powe, in .4 Canada of Light, comments, "I suggest that Canada has a discontinuous, contradictory character ... The Canadian patterns often look obscure to visitors ... the Canadian space has always been a through- zone, adaptable and reflective, a medium through which questions, calls, pulses, and
TO ideas pass." Powe argues that Canada's history lacks definition and has an improvised nature.39 These ideas suggest that Canada is still trying to realize its culture. Filmmaker
R. Bruce Elder echoes the sentiment that as a nation Canada remains young, arguing that
36 Tom Henighan, The Presumption of Culture (Vancouver: Raincoast Press, 1996) 2. 37 For example, on November 27, 2006 the House of Commons declared the Quebecois a nation. In his address to parliament, Prime Minister Harper only used the term culture once. 38 Bruce Powe, A Canada of Light (Toronto: Somerville House, 1997) 38. 39 Powe 33.
9 we have only the beginnings of a culture. The young age of our culture was apparent during the Centennial when writers and the media were asking questions of definition and identity. For example, in Lament for a Nation, George Grant suggested that the adolescent Canadian identity was altered and would be subsumed by the powerful
American empire.41 These important questions about the scope of Canadian culture led to a refining of terms in academia.
Many scholars prefer the more specific term 'Canadian identity' to culture, thereby avoiding contradictions and questions of immaturity. Political philosopher Charles
Taylor asserted the importance of identity to a nation; he wrote, "nations exist not just where there is the objective fact of speaking the same language and sharing a common history, but where this is subjectively reflected in a people's identifications."42 The specificity of identity makes it a useful term when describing and analyzing a nation. In addition, literary theorist Northrop Frye argues that the term identity is less ambiguous than culture, but exposes a problem within the Canadian character. Frye writes:
When the CBC is instructed by Parliament to do what it can to promote Canadian unity and identity, it is not always realized that unity and identity are quite different things to be promoted, and that in Canada they are perhaps more different than they are any where else. Identity is local and regional, rooted in the imagination and in work of culture; unity is national in reference, international in perspective, and rooted in a political feeling.43
R. Bruce Elder, Image and Identity: Reflections on Canadian Film and Culture (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 1989) 14. 41 George Grant, Lament for a Nation: the Defeat of Canadian Nationalism (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005) xviiii-xxiii. 42 Charles Taylor, "Why Do Nations Have to Become States?" Charles Taylor, Reconciling the Solitudes: Essays on Canadian Federalism and Nationalism, ed. Guy Laforest (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993)58. 43 Northrop Frye, Bush Garden (Toronto: Anansi Press, 1971) ii.
10 Identity, appropriately, limits discussions of Canadian culture to the local and regional.
Accordingly, using the term Canadian identity speaks to the sheer size of our country and to the development of our culture by focusing more on the local and regional.
Many writers have focused on the multiple and heterogeneous Canadian identity.
Philosopher Leslie Armour writes about the historical influences on our ambiguous culture in the Idea of Canada, "though there has always been a scramble to 'explain'
Canada, there is an identifiable and historical culture, and even some sociological data to show that there is much more to it than the confrontation of ancient pecksniffing Tories with modern, upstart, Americanized Liberals."44 Other writers have considered the possibility that we do not have one identity but rather many. Powe writes that Canada is more like "A state whose lack of a single identity, its lack of homogeneity, may be its destiny."45 Following Powe's idea of multiple identities is the anthology, Canadian
Cultural Poesis: Essays on Canadian Culture; several articles generally assert the lack of a Canadian identity, arguing that, "a lack of identity is not a failure but a productive rejection."46 A productive rejection suggests that the nation prefers our mutable identity because it allows for greater cultural movement and development.
So if Canadian culture is complex and national identity is multifaceted, then how do we figure out, as Frye asked, "Where is here?" The answer, as Hall and others have
44 Leslie Armour, The Idea of Canada and the Crisis of Community (Ottawa: Steel Rail Educational Publishing, 1981)5. 45 Powe 105. 46 Garry Sherbert, "A Poetics of Canadian Culture," Canadian Cultural Poesis: Essays on Canadian Culture, eds., Garry Sherbert, Annie Gerin, Shelia Petty (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2006) 13.
11 suggested, lies in the arts. Specifically, the performing arts provide insight into a culture and a visceral sense of identity. For example, in Performing Canada, theatre historian
Alan Filewod argues that national identity is enacted in an imagined theatre. 7 He uses examples of Canadian plays to chart the development of national identity. His study elucidates how the State and theatre interact and even compete. Canadian theatre has a long and dense history compared to Canadian dance.48 This dissertation uses dance from
1967 to 1983 as the lens through which to examine Canadian identity and culture in the wake of the Centennial through the Quebec Referendum, and to the repatriation of the
Constitution. The five works of choreography examined in this dissertation were influenced by policies and historical events thereby reflecting and revealing information about the nature of Canadian culture at the time. Each chapter analyses one work of choreography to illustrate the period and draw connections between the State and its relationship to the people of Canada.
Five Canadian Dances49
The Canada Council supported the first two works this dissertation will treat, Rose
Latulippe and Baroque Suite, by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Toronto Dance Theatre respectively. Artists not formally associated with an institution created the other three works, "The Brick Series," Marie Chien Noir, and Joe. These last three works began as a
Alan Filewod, Performing Canada: The Nation Enacted in the Imagined Theatre (Kamloops: Faculty of Arts, University College of the Cariboo, 2002) x-1. 48 Arguably, Canadian theatre history begins in 1604 with the performance of the Theatre of Neptune. Canadian dance begins in the late 19th century and early twentieth century. Both disciplines take numerous decades to develop professionals, but Canadian theatre is clearly more advanced. 491 considered these five dances Canadian primarily because of the nationality and expression of the choreographers.
12 subversive reaction to the establishment and received some federal and provincial funding, but not to the same extent that the mainstream companies did.
Canadian choreographer Brian Macdonald created the ballet Rose Latulippe50 (with an original score by Canadian composer Harry Freedman) for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as a Centennial Commission in 1966. It is the only narrative work examined in this dissertation. The Canadian content of this work was apparent; Rose Latulippe recounts a
French-Canadian legend about a girl who is almost seduced by the devil. Macdonald, who has worked for all three Canadian ballet companies51 as well as the Stratford Festival and the Banff Centre for the Arts, is a seminal figure in Canadian choreography for his use of narrative to connect various aspects of Canadian culture. As the only narrative work studied, Rose Latulippe offers a wealth of choreographic material for analysis. The
Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Toronto Dance Theatre were two of the largest and comparatively well-funded dance companies in the country in the Seventies.
Toronto Dance Theatre co-founder David Earle completed one of his signature works, the second dance of this study, Baroque Suite, in 1973 shortly after the Canada Council formally created a Dance Section. Baroque Suite is a study in musicality, spirituality and technical virtuosity; the work exemplifies Earle's graceful and sculptural style influenced by the technique of American choreographers Martha Graham and Jose Limon. Perhaps the most performed work in Canadian contemporary dance history, Baroque Suite is
50 The CBC has played a significant role in the documenting and supporting of Canadian dance. Rose Latuilippe is available today thanks to the CBC's archives. The development of Canadian dance on television and the directorial work of Norman Campbell, in particular, warrants further study. 51 He has worked for the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.
13 representative of a significant body of lyrical but abstract work emerging in the early seventies.
By the mid-seventies the dance community was well established and some choreographers were ready to experiment. Lawrence and Miriam Adams, former ballet dancers, created 15 Dance Lab in 1974 to foster post-modern dance in Toronto. At the infamous 1977 Dance in Canada conference, some members publicly disparaged
Lawrence Adams' writing for his harsh criticism of several established dance institutions.
As a focal point of the conflict, Adams deserves examination; his equally infamous choreographic work of the same era, "The Brick Series," the third dance examined, brought up important questions regarding what constitutes dance in Canada, much as the
Judson Church Dance Theater did in the United States. An examination of Adams' conceptual choreography will demonstrate how Canadian choreography evolved.
In 1976, the election of the Parti Quebecois symbolized a new beginning for Quebecois culture; dance was an integral part of that culture. The avant-garde Quebecois dance community emerged at this provocative time, filling a need within Quebec society.
Choreographers such as Paul-Andre Fortier and Edouard Lock created new dance companies to perform their work exclusively; independent dance artists such as Margie
Gillis resurrected solos as an important art form. Quebec, and Montreal specifically, began to produce the most influential (and distinctly Quebecois) dance artists of the time.
In 1982, self-proclaimed 'body artist' Marie Chouinard created the controversial solo work Marie Chien Noir, which is the fourth subject of this study. In Marie Chien Noir,
14 "Chouinard shatters a classically 'beautiful' visual image by insisting that we recognize her own physical experience." At points in the choreography, she gags on her own hand and then masturbates. Chouinard's choreography rebels against the Canadian dance establishment and could be compared to the shocking work of German choreographer
Pina Bausch, but with a more raw sexuality and technique. Chouinard's early work reflects the growing biculturalism within a troubled Canadian dance community.
In 1982, Prime Minister Trudeau's Constitution, and Quebec Premier Levesque's refusal to sign it, continued to fuel conflict between Quebec and the rest of Canada. Quebec had emerged as a site of contention but also as a fertile ground for artistic exploration.
French-Canadian choreographer Jean-Pierre Perreault created his famous work Joe for a group of female dance students from the Universite du Quebec a Montreal in 1983.53 The implications of Perreault's use of the group and individual in Joe could be seen as a reaction to the Charter. Joe has been remounted by his company, Fondation Jean-Pierre
Perreault, several times since 1983; the final tour of the work in 2004 caused financial crisis for the company and the Board was forced to declare bankruptcy. The varied choreographic influences present in Joe hint at how Canadian dance would diversify in the coming decades. The dissolution of Perreault's company also represents the consequences of mismanagement and financial crisis as forewarned by the Applebaum-
Hebert Report in 1982.
Ann Cooper Albright, "Incalculable Choreographies: The Dance Practice of Marie Chouinard," Bodies of the Text: Dance as Theory, Literature as Dance, eds. Ellen Goellner and Jacqueline Shea Murphy (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995) 162. 53 Perreault set the work on professional dancers in 1984. Chantal Pontbriand, "Jean-Pierre Perreault: Joe" Choreographic Masterworks-Dance Collection Danse magazine 55 (2003): 24.
15 These five works of choreography demonstrate how Canadian dance evolved in the dance boom era from narrative to post-modern. These five works were also chosen because of the timing of their creation in correspondence to federal policy. In addition, these five works highlight prominent organizations and members of the dance community and the reasons for the community's fragmentation. The evolution of the Canadian dance community plays a central role in this research.
Individual and Community
The terms nation, culture and community overlap. The term community is related to culture and plays a central role in this thesis. In the Idea of Canada and the Crisis of
Community, scholar Leslie Armour defines community as "essentially a group of persons capable of establishing and legitimizing institutions."54 For Armour, communities join together for a common cause and clearly establish a relationship with an institution of the
State. A community is a smaller group (than a culture) with a common interest, language, religion, locale or profession. Generally, communities exist at the local level; whereas cultures, such as French-Canadian, occur at the provincial or regional level.
Communities also develop identities at the local level. Since the declaration of a multicultural Canada, the term community is usually preceded by an ethnicity, for example, the Chinese community or the Afro-Canadian community, or a religion, such as the Muslim community. Armour accentuates that communities need to relate to institutions, "for a community to remain alive and coherent, it generally must recognize and give effective shape to a range of institutions - legal, political, economic,
Armour 150.
16 educational, religious." Armour warns that failure to communicate with institutions results in crisis and breakdown into individual interests within the community. Armour's analysis of a successful community certainly has application within the performing arts and within Canadian dance in particular.
Communities abound, overlap and clash in Canada. Powe describes the complexity of the Canadian cultural landscape, "I found the country to be an intricate pattern with many centres, where the tensions between the individual and the collective continue in their bewildering, risky course."56 The tension between the individual and community is vivid in the performing arts. In many disciplines, artists recognize the value of community. In
Image and Identity, filmmaker R. Bruce Elder writes "individuals come into being in and through the community."57 In "Do You Want to Join the Dance?" dance writer Helen
Thomas agrees: "The individual is situated in and articulated through a complex web of social relations, discourses and practices."58 Arguably, artists need communities to embrace their work for it to have any cultural relevance and resonance. Elder also asserts that in today's secular Canada, communities provide individuals with a moral foundation.59 The young Canadian dance community was formally constituted during the dance boom era and individual dance artists recognized the value of community, at first.
But, as Armour describes, this flawed community had difficulty communicating. The dance community failed in its interactions with the primary institute of the State (the
55 Armour 16. 56Powe 111. 57 Elder 9. 58 Helen Thomas, "Do You Want to Join the Dance? Postmodernism/Poststructuralism, the Body and Dance," Moving Words: Re-writing Dance, ed. Gay Morris (New York: Routledge, 1996) 63. 59 Elder 9.
17 Canada Council) and crisis developed. As a result, individual dance artists questioned the moral or philosophical foundation of this community, thus further deconstructing its efficacy. The dance produced during this era is imprinted with this struggle within the community. Canadian choreography in this period embodied the dialectic of the individual and community.
Many State institutions, such as the Canada Council, label constituents based on their community. Communities in the arts are generally separated by discipline as defined by
State institutions, therefore the term 'dance community' is employed throughout this research. The dance community can include any Canadian that considers him or herself a professional dance artist60 or who is working in a closely related field.61 The dance community has most often defined itself along professional lines, even though there is a considerable group of amateurs interested in dance. How dance artists define the term community changed and evolved from 1967 to 1983.
In 1967, what would be considered the dance community was very small and did not recognize itself as a cohesive group. It consisted mainly of the three ballet companies, plus a few other budding organizations. By 1973, the dance community was generally delineated by the list of Dance Section clients of the Canada Council. It now included modern dance companies and individual dancers, choreographers and teachers. By 1974, with the full formation of the national service organization, Dance in Canada Association
(DIC A), the perceived dance community expanded to incorporate all members of the
60 The term dance artist is defined at the beginning of Chapter Six, within a historical context. 61 For example, I consider myself part of the dance community.
18 Association. Most notably, DICA accepted both amateur and professional members in an act of inclusion (which was passionately debated throughout the history of the organization). DICA also first welcomed dance companies, such as Les Ballets Jazz, who performed non-Canada Council sanctioned styles of dance.62 In the seven short years from 1967 to 1974, the sense of and strength of the dance community changed immensely.
Issues regarding funding and professionalism fractured DICA.63 A group of the largest, most financially successful companies banded together and formed a new group called the Canadian Association of Professional Dance Organizations (CAPDO).64 In 1977, at the emotionally charged DICA conference in Winnipeg, the dance community divided, as harsh words were levelled at the Canada Council and certain DICA members. At first the large community split into two sections (DICA and CAPDO) but gradually further separation between English-Canadian dance and French-Canadian dance occurred. The result was a group of individuals across the country with similar interests and goals who did not communicate. As Armour noted, this is the classic example of a community in crisis because of its failure to relate to an institution. The lack of cohesiveness and the inconsistencies spawned a new and more diverse field in dance that needs to be examined and scrutinized.
At the time, the Canada Council only supported dance organizations and individuals that practiced ballet or modern dance. For more information on the issue of the definition of dance at the Canada Council please see, Kate Cornell, "Dance Defined: An examination of Canadian Cultural Policy on Multicultural Dance." Culture and Tradition 23 (Dec. 2002): 98-105. 63 Infra 145-175. 64 The idea for CAPDO began years before the tumultuous 1977 conference, the organization was officially formed in 1978.
19 Cultural policy is created and enacted by the State. Institutions of the State, such as the
Centennial Commission, the Canada Council and the Federal Cultural Policy Review
Committee (Applebaum-Hebert), generate policy. This dissertation, like Filewod's
Performing Canada, examines cultural policy as the formal product of the dialectical
relationship between the dance community and the State (and then analyzes works of
dance as the informal result of that relationship).
Cultural Policy in Canada
The arts and culture are a problematic topic for the Canadian federal State because of
issues of jurisdiction. Trudeau argued that a political society must protect and develop
cultural and linguistic values.65 In the Canadian model, the question arises, which level
of government must protect those values. In 1957, Trudeau noted that the provinces had jurisdiction on most issues of cultural development.66 For example, Trudeau argued that
the federal government should not be using tax dollars to fund higher education because
it fell under the authority of the provinces. On the other hand, he recognized the BNA
Act did not include some contemporary elements of culture; for example, he embraced
bilingualism as a federal issue. Constitutionally, Trudeau argued that from region to
region it was advantageous to limit the jurisdiction of the State regarding the issue of
culture. In effect, he recognized that culture, including the arts, was a large and
complex issue often best left to local authorities.
Trudeau, Federalism and the French Canadians 4. Trudeau, Federalism and the French Canadians 36. Trudeau, Federalism and the French Canadians 35.
20 The prosperous and patriotic post-war era inspired discussions of culture and national identity. Regardless of issues of jurisdiction, the Liberal federal government created the post-war Royal Commission on the Development of the Arts, Letters and Sciences in
1949 to consider establishing a federal cultural policy. Arts and education deserved examination in these times, despite the question of the federal government's jurisdiction.
The Terms of Reference for the Massey Report stated "that it is in the national interest to give encouragement to institutions which express national feeling, promote common understanding and add to the variety and richness of Canadian life, rural as well as urban."68 Encouragement eventually came in the form of the Canada Council. Of the
Massey Report, journalist and politician Gerard Pelletier (Secretary of State in 1968) wrote, "Even today, despite the vast changes that have occurred in recent years, the
Report remains an indispensable source document on the problems of developing a national cultural policy."69 Fifty years later we see the Report led the way to the establishment of future policy. In 1951, The Massey Report had captured the sentiment of the time, but not the interest of politicians working on the budget. It took six long years to argue for the necessity of the implementation of cultural policy by the new
Canada Council.70
In effect, federal cultural policy delineates principles, objectives and priorities in the area
71 of cultural expression. Cultural policy involves regulation and spending, as well as
68 Trudeau, Federalism and the French Canadians 35. 69 Gerard Pelletier, "Federal Support for the Arts in Canada," Cultural Affairs 6 (1968): 6. 70 It remains a low priority for the federal government. 71 In Cultural Regulation in Canada, author Steven Globerman notes that generally, "Canadian governments have used their taxing, spending, and regulatory powers to create a national consciousness or sense of identity." Steven Globerman, Cultural Regulation in Canada, (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1983)30.
21 State priorities. Cultural policy is a broad term used by several departments, based on the numerous connotations of the term culture. Cultural policy, although not as prominent as political economy, can play a productive role in the operations of the State. In Canada, cultural policy was first created at the Canada Council; as a result, the language of cultural policy reflects a concern for clients in the arts first. At the Canada Council, cultural policy defined professional art with a definite Eurocentric bias, and these limitations made only certain arts organizations eligible for funding. The precedent established by primarily English arts organizations that existed before the Canada
Council, such as the Canadian Opera Company and the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, definitely affected policy. Dance had to fit into hand-me-down policies.73 In addition to issues of funding, federal cultural policy influenced the kind of dance produced in this country for the first ten years. For example, the Massey Commission only considered ballet in its Report, which clearly indicated the marked preference towards the high (read
British) arts.74
Once the Canada Council was established, the federal government hesitantly considered other cultural policies, such as bilingualism. In 1963, the new Pearson Liberal government began the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism and the concept of cultural policy would widen to include language. In addition, preparations for
Canada's Centennial celebrations had started and the federal government created the
72 Zoe Druick, "Framing the Local," Canadian Cultural Poesis: Essays on Canadian Culture, eds., Garry Sherbert, Annie Gerin, Shelia Petty (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2006) 95. 73 In Trudeau's system, cultural policy would never have been conceived of prior to a precedent being established within a community. This approach to cultural policy has generally guided the actions of the Canada Council, although there have been exceptions to the rule. 74 This bias towards classical art forms can still be felt today at the Canada Council. The Canada Council's website (www.canadacouncil.ca) includes lists of recent grant recipients. The National Ballet of Canada received more than $2 million dollars in operating funding in 2006, the highest amount in the disciplines of dance, theatre and music.
22 necessary infrastructure (which focused on culture) for such an event. As an arm's length agency of the federal government, the Canada Council required little to no intervention from 1957 to 1965 while cultural policy was expanding in other portfolios.
During this era, the Canada Council was primarily a public patron of the arts. In 1965, the Canada Council appealed to Parliament for an increase to their budget; this successful request would become an annual appropriation76 and would somewhat compromise the arm's length relationship that Canada Council had with the federal government. As a result, the Canada Council and other agencies felt greater pressure from the federal government regarding which organizations to fund. This pressure was felt in dance funding during the sixties and seventies. After the Centennial in 1967 cultural policy began to formally represent political agendas:
The 1968 Broadcasting Act, which stipulated that 'the national broadcasting service should contribute to the development of national unity and provide for a continuing expression of Canadian identity,' was, according to Paul Schafer and Andre Fortier, the first time that a formal link was made between a cultural policy and 'national unity.'77
With the formation of the Parti Quebecois (PQ), issues of national unity became a priority for the federal government. Consequently, the political motivations behind cultural policy became an undercurrent. Cultural policy in the post-1967 era is clearly linked to national identity and other priorities of the State.
Dance has often been the exception to the rule in Canadian cultural policy. It was barely
Canadian scholar George Woodcock warned, in Strange Bedfellows: the State and the Arts in Canada, that cultural policy can often begin as public patronage of the arts but can quickly devolve into orchestrated direction in favour of the government's political priorities. George Woodcock, Strange Bedfellows: The State and the Arts in Canada (Toronto: Douglas and Mclntyre, 1985) 12. 76 Annual appropriations began in 1967/68. See Andre Fortier and Paul Schafer, Review of Federal Policies for the Arts in Canada (1944-1988) (Ottawa: Canadian Conference of the Arts, 1989) 18. 77 Joyce Zemans, Where is Here? (Toronto: Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, 1996) 6.
23 mentioned in the Massey Report. It did not fit the flagship funding model in the early sixties and adjustments were made. The Dance Section of the Canada Council finally attained autonomy in the early seventies, but its budget remained small in comparison to the Theatre and Music Sections. Dance was clearly behind the other artistic disciplines in size and organization, but when it grew exponentially in the seventies, it developed in a very short period of time. It was natural for civil servants to compare dance to other art forms at this time, yet the comparison was problematic because of the age of the art form.79 Frustration with inconsistent policies motivated the dance community to organize in 1973 under the umbrella of the Dance in Canada Association, but the Association was fraught with internal and external conflict. As the dance community split into factions, to a certain extent so too did federal cultural policy for dance. The early eighties saw provincial cultural policy, especially in Quebec and Ontario, having greater impact on dance than the other arts.
Dance and cultural policy have had a contentious history in Canada. Canadian choreography, like other elements of Canadian culture, has so far resisted definition.
Diversity and geography make generalizations difficult. Powe argues, "We resist a final articulation of ourselves because we know, deep in our souls, that our story is about the process and value of communication itself."80 The process and value of communication in dance is embedded in the body. The dancing bodies communicate and tell a story
78 Supra 2. 79 For example, when Canadian writers and musicians talked about national identity and called for protectionist actions against American products and styles, the opposite was true in dance. Comparing dance to other art forms reveals significant differences, even though cultural policy tries to treat all the art forms similarly. Little of the literature on Canadian dance compares it to the other artistic disciplines. 80 Powe 16.
24 about their process. The dancing body appears to have more value to the community, as a pathway to the imaginary, than to the State. My research questions the use and application of dance by both the State and nation. Ultimately, how the dance community relates to the State and how the State deals with the dance community are the focus of this research.
Conclusions
In this dissertation, dance is used as a lens to examine the nation, and cultural policy is the vehicle in which to analyze the State. Cultural policy on dance provides insight into the nature of Canadian identity from 1967 to 1983. The formation of the dance community itself was influenced by cultural policy more so than was any other Canadian performing art. Notably, this research compares dance to theatre, literature, visual arts, music and film within the context of cultural policy from 1967 to 1983. The dance community is fraught with conflict during this period. It quickly expands from the traditional form of ballet to include codified styles of modern dance and then more abstract post-modern expressions as well. The relationship between individuals and the dance community offers a framework for a discussion on the nature of Canadian choreography. Canadian choreography embodies the dialectic of the traditional and the contemporary, of the Francophone and Anglophone, and of the individual and community.
25 Chapter Two Methodology and Literature Review
This research developed out of an admiration for Canadian choreography and artists but also a fascination with the relationship between public funding and the development of the art form in Canada. As a result, this dissertation relies first and foremost on primary source documents by Canadian artists and public funders81 deposited in various archives.
Often, the current advocates for the arts are unaware of the numerous reports and briefs submitted to the federal government, or the work of their predecessors. My research draws attention to those important but neglected documents.
This chapter is separated into three sections: methodology, research questions and literature review. My procedural approach combines two methods, historical and policy analysis, to examine Canadian dance in this period. My three research questions focus on the relationship of the State to the dance community and the representation of national identity in dance. The literature review begins with my three general areas of inquiry as a foundation for this research. From there, I discuss the gaps in the literature, particularly those that deal with Canadian dance.
Methodology
My research is primarily within the interpretative paradigm because it is ultimately a subjective examination of Canadian choreography. I will employ historical and policy analysis methods to place Canadian choreography in context. It is necessary to combine
81 This is a common term used by arts organizations to describe those agencies and foundations that support them. 821 have chosen to use first person only in this chapter to reflect on my research and writing process.
26 methods to fully understand my topic historically, philosophically, analytically and physically. By combining these two methodologies, I am considering Canadian dance from a different vantage point.
Historical analysis is discursive; it labels sources as primary and secondary and considers a source's bias and relevance to contextualize its inclusion in a study. Historical analysis will provide background in this thesis and situate Canadian dance in relationship to
Canadian culture because the history of Canadian dance is tied to the other performing arts. Sadly, Canadian dance, like all dance, is often treated as a footnote to social history.
I consider dance to be more than just spectacle.83 Canadian choreography can be contextualized historically in order to make observations about Canadian cultural identity. I use primary sources that document and comment on specific works of
Canadian dance or artists; I also use secondary sources that analyze Canadian dance and other artistic disciplines in order to better understand its place in history. My historical analysis of Canadian choreography asks questions such as: Where does Canadian dance stand in relationship to other arts forms? How has it been treated by the State? Prime
Minister St. Laurent stated in the debate over whether to create the Canada Council that the Government of Canada had no business "subsidizing ballet dancing." Yet today the
State is in the business of subsidizing dancing, therefore the history of the contentious relationship between the State and the dance community needs to be documented. The
83 This approach is based on the writing of philosopher Francis Sparshott and his analysis of dance. In Off the Ground: First Steps to a Philosophical Consideration of the Dance, Sparshott chronicles the lack of a philosophical treatment of dance. He traces this lack of consideration back to Aristotle who classified dance as only spectacle and Hegel who virtually ignored it. Sparshott's history of the philosophical consideration of dance explains why there is a lack of academic treatment of it. 84 J.L. Finlay, D.N. Sprague, The Structure of Canadian History, 4th ed. (Scarborough: Prentice Hall Canada, 1993)411.
27 evolving complexity of Canadian choreography within Canadian history and culture
deserves academic treatment.
A State's cultural policy and the agencies that enact the policy influence the working
conditions of artists and therefore affect the art they make. Certainly, artists will continue
to create art regardless of border or governmental policy, but policy can make the artist's working conditions more favorable for art making. In our liberal society (with healthcare
and welfare), we have a tradition of supporting the arts as a national cultural expression,
since the Massey Commission. The Canadian federal government's policies have definitely played a part in the development of Canadian art. Therefore, analyzing the cultural policies of the federal government, primarily performed by the Canada Council, would provide a wealth of information about Canadian dance and culture. Policy analysis is not a commonly utilized methodology in the performing arts. In Mass
Communication Research Methods, policy analysis is defined as an examination of "the ways in which policies in the field of communication are generated and implemented, as well as their repercussions or implications for the field of communication as a whole."85
Specifically, cultural policy bridges the gap between communications and culture; I will concentrate on the repercussions and implications of policies on the Canadian dance community.
Although my two methodologies focus on history and policy, no study of the national identity and dance would be complete without some attention paid to the dancing body.
85 Ralph Negrine, "Chapter 4: Policy and Archival Research," Anders Hansen et al. Mass Communication Research Methods. (New York: New York University Press, 1998) 67.
28 Both the individual body and the collective body perform, connecting the artist to the nation. I do not use a specific methodology related to the body, but the body plays a role in this research. In the five pieces of choreography analyzed, I look at the work on an individual body level, and also as representative of trends and themes of the period.
Furthermore, the body provides some information regarding national identity, as Alan
Filewod argues in Performing Canada: "the metaphor of national maturity attributes to the hypothesized somatic nation the physical properties of the organic human body ...
[accordingly] one of the key links between the national imaginary and the theatre is the fact that performing bodies frequently play as metonyms of the national body."87 This common metaphor is useful when considering the role of the performing arts in society, but it is simplistic as well (often negating the role of the choreographer). The body is apparent in this research, but it is not the focus.
By using historical and policy analysis, I will look at Canadian dance in a new way.
oo
These two methodologies are rarely employed to analyze dance. These methodologies contribute to the innovative nature of my research. I hope that, by examining history and policy, I will illuminate the complexity and relevance of Canadian choreography and the impact the State and national identity have on dance.
The collective body is a term used in reception theory. The collective body is a symbol of the many. In this instance, Filewod uses the collective body to represent the nation. 87 Alan Filewod, Performing Canada: The Nation Enacted in the Imagined Theatre (Kamloops: Faculty of Arts, University College of the Cariboo, 2002) 3-4. The one example of a text that uses historical and policy analysis is Modern Dance in a Postmodern World'by Jan Van Dyke.
29 Research Questions and Thesis Statement
In 1976, choreographer Brian Macdonald mused that,
It is a difficult thing to analyze what exactly a Canadian choreographer is. He is obviously not a man who does a ballet about an Indian legend. He does not always work to a Canadian composer. What makes his work neither English nor American? Where is the aesthetic formed by which, when you walk into the theatre you look and say, that is the work of my country, of this part of the world. The way we move, our musicality, our values on the stage, the subject we choose to dance about, the way we carve up space is peculiar to Canada and it is peculiar to me for reasons I cannot yet define.89
My research questions are inspired by Macdonald's statement: What was the relationship between the Canadian dance community and the State90 from 1967 to 1983? Is Canadian choreography of 1967-1983 reflective of national character? How has Canadian culture and national feeling influenced the work of choreographers?91
I argue that Canadian choreography embodies the dialectic of the traditional and the contemporary, of the Francophone and Anglophone, and of the individual and community. This thesis statement considers Canadian dance during the dance boom and beyond. In addition, this statement addresses the inherent compromises in Canadian federalism.
Literature Review: Theoretical and Empirical Background
My three general areas of inquiry are: one, Canadian culture and national identity; two, the dancing body as transmitter of culture; and three, Canadian choreography. I have
Brian Macdonald, "The Chance to Dream," Visions: Ballet and its Future, ed. Michael Crabb (Toronto: Simon and Pierre, 1978) 157. 90 State here refers to Trudeau's concept of State. Supra 4-7. 911 am using terms and references from the Massey Commission, Susan Manning's text, The Ecstasy and the Demon and Alan Filewod's Performing Canada, to frame my research. By using these terms, the questions signal the necessity for more than one methodology to fully cover the field.
30 separated my literature review into these three sections, followed by an analysis of the gaps in this literature.
The subject of culture has preoccupied Canadians since World War Two. The definition of culture is elusive, especially within the contemporary Canadian context. Scholar
Raymond Williams defines culture in his 1958 article, "Culture is Ordinary," as: one, a whole way of life that binds a society together, and two, a special process of discovery and creative effort that involves the arts and learning. In other words, culture often denotes edification in the high arts, but can also describe a people's way of life.
Williams' contention that culture has at least two definitions is still widely accepted fifty years later. The Canadian State's concept of culture began in relationship to arts and education.
Canadian culture is a complex concept that has been deliberated by many authors. I have included a selection of seminal and recent texts from the large body of research on this dense and elusive topic. Canadian culture has developed beyond the tenets of the Massey
Commission, but I will argue that the Report contributed to the shaping of our cultural policy and subsequent culture, particularly in English Canada. The Massey Report clearly identified two of the competing interests and influences embedded in Canadian culture: British heritage and American art.93 I will use other cultural policy documents, such as the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism and the Applebaum-
92 Williams, Raymond. "Culture Is Ordinary," (1958) Resources of Hope: Culture, Democracy, Socialism (London: Verso, 1989) 3-18. 93 The Massey Report primarily examines the arts in English-Canada. In 1951, Quebecois culture was not prevalent. The Quiet Revolution would change the prominence of Francophone culture.
31 Hebert Report, as indicators of the federal government's concept of Canadian culture.
Notably, J.L. Granatstein's article on the history of the Canada Council's first ten years is an important source when considering the role and relevance of the agency. In addition,
Andre Fortier and Paul Schafer's analysis of Canadian cultural policy provides insight into the development of the Canada Council and its relationship to the rest of the federal government. George Woodcock's Strange Bedfellows also looks at the changing nature of State patronage of the arts in Canada. Robert Wallace and Joyce Zemans offer knowledgeable perspectives on cultural policy and the arts in articles for the Robarts
Centre for Canadian Studies lecture series. Lastly, Douglas Verney's Three Civilizations,
Two Cultures, One State examines the relationship of the State to culture. Verney passionately argues for the distinction between civilization and culture. He asserts that,
"to Canadians, the State has been seen as an instrument to nurture Canadian culture."94
Therefore, cultural policy documents (and secondary sources regarding the policies) will provide a framework for understanding national identity during the post-war protectionist era. The political arena, in which cultural policy operates, offers context to this research.
Specifically, writings on federalism discuss the role of the State and often suggest that the
Canadian experience is about communication and compromise. Writings by Pierre
Trudeau on federalism form an integral part of any study of the State in Canada.
Trudeau's concept of federalism attests that "the individual, not the State, must be supreme."95 Several scholars have questioned the liberal concept of Canada in general,
94 Douglas Verney, Three Civilizations, Two Cultures, One State: Canada's Political Traditions (Durham: Duke University Press, 1986) 15. 95 Pierre Elliot Trudeau, The Essential Trudeau, ed. Graham, Ron (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1998) 5.
32 and Trudeau's federalism specifically. George Grant's Lament for a Nation recognized the rise in continentalism and the demise of Canadian nationalism in the name of liberalism. Supplementing the political definition and usage of federalism is the philosophical concept of federalism. Canada has a unique philosophical tradition documented by Leslie Armour and Elizabeth Trott in The Faces of Reason, in which they argue that
Dominantly in English Canadian philosophy reason is used as a device to explore alternatives, to suggest ways of combining apparently contradictory ideas, to discover new ways of passing from one idea to another ... There is a kind of philosophical federalism at work, a natural inclination to find out why one's neighbour thinks differently rather than to find out how to show him up as an idiot.96
Trudeau's federalism (which is full of counter-balances) and Armour and Trott's philosophical federalism (which considers the Canadian traits of contradiction and compromise) have influenced the production of art in our culture at different times.
Beyond the political framework, I will consider the treatment of Canadian culture in other art forms.
The concept of Canadian content was first analyzed in literature before the performing arts. Scholar Northrop Frye wrote extensively on Canadian culture and themes in
Canadian literature. After Frye, author Margaret Atwood wrote and edited anthologies about themes in Canadian literature. In her book Survival, she contends that survival is a prominent theme in Canadian literature. Frye and Atwood were among the first literary
Leslie Armour and Elizabeth Trott, The Faces of Reason: An essay on Philosophy and Culture in English Canada, 1850-1950 (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 1981)4.
33 critics of the Canadian canon; the recognition of 'CanLit' inspired scholars to examine other artistic disciplines.
The body of research on theatrical and filmic traditions provides more insight into the nature of Canadian culture. Playwright Mavor Moore's 1994 article about the development of Canadian theatre identifies more themes and movements (beyond the north) in Canadian theatre such as the interface between French and English cultures, isolationism, and the rejection of American or international homogenization.98 These themes certainly appear and have relevance in Canadian dance, but this dissertation focuses more on the State's policies and their effect on dance. Theatre historian Alan
Filewod's arguments on theatre in Performing Canada: the Nation Enacted in the
Imagined Theatre can easily be applied to dance and will be an important text in my study. Filewod considers the intersection of the terms "nation" and "theatre" and argues that, "Canadian theatre can as a whole be considered as a meta-performance that literally enacts crises of nationhood."99 Filewod uses Benedict Anderson's definition of national identity as a performance of 'imagined community.'10 This term is relevant in my research to illuminate the difference between the 'imagined community' as conceived by the State and the 'imagined community' as portrayed by artists. Finally, filmmaker R.
Bruce Elder, in his book Image and Identity: Reflections on Canadian Film and Culture examines the Canadian realistic image as a model of consciousness. These texts appraise
97 Since the seventies, there have been other literary critics of 'CanLit' including Frank Davey and Robert Lecker. 8 In addition, Sherrill Grace's book, Canada and the Idea of North, considers northern themes in Canadian music, literature, visual arts, film and drama. 99 Filewod xvii. 100 Susan Manning also uses Anderson's concept of the 'imagined community.' Susan Manning, Ecstasy and the demon: feminism and nationalism in the dances of Mary Wigman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993)11.
34 and analyze Canadian literature, theatre and film; I will use their findings as a guide when scrutinizing Canadian choreography.
The Dancing Body as Transmitter of Culture
My second area of inquiry is the dancing body as a transmitter of culture. My bibliography includes several important texts that connect dance and cultural studies. I am specifically interested in texts that consider culture through the lens of the dancing body. My research is situated in this field, as well as in the writing on Canadian cultural policy.
The relationship of dance to culture is a field of research that emerged in the late eighties.
Cultural studies in dance began as the examination of indigenous cultures' dancing in ethnographic studies; certainly the field has expanded greatly from these narrow beginnings. Susan Leigh Foster's seminal work, Reading Dancing (1986), looks at contemporary American Dance from a post-structuralist point of view. Foster dissects the work of four American contemporary choreographers historically, thematically, and physically. Foster states that "for any given dance, the viewer must weave together the dance's references to the world and to other dances with its internal organization to establish the harmonies, tensions, and counterpoints that give the dance both its meaning and its energy."101 This search for meaning and the relationship between culture and dance is at the heart of my work. Foster has raised awareness of the body in and outside of dance.
Susan Leigh Foster, Reading Dancing (Berkley: University of California Press, 1986) 97.
35 Dance scholar Cynthia Novack offers an anthropological study of dance as cultural practice in her book Sharing the Dance: Contact Improvisation and American Culture
(1990). Novack examines the unspoken, intrinsic and cultural elements of contact
improvisation, a new experiential dance form developed in the seventies. She wrote this history of contact improvisation from an embedded place of experience with her own body in mind. My approach to Canadian choreography employs a similar perspective. In
addition, Novack published a significant ethnographic investigation of ballet, contact improvisation, and traditional Ghanaian dance that focuses on the heightened use of the senses for both the dancer and the audience in these dance forms. Her article on these three disparate dance styles appears in Jane C. Desmond's anthology entitled, Meaning in
Motion: New Cultural Studies of Dance, another important contribution to this growing field. Desmond acknowledged the lack of literature on dance as an expression of culture
(not just indigenous cultures) and collected articles that explore the ideological, theoretical and social meanings of dance. In her article, "Embodying Difference," she points out that "dance remains a greatly undervalued and under theorized arena of bodily discourse."103 Desmond argues for the ongoing rigorous examination of the dancing body and kinesthetic semiotics, in relation to meaning and culture. I am using multiple methodologies in order to consider Canadian choreography in this rigorous way.
In the last months of her life, she dropped Novack, her first husband's name, and chose to use Cynthia Jean Cohen Bull, to make reference to her maiden name and her second husband's name. (I have chosen to use just Novack in the text to avoid confusion.) 103 Jane C. Desmond, "Embodying difference: issues in dance and cultural studies," Meaning in Motion: New Cultural Studies of Dance, ed. Jane C. Desmond (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997) 29.
36 Ethnographic and anthropological approaches to dance make up only part of the literature of dance and culture; several scholars argue for phenomenological consideration of dance as well. Sondra Horton Fraleigh's book, Dance and The Lived Body (1987), presents a new way to consider dance - through the embodiment of both the performer and the spectator. Her approach asserts that dance is lived beyond the limits of language alone.
Fraleigh was one of several scholars to expand dance studies to consider theories in cultural studies, women's studies,104 ethnography, sociology and psychology and how they apply to dance. The groundbreaking work of Foster, Novack, Desmond and
Fraleigh established the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies in dance where my study will occur. As embodied spectators/participants, Foster, Novack, Desmond and
Fraleigh acknowledge the dancing body as a significant primary source. Although the content of their work is somewhat peripheral to my research, their methodology and consideration of the dancing body informs most study in this field.
Perhaps the most significant text in this second field is Susan Manning's Ecstasy and the
Demon: feminism and nationalism in the dances of Mary Wigman. The book focuses on the importance of twentieth century modern dance as a transmitter of culture, stating that
"modern dance represented the Zeitgeist of a particular culture and called for distinctly
American forms."105 This groundbreaking work on the German dancer/choreographer
Mary Wigman provides important insight into the relationship of dance to the State. In
104 There is a growing body of literature that uses feminist theory to examine performance. For example, Sue Ellen Case's writing on performance and the body is significant. This is an important field that is on the periphery of my research due to the fact that the majority of Canadian choreographers in this era are men. Although, I do make reference to it in Chapter six when I examine a piece of choreography by Marie Chouinard. 105 Manning 256.
37 her introduction, Manning refers to the writing of Raymond Williams concerning the
sociology of culture and to Benedict Anderson's term 'imagined community' when
considering national identity. Manning notes Wigman's changing sense of nation; she
sees "a shift in [Wigman's] staging of an 'imagined community,' from a Utopian
reconciliation of authority and autonomy to a dystopian counterpoint between the leader
and the mass."106 Manning posits Mary Wigman's complex connection to and
transmission of German nationalism. She argues that Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham
and Mary Wigman all danced woman; but, Duncan and Graham danced both woman and
the heroic American self, whereas Wigman danced the Germanic soul of woman. In
particular, she uses the terms American and German (dancing) body, which are
fascinating concepts when considering the role of dance (and the dancing body) in
Canadian culture. For Manning, "nationalism involves imagined connections between
the individual body and the collective body"107 and modern dance was the ultimate
expression of a national identity. This social constructivist statement draws a clear
connection between the individual (dancing) body and the collective body. Manning
argues that modern dance connects with the spectator on common ground - spirituality
and nationality. Manning's connection between the individual and the collective will be
central to my study.
Canadian Choreography
Manning 11. Manning 28.
38 My third and final area of inquiry is Canadian choreography. Western theatrical dance in
Canada only developed professionally in the second half of the twentieth century. It is a relatively young art form that has garnered limited academic research.108 The articles and books primarily document and evaluate the history of significant dance companies in
Canada, the lives of important Canadian dance artists and/or the development of specific works of dance. These texts provide data, but not a significant amount of analysis.
Canadian choreography has not been examined as a field by very many authors.109 Texts on Canadian dance, by Anderson, Bruner, Crabb, Jackson, Neufeld, Officer, Saxton,
Smith, Strate and Wyman, will support my general historical analysis of the field.
Specifically, Dance Current editor Megan Andrews' article on the history of the defunct
Dance in Canada Association provides an important perspective on the relationship between the federal government and the dance community (and the rifts within the community itself). Two recent anthologies that focus specifically on the dancing body, edited by Canadian dance scholars Doolittle, Flynn, and Webb, have broadened the field of Canadian dance studies and provide notable articles for this research. Articles and books by Citron, Febvre et al, Gelinas, Macdonald, Tembeck and Wyman directly address or relate to specific works of dance I will examine. In addition, Parachute editor
For example, a formal journal of Canadian dance studies does not currently exist, although the Dance Department at York University published two issues of Canadian Dance Studies in the nineties. Currently, the majority of publications come from the Society for Canadian Dance Studies and Dance Collection Danse. The national academic organization, the Society for Canadian Dance Studies, created in 2000, publishes scholarly articles quarterly online (these articles are compiled in CD-ROMs). The small press, Dance Collection Danse, has published the majority of books, anthologies and magazines on Canadian choreography over the last twenty years. 109 Vancouver critic Max Wyman's book Dance Canada, published in 1989, was an important publishing landmark. Unfortunately, the text lacks a bibliography and therefore is problematic in the academic setting. Scholar Iro Tembeck's Dancing in Montreal (1994), although not national in scope, is a seminal study of some of the major Canadian choreographers and companies. Choreographer/writer Carol Anderson's two book series, Chasing the Tale of Contemporary Dance certainly documents a large volume of Canadian choreography at the Canada Dance Festival (2000 and 2002) but avoids statements about the nature of the art form in relationship to the culture. The 2004 anthology Canadian Dance Stories and Visions offers numerous diverse articles on many aspects of Canadian dance.
39 and writer Chantal Pontbriand's article, entitled, "Expanded Dance (Extreme Dance)",
which examines the link between the body and dance, will be relevant when I evaluate
the Canadian dancing bodies in choreography. Although the scholarly writing on
Canadian choreography is limited, it will act as a springboard for my original research in
this growing field.
Gaps in the Literature
The literature on national identity in dance around the world is small. None of the
following international examples examine dance in the same way or with the same methodology as this dissertation. Three articles on African American, English and Israeli dance loosely relate to this area of research. Ann Cooper-Albright's article, "Embodying
History: Epic Narrative and Cultural Identity in African American Dance," considers epic narrative dances that embody and represent the choreographers' feelings about slavery, colonialism and religion. Geraldine Morris' article, "The Making of a National Style: the
Emergence of an English Dancing Style in the Early 20th Century," analyzes the work of a group of dancers, critics and teachers who attempted to create a national style of British ballet in the Twenties. Elke Kaschl's ethnographic study entitled "Aesthetics of
Identification: Performing the Nation in Israeli Folk Dancing Under the Impact of
Globalization," investigates the implications of Israeli folk dance, a style created in the twentieth century as a form of cultural nationalism that is specifically taught and practiced in New York City. I will not be comparing Canadian choreography to African-
American, English, or Israeli dance, but I felt the existence of these articles warranted mention. Kaschl's article considers the establishment and export of national identity in
40 dance. The dance of a nation as consumed by international audiences is also addressed in
Naima Prevots' book, Dance for Export: Cultural Diplomacy and the Cold War, which
studies State-supported tours of American dance companies. Examining the production,
performance and reception of Canadian dance outside our borders could be the topic for
further research.
Canadian dance studies, a growing field, has seldom addressed the concept of national
identity. In the Canadian dance literature, there are several texts on the evolution of
particular dance companies, some biographies on specific Canadian artists, and a few
histories of dance in Canada. These texts examine the details of Canadian dance, but do
not scrutinize Canadian dance as a form of national expression. For example, Carol
Anderson's text, This Passion: for the Love of Dance, documents the work of specific
choreographers but the text does not analyze Canadian choreography as a whole. I hope
that my research will place Canadian dance on an equal footing with the other performing
arts.
Canadian choreography suffers, somewhat like Canadian theatre, from a great divide between work produced in Quebec and the rest of the country. This divide becomes readily apparent in the mid to late eighties with the emergence of several new Quebecois
companies and choreographers. This study considers choreography from several regions of Canada, initially focusing on English Canada (because that is where the dance boom began) but then examining three works from Quebec in an effort to address the relationship between English and French Canadian dance communities. My research
41 addresses four gaps in the literature on Canadian dance: first, the general absence of
comprehensive material on the dance boom era; second, minimal examination of the
impact of cultural policy on the development of Canadian dance; third, a lack of
comparison of Canadian dance to other art forms in the era; and fourth, an absence of
analysis of two forgotten works of Canadian choreography.110
This specific archival material, such as reports, briefs, letters, meeting minutes,
newsletters, and other rare documents, used in each chapter come from a variety of
libraries and archives and carry a certain amount of bias. These sources make up the
majority of my research. Each chapter also relies on the relevant Canada Council Annual
Reports as central documents. These Annual Reports serve as significant primary sources
and include an introduction that summarizes Canadian artistic activity during the year.
Each chapter also includes analysis of a work of Canadian choreography from a video
copy. Although this is not the ideal way to appreciate and examine a work of dance, in
most cases it was the only way to see the work. In an effort to minimize the
shortcomings of the recording, I have also consulted other primary and secondary sources
about the five pieces of choreography. My five examples of Canadian choreography
were chosen based on premiere date, geography and impact of the choreographer. I
wanted to look at five pieces that were produced around the same time as a new fund or
policy was created in order to examine the relationship between the State and the dance
community.
Conclusions
110 There are a few secondary sources on David Earle's Baroque Suite, Marie Chouinard's Marie Chien Noir and Jean-Pierre Perreault's Joe, but Brian Macdonald's Rose Latulippe and Lawrence Adams's "The Brick Series" have been virtually ignored by dance writers.
42 This study is the first of its kind. My research is driven by a desire to first, fill some of
the gaps in the literature on Canadian dance, and second, examine dance through cultural
policy. This research utilizes numerous archival documents on cultural policy, many
forgotten or disregarded. These primary sources along with five works of choreography
from the same period (and writing on those works) provide the majority of data regarding
the relationship between the State and the dance community.
My methodology is a blend of approaches and is similar to other dance scholars, such as
Susan Manning, who have used more than one method from various disciplines to
consider performance and the body. My methodology is innovative because of the use of
policy analysis in relation to Canadian dance. Although choreographers are often
reluctant to discuss the relationship of policy to the production of art, policy offers a
unique perspective on Canadian culture.
My writing relies on the philosophical writing on Canadian culture as a foundation,
especially B.W. Powe. Particularly, my writing compares Canadian dance to other art
forms, contextualizing the perspective and struggle of the dance community. Alan
Filewod's Performing Nation is a comparable study in Canadian theatre to my research
on Canadian dance. Although the literature on Canadian choreography is limited, the writings of teacher/choreographer Grant Strate inspired this research into the dance boom era. Therefore, Strate's writing appears throughout this dissertation. I hope my research will begin a deeper scholarly conversation on the nature of Canadian dance.
43 Chapter Three Dancing through the Centennial of Confederation in 1967
National identity, as conceived by the State, and national identity as portrayed by artists
intersected in 1967 with the Centennial of Confederation.''l The Centennial offered arts
organizations specialized one-time-only funding for celebratory performances. When
other artistic communities were coming together and speaking as a unified group, dance
companies (primarily ballet) and dance artists simply did not. In 1967, the dance
profession was not recognized as a community because of its size and differences; it was
separated by technique (British ballet and other), language (French and English), and
geography (West, Central and Quebec). As a result, dance organizations did not take full
advantage of the opportunities presented by the Centennial for publicity, advocacy, and
subsequently, funding.
The Federal government created the Centennial Commission to provide funds to towns
and institutions for projects and performances that represented Canada. The Centennial
celebrations were intentionally ambiguous and inclusive; everything for everybody.
Some of the most notable celebrations included a team of voyageurs traveling in a
convoy of canoes across the country; a train full of Canadian heritage exhibits making a
whistle-stop tour of the country (reaching an unprecedented 10 million Canadians); and
Festival Canada, a 6 month-long celebration of art and culture that occurred in every
111 For a description of the primary and secondary sources used in each chapter see Appendix Two. 112 "Festival Canada ... on tour is 16 professional companies traveling to over 60 cities,... in the national Capital is a spectacle on Parliament hill staged by Tyrone Guthrie,... at Home is the organization of regional and amateur entertainment,... Grants and Commissions is assistance to performing groups, commissioning 40 works of music 20 new plays,..." Arthur Stinson, Centennial Programs after '67: a review of the programs of the Centennial Commission and then potential beyond 1967 (Ottawa: Social Development Branch of the Secretary of State, 1966) 169.
44 major city and included tours across the country. Expo '67 in Montreal, and its
corresponding World Festival of Arts,113 was a separate organization from the Centennial
Commission, but was equally significant. The Centennial Commission was separated into three divisions: Historical, Ceremonial and Cultural. These divisions (and committees and subdivisions) enacted projects such as the Community Improvement
Program, a Centennial Guidebook for Teachers, the Centennial Athletic Awards114, and the Centennial Symbol. These projects are excellent examples of State-supported cultural expression. This chapter specifically focuses on the work of the Cultural Division, specifically Performing Arts.115
Performing Arts Division of the Centennial Commission
The planning for Canada's Centennial celebrations began in 1959, under Diefenbaker's
Conservative majority. The inaugural meeting of the National Committee on Canada's
Centennial was held on February 8th, 1960. Notably, the non-partisan work of this crown corporation spanned both Liberal and Conservative minority governments (1959-1968).
This prestigious committee comprised representatives from each province and a Chair - in the form of the Secretary of State. Various agencies, both federal and provincial, postured to secure people on this influential committee charged with a complex task and
113 The dance companies to perform at the World Festival in conjunction with Expo '67 "were Belgium's Ballet du vingtieme siecle, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, the Royal Ballet of Britain, the Australian Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the New York City Ballet, the Martha Graham Dance Company, the National Dance Theatre of Jamaica, the Troupe nationale folklorique tunisienne, the Japanese Folkloric Art Dance Company, Music and Dance of India, and Fiesta Cubana." Thomas C. Brown, "The World Festival," Encyclopedia of Canadian Music [website] (Toronto: Encyclopedia of Canadian Music, accessed 26 January 2007), http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=UlSEC835023. 114 Reference to these projects was found in the N.A.M. MacKenzie fonds at the University of British Columbia online archival listings. 115 See Appendix Three for an organizational chart.
45 a large multi-million dollar budget. In September of 1961, Parliament passed the
National Centennial Act according the Commission powers, and more importantly
government funds, to undertake the festivities.116 The Centennial Commission was
charged "to promote interest in, and to plan and implement programs and projects
relating to the Centennial of Confederation in Canada in order that the Centennial may be
observed throughout Canada in a manner in keeping with its national and historic
significance."117 In other words, the Centennial Commission implemented programs that
recognized Canada's history, but also its national identity. The Performing Arts Division
of the Centennial Commission was headed by the renowned conductor Nicholas
Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt was both a respected artist and administrator who possessed
the necessary skills to negotiate with many intergovernmental agencies and ministries.
Festival Canada, the six-month long performing arts portion of the celebration, was the
primary responsibility of the Performing Arts Division.118 In programming Festival
Canada, organizers were faced with the balancing act between classical, contemporary
and Canadian works.
British colonial attitudes waned as a sense of Canadian patriotism rose in the sixties. For
example, the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism began in 1963 to
address issues facing the modern Canada. Questions about what it meant to be Canadian
and how that would be demonstrated in our symbols and institutions circulated during
116 Records of the Centennial Commission of Canada, RG69, Compiled by Joanne Frodsham (Ottawa: Public Records Division, 1979) 1. Arthur Stinson, Centennial programs after '67'.a review of the programs of the Centennial Commission and their potential beyond 1967 (^Ottawa: Social Development Branch of the Secretary of State, Dec. 1966) 197. 118 The total budget of just Festival Canada was $3,400,000 in 1966.
46 this time. Artists, of all disciplines, often debated these issues. Prime Minister Lester
Pearson's installation of the new Canadian flag and anthem sparked discussions of
national identity. The Centennial was an opportunity for Canadian artists to perform on a
large scale and be recognized. Festival Canada was the primary venue, but there were
other opportunities.
Within the Historical division, arts organizations across Canada were heavily involved in
building new performing arts centres as a legacy of the Centennial.119 In June 1964, arts
consultants attended the Seminar on the "Architectural Requirements for the Performing
Arts in Canada" in Ottawa. Goldschmidt coordinated the proceedings, in which an
impressive array of arts managers and directors from across the country participated.120
The recommendations from the Seminar and subsequent construction would form the
basis of some of today's touring circuit in Canada, beginning with the Arts and Culture
Centre in St. John's and ending with the Centennial Theatre Centre in North Vancouver.
The report from the Seminar on the "Architectural Requirements for the Performing Arts
in Canada" states the 40-50 projects were already underway across the country.121 The
biggest project was the future National Arts Centre in Ottawa (which would not be
completed until 1969). The consultants provided numerous opinions from the technical
requirements of the stage to the capacity of the theatre to draw consistent audiences in
various towns. By 1966, the Centennial Commission had spent more than $3 million on
119 Some restoration projects also served as the home of performing arts institutions, such as the restoration of St. Lawrence Hall, the home of the National Ballet of Canada. 120 Including John Hirsch of the Manitoba Theatre Centre, Mavor Moore of the Confederation Centre in PEI, Wallace Russell of the National Ballet and Canadian Opera Company, and James Domville of the National Theatre School. Centennial Commission, The Architectural requirements for the performing arts in Canada: Report (Ottawa: Centennial Commission, June 1-2, 1964) 3.
47 performing arts centres, art galleries, museums and restoration of historic buildings.
Two primary forces drove this construction - the recommendations of the Massey Report of 1951 and the ongoing work and guidance of the Canada Council.
The Massey Report identified the lack of suitable theatres as a significant problem for the future success of the performing arts community.
We mentioned the lack of playhouses in Canada and on this subject we have heard much throughout the country. We are told that amateur companies are severely restricted in their activities by the almost insurmountable difficulty of finding adequate rehearsal quarters and suitable theatres for their productions ... We have been repeatedly informed that the theatre could be revived if only federal subsidies could be secured for the erection of suitable playhouses throughout Canada and for part of the traveling expenses of Canadian professional companies ... much could [also] be done to make existing accommodation more suitable for theatrical performances if competent advice on this matter were available from a central agency.123
The money (and broad jurisdiction) given to the Centennial Commission afforded it the opportunity to follow through on this section of the Massey Report. Clearly, the
Centennial projects were meant to recognize and give work to Canadian artists, but also to build for future generations. The number of Centennial arenas and theatres124 is a testament to the work of the Commission.
The Seminar on the "Architectural Requirements for the Performing Arts in Canada" also included an address from Peter Dwyer, the Associate Director of the Canada Council in
It appears between the Seminar in 1964 and Stinson's Report in 1966, not all of the projects were off the ground. Several Centennial construction projects lingered into 1968 and beyond. Arthur Stinson, Centennial Programs after '67: a review of the programs of the Centennial Commission and then potential beyond 1967 (Ottawa: Social Development Branch of the Secretary of State, 1966) 168. 123 Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences, Report (Ottawa: Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1951) 196-197. 124 Examples of the Centennial theatres include the Arts and Cultural Centre in St. John's, Newfoundland and the Centennial Auditorium in Saskatoon.
48 1964. An Oxford graduate experienced in administration and theatre, Dwyer earned the respect of everyone who worked with him at the Canada Council.125 He came to the
Canada Council in 1958 after working in the security sections of both the Canadian
National Research Council and the Privy Council Offices. Before coming to Canada, he also spent some time with British military intelligence. Dwyer advanced from the position of Arts Supervisor to Associate Director of the Council. Then, Dwyer assumed the post of Director of the Council from 1969 until 1971. He addressed the Seminar on prospective performing arts centres with a speech on the Canada Council's role called
"Levels of Responsibility." In it, he described the optimum financial situation for the
Centennial theatres. He asserted that, "a building for the performing arts is only an empty shell and the people who have built it have an equal responsibility for the living organisms inside it." Dwyer argued that these new theatres must be home to both amateur and professional productions. He cautioned that, "you [managers] cannot look to the Canada Council for support unless you already have a large measure of local support and unless you can produce something of real [national] value." This statement clearly demonstrated the Council's position as one of many possible funders contributing to the longevity of the Centennial projects.
The State's Concept of Canadian Culture: Festival Canada
In his memoirs, Albert W. Trueman called Dwyer his most brilliant officer as well as an eloquent writer/playwright. 126 While at the Canada Council, Dwyer introduced the concept of discipline-based assessments. During the first ten years of the Council, Dwyer's assessors generally consisted of foreign (often British) artists and critics. See Katherine Cornell, "The Ballet Problem" Proceedings ofEstivale 2000: Canadian Choreography Then and Now, ed. Tembeck, Iro. (Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2002) 97-110. 127 Peter Dwyer, "Levels of Responsibility," Centennial Commission, The Architectural requirements for the performing arts in Canada: Report (Ottawa: Centennial Commission, June 1-2, 1964) 56. 128 Dwyer 56.
49 The mandate of Festival Canada was "to present a program that must be as diversified in
content as it is wide-spread geographically."129 The Festival's programming included
three types of productions: new Canadian works that did not tour, companies who toured
classical works (and some new works), and foreign companies that supplemented the
celebration. In Montreal, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens performed two new works in
December of 1966, La Corriveau by choreographer Brydon Paige130 and composer
Alexander Brott (based on the story of the Quebec City murderess Marie-Josephte
Corriveau) and Pointes sur Glace by choreographer Michel Conte and composer Calixa
Lavallee (where the dancers sang O Canada at the conclusion). In Toronto, the Canadian
Opera Company premiered the epic Riel by Harry Somers and Mavor Moore. In
Vancouver, the Playhouse produced George Ryga's play The Ecstasy of Rita Joe.ni In
theatre and dance, a greater amount of touring happened, but not necessarily of Canadian
repertoire with the exception of the musical Anne of Green Gables and the variety folk
dance show produced by Les Feux-Follets.
Companies performing the classics included Theatre de Nouveau Monde, the Stratford
Festival and the National Ballet of Canada. Theatre de Nouveau Monde toured The
Bourgeois Gentleman by Moliere. In the winter of 1967, the Stratford Festival company
toured Twelfth Night and Antony and Cleopatra. The National Ballet of Canada toured
Centennial Commission, Performing Arts Division, Festival Canada: The Performing Arts Program in the Centennial of Canadian Confederation (Ottawa: Centennial Commission, 1966) 16. 130 Paige and Brott, Conte and Lavallee were all Canadian. 131 Other important plays of the year included Ann Henry's Lulu Street, James Reaney's Colours in the Dark, and the 1965 musical version of Lucy Maud Montgomery's enduring hit Anne of Green Gables. 132 The Stratford Festival Archives has the company touring these two works and The Government Inspector in 1967. It is unclear which works were part of the Festival Canada tour.
50 The Nutcracker and La Sylphide.m This wave of classicism aimed to bring art to the hinterland. These tours offered great performing opportunities to Canadian artists and more choice to Canadian audiences. The classical thrust of the programming trained audiences for new, more adventuresome work (as Stratford's first director Tyrone
Guthrie had argued in his article, "A Long View of the Stratford Festival"). In addition,
Festival Canada included non-Canadian companies, such as Ballet de XXieme Siecle534 and the New York Philharmonic, touring the country as well. As the planners had envisioned, the Centennial celebrations would offer something to every Canadian and the programming content of Festival Canada was no exception. Festival Canada's local and touring productions raised the awareness of art throughout the country and the impact was felt in many sectors, especially education.
Teaching Canadian Culture: Curriculum at the Time of the Centennial
Festival Canada also acted as a catalyst for changes in the education system across
Canada. As mentioned, the Centennial ushered in a greater sense of patriotism in many forms of policy, in particular education. The publication of the Centennial Guidebook for
Teachers accentuated the many possible sources for lesson planning around Canadian topics and links between Centennial activities and the curriculum. Some provinces released a more specific document for their teachers. For example, the Ontario
Department of Education published a document entitled Curriculum and the Centennial with the purpose of advising teachers on how to modify the curriculum to incorporate
133 Centennial Commission, Performing Arts Division, Festival Canada: The Performing Arts Program in the Centennial of Canadian Confederation (Ottawa: Centennial Commission, 1966) 16. 134 Maurice Bejart's company was invited to tour as part of Festival Canada and perform in Montreal in the World Festival of the Arts. Bejart also attended the Canadian Theatre Centre's Colloquium '67 in Montreal.
51 IOC t
Centennial themes. Then Minister of Education, Bill Davis, wrote, "English, Social
Studies, History and Geography, Art, Music, Home Economics and even Science in part,
are subjects that lend themselves to the introduction of Centennial material." 136
Specifically, in history and geography, students would focus on local projects such as
oral histories and teachers benefited from the numerous publications of the Centennial
Commission to teach more Canadian content. This curriculum document used the arts as
a tool of national identity. Eventually, these changes resulted in the hiring of more
specialist teachers and the promotion of the arts across the curriculum. In addition,
teachers introduced students to more performances and art galleries.
In January of 1967, the in-school performance program, Prologue to the Performing Arts,
began in Toronto and was part of the educational movement to augment the arts
curriculum in schools. In the first season, it included tours of Young People's Theatre,
the Canadian Opera Company, and the National Ballet of Canada to junior and senior
high schools in the Toronto area.137 The purpose of this program was (and remains)138 to
introduce students to the art form with short excerpts and behind-the-scenes activities.
Students interact with professional artists in their schools and gain an appreciation of the
work they do. It is not a coincidence that Prologue to the Performing Arts emerged in the
Centennial year when Canadians' consciousness of the arts was perhaps at its highest to
Bill Davis would go on to become Premier of Ontario from 1971-1985. 136 Curriculum Division, "Curriculum and the Centennial," (Toronto: The Ontario Department of Education, 1967) i. 137 "Acts and Facts," Stage in Canada volume 2, issue 1 (January 1967): 14. 138 In 2003,1 acted as the narrator in the National Ballet's current Prologue production for numerous schools in the greater metro Toronto area. Prologue remains a primary provider of in-school arts programming.
52 date. Prologue to the Performing Arts,139 along with the building of Centennial theatres,
is one of the legacies of the Centennial celebration of Canadian artists.
Changes to curriculum, in part, signaled the beginning of a new era. A large portion of
the Canadian population was young and interested in change. In addition, American
participation in the Vietnam War furthered Canadian nationalism and the need to
distinguish ourselves from our neighbours. As a result, State policies reflected this
renewed patriotism and a general desire for Canadiana. Dance organizations heeded that
desire, to a certain extent; but the Canadian theatre community capitalized on the
Centennial money and spirit with several national projects and noteworthy productions.
Activity in Canadian Theatre: The Centennial Play and Colloquium '67
The Canadian theatre community in 1967 was larger and more unified than dance.140
Dance did not lobby as one community - it was split into factions: the three ballet
companies, Les Feux-Follets (Canada's national folk dance company), and two fledgling
modern dance companies. These three factions rarely communicated and were not
represented by a unifying body. In contrast, the theatre community had been active
advocates for the advancement of the form since prior to the founding of the Canada
Council (in 1957). National service organizations such as the Canadian Theatre Centre
(CTC) and the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) have represented
139 Prologue was the first artist in the schools program and is Ontario-based. Other programs, such as ArtSmarts, operate in different regions throughout Canada. 140 It is presumptuous to suggest the Canadian theatre community always got along. In comparison to the dance profession, the Canadian theatre community appears more organized and cohesive. The research for this section is based primarily on documents from the Canadian Theatre Centre, which certainly favoured English-Canadian theatre in this period.
53 the community federally, particularly when it comes to issues of cultural policy. This
consolidation of advocacy and synthesis of purpose resulted in more awareness of and
funding for theatre. The activities of the Canadian theatre community during the
Centennial, although not all successful, provide a context for assessing the dance
profession's unwillingness to rally around a common cause.
The Performing Arts Division of the Centennial commissioned at least one new major
work per artistic discipline. In theatre, Leon Major, founder and director of the Neptune
Theatre in Halifax, conceived The Centennial Play. Major stated that The Centennial
Play reviewed Canada from five different regions and points of view.142 Towards this
end, he worked with five different playwrights on the various sections. The play was
coordinated by Robertson Davies who wrote the Prologue, the Epilogue and the section
on Ontario. The other writers included W.O. Mitchell from Saskatchewan, Arthur
Murphy of the Maritimes, Yves Theriault from Quebec, and Eric Nicol of British
Columbia. It had two very short runs, only in Ontario. The first production (performed
in Lindsay, Ontario in October 1966) was directed and choreographed by Frank Canino.
The play was performed a second time with revisions by the "Ottawa Little Theatre[,]
directed by Peter Boretski on January 11, 1967. After its poor reception in Ottawa, W.O.
Mitchell defended the play, pointing out that it was not intended for Broadway or West
End London but rather for little theatre groups and church or school dramas: 'it was
141 The Canadian Theatre Centre began working with the Canada Council from the beginning in 1957. It closed in 1969. The Professional Association of Canadian Theatres was created in 1976. Although there were other national services organizations (such as the Playwrights' Union) opened in the seventies to represent the different interests in the theatre community. The dance community organized for the first time in 1973 with the formation of the Dance in Canada Association (DICA). Sadly, DICA did not survive the Mulroney years and a comparable replacement has yet to emerge. 142 Robertson Davies, The Centennial Play (Ottawa: Centennial Commission, 1966) 11.
54 meant to be a mosaic of Canadian history, taking ourselves lightly and with affection.'"143 Unfortunately, the complicated nature of the text made the piece clumsy.
The brief performance run and the lack of commentary on the work indicate that The
Centennial Play was not successful. Regardless, members of the theatre community took other opportunities to create new groundbreaking productions and to congregate and discuss the nature of the art form in Canada.
The Canadian Theatre Centre, under the direction of Secretary General Tom Hendry, hosted the International Theatre Institute's World Conference on Theatre Design in June of 1967 in Montreal (in association with Expo '67). In May 1967, Hendry wrote of the upcoming event, "great theatre men and women of the world will gather to discuss our art, its nature, outlook, present and future, with specific reference to the theatrical architecture which is the ultimate expression of our own society's faith in the permanent relevance of theatre."144 International panelists included writer/philosopher Roland
Barthes, playwrights Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, director Jerzy Grotowski and choreographer Maurice Bejart. In all, more than five hundred delegates participated in the colloquium from forty-five countries.145 Jean-Louis Roux, CTC's President, stated that the purpose of Colloquium '67 was for the Canadian performing arts community146 to reflect on the past and dream about the future - with the guidance of internationally renowned artists and directors. In the July issue of Stage in Canada (the Theatre Centre's
143 McLay, Catherine. "W.O. Mitchell Papers Biocritical essay." University of Calgary, Library [website] (Calgary: University of Calgary, accessed 10 November 2006) http://www.ucalgary.ca/lib- old/SpecColl/mitchell/biocrit.htm 144 Tom Hendry, "Colloquium '67: the design of theatres," Stage in Canada volume 3, issue 3 (May 1967): 4. 145 Arvi Kivimaa, "postscript to Colloquium '67," Stage in Canada volume 3, issue 5 (July 1967): 4. 146 Notably, the three ballet companies were members of the Canadian Theatre Centre. I have found no documentation to suggest they even sent representatives to Colloquium '67.
55 publication), the director of the Finnish National Theatre, Arvi Kivimaa noted that,
"theatre is actually an art of the elite, but theatres ought to be attended by everyone." 7
The move towards more inclusive and accessible theatre was beginning to happen across
Canada.148 Colloquium '67 was an incredible undertaking by the CTC. It marks, in
Canadian theatre history, the beginning of a greater interest in stories by Canadian playwrights. Uniquely Canadian plays such as Les Belles Soeurs by Michel Tremblay and Leaving Home by David French were subsequently produced and remounted with success. The fact that the theatre community was talking about the nature of truly
Canadian theatre separates it from dance organizations that struggled to get along and see themselves as Canadian.
In addition to Colloquium '67, the Canadian Theatre Centre also received special funding from the Canada Council to produce the Theatre Yearbook for 1965-66. This first volume (there were subsequent volumes in the seventies) included an article on English-
Canadian theatre by Toronto Star critic Nathan Cohen, an article on French-Canadian theatre by Martial Dassylva, an article on Canadian opera by Toronto Star critic William
Littler, and an article on Canadian ballet by Francean Campbell.149 The subjects reflected the membership of the CTC. The articles summarized and critiqued the major productions of the year. Black and white photographs documenting the activity supplemented the articles. The yearbook also included cast lists for numerous productions as well as attendance charts. Again, the CTC conscious documentation of the era is significant in and of itself. However, the dance profession was not unified in its
147 Arvi Kivimaa, "postscript to Colloquium '67," Stage in Canada volume 3, issue 5 (July 1967): 4. 148 The ballet companies were not considering inclusively or accessibility yet. 149 "Acts and Facts," Stage in Canada volume 3 issue 3 (May 1967): 23.
56 consideration or treatment of the Centennial. In comparison to theatre, it was every dance company for itself.
Traditional Approaches: Differences between The Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB),
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (LGB) and the National Ballet of Canada (NBOC)
In the sixties, professional Canadian dance primarily consisted of the three ballet companies in Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal.150 The Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Les
Grands Ballets have always been smaller companies than the National Ballet. Each company performed slightly different styles of ballet, originating from different traditions. The repertoire of each company was also different: Les Grands Ballets' roots were in Russian ballet and its repertoire, the National Ballet considered itself the
Canadian Sadler's Wells Ballet and performed primarily full-length classics, and the
Royal Winnipeg Ballet's repertoire was more eclectic, representing influences from
England and the United States. When the three companies toured the country, they competed with each other for audiences. In the early sixties when the Canada Council was less than five years old, Peter Dwyer suggested merging the three companies to create one flagship akin to the Canadian Opera Company. At this time, the Canada
Council preferred to support one large company per discipline with its finite resources.151
This imprudent plan was rejected, for many reasons, in 1962. Subsequently, the
Canada Council informally encouraged the ballet companies to distinguish themselves
150 Even though in the late fifties and early sixties there had been modern dance festivals, teachers and companies, the Canada Council did not fund modern dance until 1966 and did not consider it an established form until the seventies. 151 At this time, the Canada Council's operating budget came from the interest off of an endowment. Soon, that would not be enough money to support the growing arts disciplines. 1521 examined Dwyer's plan for the all-star Canadian ballet companies in my Masters MRP, the Ballet Problem. See Katherine Cornell, "The Ballet Problem" Proceedings ofEstivale 2000: Canadian Choreography Then and Now, ed. Tembeck, Iro. (Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2002) 97-110.
57 from each other to justify funding. Consequently, tension over the quality of work and
over money bred hostility and schisms between the three ballet companies. When the
modern dance companies were created in the mid and late sixties, the competition for
funding was already stiff and resentment of the ballet companies by the modern dance
group began. These differences and rivalries resulted in a professional group that was
much more fractured than was the Canadian theatre community.
Although it was the only ballet company of the three to tour in the Centennial year, the
National Ballet appeared less progressive than its counterparts. The National Ballet did not create a new work for the tour; they went with classical standards (The Nutcracker and La Sylphide) whereas both the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Les Grands Ballets offered new original Canadian works in 1967 to their home audiences.153 The mixed program format,154 used by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens for Festival Canada, allowed for greater experimentation by emerging Canadian choreographers. It is important to note that all three companies cultivated Canadian choreographers like Grant Strate, Brian Macdonald and Fernand Nault. But only RWB and LGB trusted these choreographers with
Centennial projects. In years to come, as the Canada Council developed informal and then formal policies on Canadian content, the National Ballet would be required to correct this inequity by increasing its Canadian content.
At this time, Cultural policy for dance was a new concept. The Canada Council separated Ballet from Theatre and Opera in the 1967/68 Annual Report, but the Dance
153 Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, in addition to the two commissions, performed Canadian choreographer Fernand Nault's Carmina Burana as part of the World Festival of the Arts in Montreal during Expo '67. 154 A mixed program usually includes three shorter works of less than an hour in length each.
58 Section proper would not be created until 1972. Jean Roberts, Canada Council officer, was responsible for both theatre and dance. Even though the title had been changed from
Ballet to Dance, the ballet companies (and the National Ballet School) remained the primary clients until the mid-seventies. The Centennial offered the ballet companies another brief source of income, and a chance to grow in order to reach more Canadians.
More importantly, it offered Les Feux-Follets justification for their professional status
(and therefore funding from the Canada Council beyond just special festivals). This funding of Les Feux-Follets155 was the first time Council had supported a non-ballet dance company and it would be a small step towards diversity within the dance clients serviced by Council. Without a national advocacy group to check the Council's actions, its policies on dance were left unquestioned, for the time being.
Following the Canada Council's example, the Centennial Commission worked only with the three ballet companies and Les Feux-Follets. Although the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's
Rose Latulippe was the jewel of the Centennial commissions in ballet, Les Grands Ballets
Canadiens did produce two smaller works for December 1966. Francean Campbell156 wrote in the Theatre Yearbook, "Most appropriate, perhaps to the Centennial idea was La
Corriveau, by the company's resident choreographer, Brydon Paige; a big ballet with a
French Canadian story for its base and enough intrinsic color [sic] and tension for anyone's taste. Alexander Brott's score was enriched by songs by the celebrated Gilles
155 Canada Council funding for Les Feux-Follets was short-lived, as it became a commercial company (and therefore ineligible for public funding). 156 This short article looks at the activities of the three ballet companies separately, not as a form or community. Campbell was not a well-known dance critic in 1966. She appears (from other writing) to be a general arts critic interested in the performing arts and media. She now writes under the name Francean Campbell Rich.
59 Vigneault, and the whole was approached in modern, rather than classical terms."
Ironically, Campbell's assessment of La Corriveau hints at the problems in Rose
Latulippe. Rose Latulippe failed because the twelve-tone modern score did not suit the
neo-Romantic ballet choreography. Campbell also suggests that the Royal Winnipeg
Ballet earned the Centennial Commission (over the other two companies) for a strong
performance at the Commonwealth arts festival in 1965. Campbell's short article in the
Theatre Yearbook attests to the differences between Canada's three ballet companies. In
1967 (and beyond), the Canadian dance community struggled with the dialectic of
classical ballet and modern dance. The Centennial Commission sidestepped the conflict
somewhat and commissioned popular ballet choreographer Brian Macdonald. His ballet,
Rose Latulippe, was accessible because of the narrative and was traditional because of the
medium.
A Traditional Canadian ballet: the Centennial commissioned Rose Latulippe
The Canadian content in the Centennial commissions was often evident and at times
heavy-handed. For example, numerous Canadiana booklets published by the
Commission discussed momentous events in Canadian history with patriotic hindsight.
Most of the productions in the performing arts were of a large scale and included a
historical component. The commission of the new Canadian ballet Rose Latulippe was
not an exception. This work was an attempt to combine government sanctioned
Canadiana with the tradition of ballet. The programme note for Rose Latulippe read
157 Francean Campbell. "The diverse directions of the dance," Theatre Yearbook 1965/66, The Stage in Canada volume 3, number 8A (Special Annual Issue, 1967): 30. 158 In dance, the paper handed out before a performance is commonly called the programme, whereas all other usage of the word reverts to the common spelling of program.
60 like justification for the commission, for it focused more on the use of the French-
Canadian legend than it did on the resulting ballet.
The birth of the ballet Rose Latulippe had many intersections with national identity. The
Canadian content is apparent in the collaborative artistic team, the location of the premiere, as well as the narrative of the work. The music and the choreography, by
Harry Freedman and Brian Macdonald respectively, were acclaimed as outstanding based
solely on their nationality. The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, North America's oldest ballet
company, seemed a fitting vehicle for the piece. The work premiered at the Stratford
Festival, the home of national theatre in 1966. The ballet is based on a French-Canadian
legend (found in L 'influence d'un Livre by Phillipe Aubert de Gaspe, 1837) in which a girl dances with the devil to her doom. Macdonald had discovered the legend at the
suggestion of modern dancer and choreographer Francoise Sullivan. It was heralded as the first full-length ballet159 based on a Canadian theme by a Canadian choreographer who would work with all three ballet companies.
ii'i.\c /..//«///»/»«• is a ballet in three acts. In the first act. Rose is ;ii home pra_\mg under I he watchful c\c of her mother. I he ullage priesl enters and blesses Rose, establishing the ilexoui laith of her moihei. especialk dining I eni. After this solemn introduction. Rose begins to prepare for the ullage dance. I ler mother sews a lew Mowers lo her plain dress
(\\ hen liei moihei isn't looking. Rose adds more decoration, demonstrating her whimsical nature.) It is elear that Rose is e\cited but her mother feels it is not appiopriale to dance after midnight during I ent.
159 Gweneth Lloyd's Shadow on a Prairie, created in 1952, was a seminal ballet on a Canadian theme but it did not qualify as a full-length work.
61 I lie second net hcuuis w nil the \ illagcis tia\chn» along ihc n\er lo a ham. the locution of i i the gathering. 1 he ensemble glides across the simulated ice surface. 'I he length} skating i sequence emphasizes the similarities between ballet and figure skating. I mall}, the i
villagers, including Rose and her mother. arn\e ai the barn An old man pla\s the llddle
' llist loi a lew townspeople and then loi the enine gioup. 'Ihe> Jap and stomp their I eel
perciissneK. I )unnmhe dance. Rose sneaks awa\ with her low. \nselme. I heir dance is i inierrupted b> the arn\al of an unknown seigneui. who is the De\ il in disguise. The
, demonic stranger gleets Rose's mother lespecifulK and is immediate!} drawn lo Rose. i • ! I lie} dance together, gingei K at fust, then w ith gieat passion In her reckless abandon. i
, Rose loses the crucifix aiound hei neck (whkh the Deul quickl} picks up) \iiselme and
the Devil hoih manipulate Rose as the} continue lo dance lo a le\crish pitch 1 he I)e\ il
wins out. Rose becomes o\eiwhelmed b} her emotions and runs out ol the barn into the
wmtei night
In the iliud act. the townspeople seaich the frozen foiest lor Rose. She is mad with fever
and conies acio>s dancing trees in hei delirium (onK in a Canadian ballet) I let* madness
concludes with a solo in the empt} ghost-like bain where she collapses In a moment of
weakness, the l)e\il succumbs to Rose's \ulnerabilit} and returns her crucifix belore the
test ol the villageis letuin to find hei on the lloor ol the barn She is revived thanks to
the priest - and moral older is icstoicd to tlie small I reneh-t'anadian \illage.
An Independent Canadian Choreographer, Brian Macdonald
62 Brian Macdonald stands out as Canada's first independent internationally recognized
choreographer; his career reflects the relationship of the individual to the Canadian dance
profession. Macdonald's career, as a dancer, choreographer and director, has spanned the
disciplines of dance, musical theatre and opera. He was a charter member of the National
Ballet of Canada but his career as a ballet dancer was cut short due to an arm injury.
Beginning in 1953, Macdonald focused on choreography. He came to national
prominence with the review show My Fur Lady, in which he co-directed, choreographed
and performed. He began working with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 1958, as the
company's first resident choreographer. He created new works for the company while
directing other international companies such as the Royal Swedish Ballet160 (1964-67), the Harkness Ballet of New York (1967-68) and the Batsheva Company of Israel (1971-
72). In 1974, Macdonald returned to Montreal to become the Artistic Director of Les
Grands Ballets Canadiens for three seasons.161 He has won numerous awards and honours, most notably receiving the Order of Canada in 1967.162 Macdonald was successful, in this period, because he recognized that the existing Canadian dance profession was a patchwork not able to fully meet his needs; he left Canada and came back many times and thus his choreography demonstrates many influences.
As a choreographer who has worked in Europe, the Middle East and North America,
Macdonald has been interviewed (and has written) about his style of choreography, which resembles the contained British technique (as opposed to the more flamboyant
160 In Sweden, he met and married dancer Annette av Paul. 161 In the 1980's, he began teaching at the Banff Centre for the Arts. In addition, he has choreographed and staged several musical theatre productions at the Stratford Theatre. 162 For a full biography of Brian Macdonald, see the Canada Council's website from when he won the inaugural Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. http://www.canadacouncil.ca/news/releases/2001 /tml 27240317167812500.htm
63 Russian technique). Certainly, Macdonald was not the only Canadian choreographer using a primarily British technique. He generally preferred working with a narrative or theme for his ballets. His choreography often mixed ballet with modern, jazz, and folk dance. Rose Latulippe exemplified this approach using many styles of dance. For example, he researched folk dances of the region for the ballet, thanking Michel Cartier and Michel S. Louis of the folk dance company Les Feux-Follets in the programme.
In the programme note for the Stratford Festival production of Rose Latulippe,
Macdonald emphasized the similarities between the French Canadian legend and the
Romantic ballet Giselle. 64 In many ways, Rose Latulippe is the Canadian Giselle. For example, Rose disobeys her mother when she dances after midnight during Lent; Giselle disobeys her mother when she dances despite her heart condition. Rose is seduced by a wealthy seigneur/stranger who is really the devil in disguise; Giselle falls in love with
Albrecht, a stranger, who is really royalty in disguise. Of the production, Macdonald stated, "Freedman, Prevost, Solly and I have chosen not to exploit the milieu so much as to abstract the legend to illustrate its universality, although the character and strength of the people who gave birth to it still dominate."165 Macdonald accentuated these narrative similarities, but the ballet had design and choreographic parallels as well. Although not explicitly stated in the programme, Prevost's setting resembled an 18th century peasant village in New France. The peasant women wore tight fitting bodices and full skirts not
163 See Appendix Six for the programme cover of this production. 164 Interestingly, the reference to Giselle in one segment of the programme was omitted in the spring 1967 run of the work in Winnipeg. Perhaps Macdonald felt that because of the changes to the ending of the work, the comparison was no longer valid. (Or perhaps, Winnipeg audiences would not appreciate the reference as much as Stratford audiences.) Giselle is considered the Hamlet of ballets. Jules Perrot and Jean Coralli first choreographed it in 1841. The version most ballet companies perform today is derivative of choreography and staging by Marius Petipa from 1850. 165 Rose Latulippe Stratford programme, August 16-September 3, 1966. Dance Collection Danse, Toronto.
64 unlike those of the Romantic era of ballet. The peasant men wore sashes, vests and jackets - again very similar to the costume design of other balletic standards. Although the story was set in New France, the set which included a house, forest and barn were
common Romantic ballet locales. The choreography followed many balletic traditions.
Macdonald maintains the pointe work convention throughout the ballet. 6 He also created solos, duets and group divertissements in a predictable manner seen in most ballets. However, Macdonald rejected the standard pas de deux format in lieu of a more contemporary narrative-driven duet.
Rose Latulippe exhibited influences of both the British and French ballet styles, namely the narrative tradition. In the sixties, narrative ballets shared the stage with more abstract works such as Balanchine's Agon. Significant choreographers who championed the narrative form at this time included John Cranko in Germany and Sir Frederick Ashton in
England. Cranko revitalized the pas de deux and choreographed the first Shakespearean ballets such as Romeo and Juliet (1958). Ashton brought the British pantomime tradition to ballet to create comic works such as La Fille Mai Gar dee (1960).
Macdonald's work somewhat resembles Cranko's because of its use of turns and complicated lifts, particularly in the pas de deux. Macdonald's work more strongly resembles Ashton's because of the technique and its vivacious quality. For example, Rose and Anselme dance in the rafters of the barn, twisting and turning over railings to embody their flirtations not unlike the playful dances with ribbons between Lise and
Colas in Ashton's La Fille Mai Gardee. Macdonald's pas de deux generally do not
166 Pointe work is used throughout even though it may not correspond with the character. For example, when the corps de ballet skates on the pond, they wear pointe shoes designed to look like brown leather skates.
65 employ traveling pathways through space, but tend to be centrally located where the dancers can create a shared kinesphere with turning steps and lifts. The corps de ballet moves in a predictable way, forming lines and patterns in space. This formality is part of the British training where legs and arms are extended with control parallel to the floor not exhibiting amazing feats. The imprint of this polite British training in ballet is evident in Rose Latulippe but so too is a bit of French romanticism.
In the Romantic era, French ballet exceeded all others. Rose Latulippe represents a neo-
Romantic style in Canadian art. As previously mentioned, Macdonald's ballet retells the
Romantic ballet Giselle in a Canadian setting and with a post-modern score. It is a token attempt at Canadian content, and much more similar to ballets of the Romantic era. The strong presence of the supernatural, class struggle, and search for a Utopian existence are hallmarks of Romantic ballets. This ballet tries to be traditional in the majority of its choreography and thus emulates the works of great ballet companies like the Royal Ballet
(London) or the Paris Opera that highly influenced Canadian ballet at that time. In comparison to the groundbreaking work going on in Canadian alternative theatre (such as
George Ryga's Ecstasy of Rita Joe), Rose Latulippe was a small step towards unique and original compositions. It has passed from the memory of today's Canadian dance community.
Concomitantly, the Russian training aims to lift the legs higher and hyper-extend the line of the body at the joints whereas the British training is more conservative with the hips level (thereby limiting the height of the leg).
66 Reviews of Rose Latulippe from the Stratford premiere on August 16, 1966 described it
as a moderate success with an inaccessible score.168 The twelve-tone modern score1 by
Harry Freedman was his first in ballet, whereas designer Robert Prevost had been
working with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet since 1958. After the run in Stratford, the Royal
Winnipeg Ballet returned home and performed the work in April 1967. Macdonald
changed the ending between the Stratford premiere and the Winnipeg run. Reviews of
the Stratford production suggested that the work needed editing and that the ending (the
death of Rose) was disappointing. Francean Campbell wrote in the Theatre Yearbook,
"Rose Latulippe comes more clearly into focus as time goes by since its premiere at
Stratford on a night in mid-August. It has since then, in fact, undergone some change and
modification, but essentially it remains what it set out to be, a thoroughly romantic story
ballet." The Royal Winnipeg Ballet performed the reconstituted work for Radio-
Canada (the French wing of CBC television) in January of 1967 with a modified ending
where Macdonald offered some salvation for Rose. The ballet was performed again in
April 1967 in Winnipeg and once more it received lukewarm reviews. The impact of
Macdonald's full-length Canadian ballet (an art form brought to Canada by immigrants)
appears to be minimal. The archival documentation suggests that the work was not
remounted and slipped from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's institutional memory.171 But
Ralph Hicklin of the Globe and Mail reviewed the initial performance; Michael Olver of the Winnipeg Tribune reviewed the subsequent Winnipeg debut. 169 Twelve-tone scores were a common choice in modern dance, but not ballet. Critics and audiences reacted to the juxtaposition of the score next to the choreography. 170 Francean Campbell. "The diverse directions of the dance," Theatre Yearbook 1965/66, The Stage in Canada volume 3, number 8A (Special Annual Issue, 1967): 30. 171 There is a note in Dance in Canada magazine about Les Grands Ballets Canadiens intending to remount the work in November of 1975; although no such programme exists in Les Grands Ballets Canadiens' archives at Bibliotheque de la danse. La Compagnie de Danse Eddy Toussaint did have work based on the folktale in their repertoire entitled Rose LaTulippe (1979).
67 Rose Latulippe would have a second life (and a different score) with Les Feux-Follets, who performed a version of the folktale beginning in 1968.
Les Feux-Follets: Canada's national folk dance company represents traditional concepts of culture
The only dance company present at the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in
1967 was Les Feux-Follets. Les Feux-Follets, founded and directed (until late in 1968) by Michel Cartier, was billed as Canada's national folk dance company. Carrier began the company in 1952 as an amateur collection of folk dancers; in 1964, the company became professional and began receiving public funding to tour. Cartier named the group after the fireflies of French folklore that entertained the settlers during long summer evenings. Cartier searched the country for dances that represented the different regions of Canada: "Cartier was a natural dance ethnographer: he filmed the dancers, immersed himself in different cultures for months at a time, and learned the history, music and instrumentation for the dances." For Expo '67 and the Festival Canada tour, Les Feux-
Follets performed a variety show of primarily Aboriginal, British and French folk dances called "The Canadian Mosaic."174 In September 1969, American dance critic Marcia
Siegel described "The Canadian Mosaic" in Dance Magazine, "Les Feux-Follets, our northern neighbors gather the strands of their heritage and work at weaving it into a
Amy Bowring, "Les Feux-Follets: A Canadian Dance Enigma," Dance Collection Danse Number 60 (Fall 2005): 16. 173 Bowring 17. 174 Mosaic was a common term used to describe Canadian society at the time.
68 Canadian message to the world." In early 1967, Les Feux-Follets toured Canada for four months, visiting sixty-five cities and performing 126 times.
In 1968, a segment from Rose Latulippe was added to "The Canadian Mosaic" production as the final scene. Macdonald had worked with Cartier and St. Louis to learn some authentic176 folk dances of the region before choreographing the ballet. It was a natural link to bring part of the work177 to Les Feux-Follets. The programme lists choreography by Brian Macdonald and Richard Bergeron, with the concept from Michel
Cartier. Bergeron's choreography was influenced by Ottawa valley step-dancer Donny
Gilchrist.178 Ottawa valley step dance is an aggressive form with jumps of high elevation that combines Scottish and Irish step dance traditions. This style would appear less formalized next to Macdonald's balletic style, would add a local tradition, and would make the work more accessible to a general audience. Rose Latulippe lived on with Les
Feux-Follets for several seasons, less Harry Freedman's 12-tone score. Critics often noted the incompatibility of the musical score and the choreography - a problem Les
Feux-Follets circumvented by enforcing the need for traditional music to suit the story (as was the convention of the company).
In 1967, Les Feux-Follets received funding from the Canada Council as Canada's national folk dance company and as the only company expected to include Canadian
175 Marcia Siegel. "Les Feux-Follets," Dance Magazine (Sept. 1969): 64-67. 176 The question of the authenticity of Cartier research has not yet been addressed by dance scholars. Presumably his work was close to authentic even though it was performed by Western trained dancers. In addition, the issue of cultural appropriation and Les Feux-Follets has not yet been questioned in the field. To date, Amy Bowring has written the only history of the company. 177 Although the programme did not stipulate, I suspect Les Feux-Follets omitted the first act and ice dance scenes to concentrate on the barn dance. 178 Les Feux-Follets programme, 1968, Dance Collection Danse, Toronto.
69 content because of its title and mandate. Les Feux-Follets was an exception to the
funding rule;179 they were only funded from 1965 until 1971 when the priority in funding
shifted to modern dance and individuals. Les Feux-Follets rarely interacted with the rest
of the dance community (although some ballet dancers took contracts with the successful
company). Macdonald appears to be the only choreographer to work for the ballet
companies as well as the folk dance troupe. Les Feux-Follets' successful appropriation
of Rose Latulippe demonstrated that the ballet companies at the time were unable to do
"Canadian" content. Canadian dance, as a concept beyond traditional folk dances, still
needed clarification.
Cultural Policy and the State in 1967
During this time, Trudeau maintained that the federal government should have little role
in fostering culture. The Canada Council remained an arm's length away from the
federal government for this reason. Yet, it was also unclear if both the provincial or municipal governments should be responsible for culture. The question of jurisdiction is an important one when discussing the development of cultural policy. It explains why every level of government funds the arts differently (and why many governments walk away from the arts during recessions because the directive and imperative to fund culture is not clear.) The shape of cultural policy in 1967 was reactive and haphazard, at best.
Not all provinces had provincial funding bodies; some had arm's length councils, some had ministries of culture and some had neither. Dance, as the youngest of the art forms in
Canada, suffered from this lack of policy. If cultural policy existed for dance, it was often modeled on other art forms. At the time of the Centennial, the Canada Council had
179 The expectation of Canadian content was not enforced on any other company at the time.
70 been in existence for only 10 years; its size and shape was changing. It recognized the changing scope of the arts scene in Canada; interest in contemporary art was rising, post- secondary arts education had increased and more artists flooded the workplace looking for funding for their emerging companies. The Canada Council argued for and earned parliamentary appropriations to augment the original endowment fund, first in the amount of $10 million and then $16.9 million.180 But Canadian art was evolving faster than cultural policy or funding could keep up. In dance, the lack of policy resulted in a reluctance to move beyond funding just ballet. Issues of jurisdiction also delayed acknowledgement and inconsistent funding of new modern dance companies. The
Centennial year marked the beginning of a specific cultural policy for dance.
Concurrent to the planning for the Centennial were concerns of growing resentment and ideas of separatism in Quebec. The inclusive activities of the Centennial were meant to avoid any conflict between French and English. At the height of the national celebrations, French President Charles de Gaulle declared the famous phrase, "Vive le
Quebec libre!". It was at this time that separatism took hold and the predecessor to the
Parti Quebecois was formed. Federalism was threatened; therefore issues of culture would continue to rise in importance. The nature of national identity and its relationship to the State was a prominent issue that remained after the Centennial in part due to separatist movement. Specifically, the Canada Council had to deal with (and create policy for) arts organizations that were growing at an incredible rate but also in different directions in English and French Canada. The dance portfolio was challenging because the discipline lacked a flagship, and French and English pedagogical approaches in dance
180 This information was culled from Canada Council Annual Reports from 1965-1969.
71 varied significantly. In the seventies, the divide between Anglophone and Francophone
dance would continue to grow.
Conclusions
The hand of the Canada Council is apparent in the choice and direction of much of the
other work of the Performing Arts Division, (although the agency is rarely acknowledged
in the literature). The choice of who directed Festival Canada, the artists commissioned
and the companies that performed represented the invisible stamp of the Canada Council.
First, the Canada Council must have whole-heartedly supported the choice of Nicholas
Goldschmidt as director of Festival Canada. Council had funded Goldschmidt's work as
a performer, along with several orchestras, festivals and operas with which he worked;
Goldschmidt would later go on to become a Board member for the Canada Council.
Second, the Centennial commission of The Centennial Play, partially written by
Robertson Davies, would have been a Canada Council favourite. Davies, a friend of
Vincent Massey's and certainly no stranger to Council, contributed to the Royal
Commission Studies associated with the Massey Report. He was considered one of
Canada's first playwrights (as well as an extraordinary novelist). Third, institutions that
received funding to tour or produce new work, such as the Canadian Opera Company and
the National Ballet of Canada, would often fall under the Canada Council's concept of
flagships. The Centennial Commission did not promote avant-garde alternative theatre
and dance as a representative of the Centennial of Confederation. The cultural segment
of the Centennial celebrated mainstream performing arts. As Dwyer proclaimed, after the Centennial tours were over and the theatres were built, the Canada Council would be
72 the first agency arts organizations approached for funding. Therefore, the selective work of the Centennial Commission was clearly sanctioned (if not in name, then in action) by the Canada Council who was left to support the new organizations.
Financially, the Centennial Commission offered the arts community a chance to perform, and in some cases, tour. This funding enabled arts organizations to reach Canadians - an important and often expensive connection for many. In most cases, the work itself was secondary to the connection. The Centennial also raised the awareness for arts education and programs such as Prologue to the Performing Arts. Ultimately, the Commission's greatest legacy in the arts was the building and refurbishing of theatres. But the
Commission's legacy did not extend much beyond the Canada Council's subsequent
101 budget of 1968/69. ' Even though there were more theatres and more interest in the performing arts, the amount of money available to arts organizations remained modest.
Funding in the Centennial year remained an exception to the rule.
The Canadian theatre community was larger and more vocal than the diminutive dance profession in 1967. Primarily through the work of the national service organization, the
Canadian Theatre Centre, the theatre community left a legacy of work and documentation from the Centennial. The theatre community successfully integrated Canadian themes and issues into original new works, whereas the ballet companies had difficulty moving beyond token Canadian content in choreography. Theatre artists were asking questions about the nature of Canadian theatre on this momentous occasion and the CTC offered
181 The Council's overall budget almost doubled in 1967/68 thanks to the Parliamentary appropriation (operating budget from $4.5 million to $7 million). It went up moderately in 1968/69 (to $8.5 million); then stayed virtually the same.
73 the venue in which to discuss larger questions such as the role of theatre in society. Even though Canada's three ballet companies were members of CTC, the Canadian dance community did not ask these kinds of questions until several years later. Canadian dance was fractured because of geography, language, technique, and funding. The three ballet companies rarely toured in each other's regions, had differing opinions about technique and training, and were treated differently by the funders. The dance profession did not have the venue or will to discuss the nature of the art form and Canada's contribution to the evolution of dance. In 1967, it is clear that the Canada Council and even the ballet companies did not yet consider themselves a community.
74 Chapter Four Advocacy and the Economy: Dance in Canada Association 1968-1973
Pierre Elliot Trudeau became Prime Minister on April 20,1968. He changed the way
Canada's federal government affected Canadians; however, cultural policy was not one of his primary concerns. Before becoming Prime Minister, Trudeau wrote in Federalism and the French Canadians that culture, although a complex portfolio, should first be the concern of local or provincial governments. During his tenure as Prime Minister, the number of provincial and municipal public funders increased. At the federal level,
Trudeau believed in and respected the arm's length distance of the Canada Council to
Parliament thereby keeping cultural policy at a distance. In 1968, he wrote, "I would emphasize that while the government exercises a proper control over the management of the funds it makes available for the arts and sets a general course for development, it does not attempt to dictate or manage the artistic policies of the organizations which present the arts to the public." In other words, the federal government had no place in the studios of Canadian artists. Post-67 Canada offered Canadian artists more sources of public funding, but also required more accountability and bureaucracy.
The Centennial had brought about increased collaboration between the federal, provincial and municipal governments on cultural projects such as Festival Canada. More provincial and municipal governments considered funding the arts on a regular basis (from newly formed arts councils and ministries). Importantly, in an attempt to overcome the unemployment rate and mounting inflation, different levels of government began offering
182 Pierre Elliot Trudeau. "An Essential Grace," Cultural Affairs 6 (1968): 5.
75 social assistance programs to which arts organizations applied and from which they received funding. For example, the Opportunities for Youth (OFY) program from the
Secretary of State enabled young people (often students) to undertake new original projects, and the Local Initiatives Program (LIP) from the Department of Manpower and
Immigration created jobs for the unemployed. Both OFY and LIP aimed to offer unemployed Canadians work during difficult financial times.183 Notably, these granting programs (not specifically designed for the arts) offered enterprising arts organizations diversification of income.184 For a limited time, these programs poured significant money into the arts, without the complication of the jury system at the Canada Council and before the term 'fiscal responsibility' became a by-word of all grants. These were the glory days for arts organizations and individuals (such as Toronto Dance Theatre and
Toronto Free Theatre) who took full advantage of these programs.
Gerard Pelletier, author of the OFY program, played a significant role in Trudeau's government. Pelletier was Secretary of State for external affairs from 1968-72 and
Minister of Communications from 1972-75. In effect, Pelletier was the de facto minister of cultural affairs, among his many duties. As a former journalist and labour activist,
Pelletier was primarily interested in crafting policy that would foster the development of social democracy; in addition, he helped define the relationship between Ottawa and
Quebec (especially after the October crisis of 1970). His portfolio, like every other, was affected by the inflation and unemployment of the mid-seventies. The OPEC Oil crisis of
183 Andre Fortier and Paul Schafer, Review of Federal Policies for the Arts in Canada (1944-1988) (Ottawa: Canadian Conference of the Arts, 1989) 31. Opportunities for Youth began in 1971; Local Initiatives Program began in 1972. Both programs were cancelled in 1977. 184 Beginning in the seventies, arts organizations searched out many different sources of funding. Diversification first meant searching out public funding from more than just one governmental source. This diversification included approaching private foundations, corporations and individuals for donations and sponsorships.
76 1973 had caused stagflation and the Liberal Anti-Inflation Act of 1975 tried to control the problem. The desire for government aid in many sectors became acute. In reaction to that need, the federal government used words like 'accessibility' and 'democratization' as criteria for aid, in order to distribute aid in an egalitarian fashion. It should be noted that democratization and accessibility were not terms commonly associated with performing arts like opera and ballet. Pelletier clearly summarized how Canadian culture was changing in this era:
It may be necessary to transform completely the notion of culture, to replace the notion of a middle class culture with that of a mass culture. Why should the theatre and the opera have a monopoly on culture? Why should not movies, jazz, popular songs, and psychedelic happenings also be a means of cultural expression? ... When culture has become a source of alienation - and this is increasingly the case with middle class culture - it is high time for us to reexamine it. The democratization of culture will not otherwise be achieved.
In other words, arts organizations had to consider mass culture (ironically, something they were discouraged from doing in the Massey Report) and become more accessible and less elitist if they were to receive funding. This shift was happening in Canadian theatre, particularly with the alternative movement, but the reaction to the new policy was not enthusiastic. Jean Roberts, Theatre Section Officer of the Canada Council, observed that, "Gerard Pelletier invented the word 'democratization' during my four years and we all had a great time pointing out how practically everything that we did was democratization in one form or another. I always wanted to go back to him and ask him
Stagflation, a term used in this era, is an unusual period where prices and unemployment rise and the economy is stagnant. 186 Gerard Pelletier. "Federal Support of the Arts in Canada," Cultural Affairs 6 (1968): 10.
77 to define exactly what he meant by democratization, as he never really did." This
confusion is just one example of policy clashing with day-to-day practicality. It is also an
example of how Pelletier's democratization of culture was slow to be accepted by
established arts organizations (and was primarily the responsibility of young, emerging
artists).
As inflation rose higher and higher,189 the arts had to become more fiscally responsible.
The Canada Council, as a federal agency, began collecting statistics and charting the
success of its clients for the first time (in order to illustrate democratization and
accessibility, for example). Art had to become a business if it was to survive. In
response to the changing times, arts representatives and lobbyists began arguing that
culture was not just good for the soul, but was a large and significant industry and
contributor to the economy.190 Naturally, these policy shifts resulted in a greater amount
of lobbying by flagships (who suffered somewhat under democratization) and increased
advocacy by old and new service organizations.
David Gardner, William Kilbourn, Claude Des Landes, Walter Learning, David Peacock, Jean Roberts, "The Canada Council and the theatre: the past 25 years and tomorrow," Theatre Research in Canada volume 3 number 2 (Fall 1982): 167. 188 Emerging artist is a current Canada Council term to describe an artist who is in the first 10 years of his/her career. (Mid-career and then established artists follow chronologically.) 189 By 1974, inflation was over 10%. 190 For example, political economist Vincent Bladen (Professor Emeritus of Political Economy from the University of Toronto and the President of the National Ballet's Board of Directors) wrote Prime Minister Trudeau in 1969 to draw his attention to "the long-run effects of some of the necessary short-run economies." Bladen argued that some sectors, such as the arts, should not be cutback even in difficult financial times because any reduction in funding would threaten the very existence of several arts organizations Canada had worked twenty years to produce. He alerted Trudeau to the pessimistic tone of Canada Council officers and the Council's policy of retrenchment. Retrenchment meant not just freezing grants (beginning in 1969) but possibly reducing funding to allot smaller amounts to an increased number of clients. The Canada Council wanted to recognize the growth in the field and respond to the federal government's desire for democratization of and accessibility to funding. Vincent Bladen. The Financing of the Performing Arts in Canada: An Essay in Persuasion. (Toronto: Massey College, 1971).
78 Service organizations played a central role in pushing for the advancement of cultural
policy at the federal level. Generally, there were two kinds of advocacy groups: those
interested in the rights of individuals and those supporting the needs of organizations.
The Canadian Theatre Centre (1958), the Canadian Music Centre (1959), and the
Canadian Conference for the Arts (1945) had been advocating at the federal level for the
rights of arts organizations for years. The Canada Council was very familiar with these
service organizations and recognized their value to the arts community at large. It was
not until 1973 that dance finally had representation in the form of the Dance in Canada
Association (DICA). By the early seventies a new crop of service and union groups for
individuals was just getting off the ground.191 The seventies brought a greater sensitivity
to the plight of individual artists because the Canada Council was now funding
individuals in several artistic disciplines. In an effort to democratize dance, DICA did
not publicly advocate for one group (ie. ballet companies) over another (ie. individuals).
But individuals and smaller contemporary organizations rose in popularity and were
generally easier to advocate for as a group because they often fulfilled the criteria of
accessibility and/or democratization. In the seventies, not only did the number of clients
increase at the Canada Council, so too did the service organizations fighting for their members' individual and collective rights.
After the Centennial: Needs Exceeding Means and the State's Response
Performing arts organizations lobbied the Canada Council for increased funds based on the success of the Centennial tours. Audience attendance numbers were high; for
For example, the Writers' Union of Canada was also founded in 1973.
79 example, the National Ballet of Canada had averaged 88% attendance on tour. But an increased allotment of funds was not forthcoming. In 1968/69, the Canada Council did not receive significant augmentation in its Parliamentary appropriation (inflation accounted for the slight increase).193 The Centennial year remained the exception to the rule. In the late sixties, few arts organizations employed perceptive arts managers who understood the ramifications of this Parliamentary shift that would foreshadow the difficult times ahead. In 1968, Tom Hendry, Executive Director of the CTC shrewdly wrote,
As we understand things, the area of Canada Council devoted to the support of the arts will not receive any augmentation of its budget in the foreseeable future .. . We are not going to experience a cutback, but a freeze. Given the fact that, in all other sectors of the economy, a very much unfrozen inflation is affecting the costs of all the goods and services the theatre must have in order to exist, the effect of fixing grants is that of a cutback exactly equal to the amount by which inflation erodes the purchasing power of those grants.194
The Canada Council was aware of the financial problem but could do nothing, caught between the federal government and its clients. One officer wrote, "The needs of the arts have always far exceeded the Council's means, however, so the Council has generally had to limit its support to professional artists and arts organizations."195 In the late sixties, support was often based on the criterion of excellence. The Canada Council certainly looked upon the post-67 years with sobriety and conservative aspirations.
In the early seventies, in response to needs exceeding means, the Canada Council began commissioning research and studies in different disciplines. Research provided
192 "Arts and Facts," Stage in Canada volume 3, number 3 (May 1967): 25. 193 Canada Council, Annual Report 1968/69 (Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1969) 14. 194 Tom Hendry, " Consequences of the Freeze," Stage in Canada volume 4 issue 7 (Sept. 1968): 4. 195 Monique Aupy, "Open Sesame to the Canada Council," Dance in Canada (jackdaw) 1 (1973/74): 8.
80 documentation about trends that the grant officers were painfully aware of. Since the
creation of the Canada Council in 1957, the arts sector had grown. It became evident at
the Canada Council that, "money spent on the arts acts like fertilizer - the more you
spread, the quicker they grow." 196 The Canada Council needed more staff and policy
documents to deal with this ongoing period of growth, especially in contemporary art
forms. Often this added level of administration was called upon to explain why the
money was not growing as quickly as the arts.
Specifically, cultural policy struggled to keep up with expansion within the dance
community in the dance boom era. In 1971, the Canada Council commissioned a study,
The Financing of the Performing Arts in Canada: An Essay in Persuasion, by Vincent
Bladen (Professor Emeritus of Political Economy from the University of Toronto and the
President of the National Ballet's Board of Directors). This study was meant to help the
Canada Council get a better understanding of its clients' fiscal problems, and dance was used as a common example. Bladen described retrenchment,197 the policy of freezing funding levels or even cutting back, as a serious threat to Canada's cultural assets. He wrote to Prime Minister Trudeau to appeal for greater understanding and support at the federal level. Bladen explained that any reduction in funding from the Canada Council, even if only temporary, would devastate the field and require decades of compensation and repair. He (like many other report authors) mentioned W. J. Baumol and W.G.
Bowen's influential research on the significant income gap between earned revenues and
196 Gerard Pelletier, "Federal Support of the Arts in Canada," Cultural Affairs 6 (1968): 9. 197 Bladen explained that the Council had asked the National Ballet not to expect increases but instead to expect retrenchment and therefore the National Ballet should begin the process of reducing its expenditures. Vincent Bladen. The Financing of the Performing Arts in Canada: An Essay in Persuasion. (Toronto: Massey College, 1971) 1.
81 expenses, especially in dance, which must be accommodated by public and private support.198 Bladen argued that Canada needed large performing arts organizations, such as the Canadian Opera Company and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra - considered by some to be 'dinosaurs,'199 - to maintain a dynamic and healthy arts community. He stated that organizations representing the values of our nation should warrant federal support and that the Canada Council should allow performing arts organizations the opportunity to take risks and even fail. Grants that did not begin to keep pace with inflation would not allow Canadian arts organizations to excel. In other words, Bladen asserted that the needs had exceeded the means for several years now and that it was the federal government's responsibility to invest in the Canada Council immediately with a larger increase in its Parliamentary appropriation.200 Bladen's argument did have an effect, along with a Canada Council commissioned study of twenty-nine performing arts organizations from 1966-1972 that demonstrated similar findings.201 In 1972, the
Canada Council finally created new sections and grants including a fully realized Dance
Section to deal with the growing field.202
198 Baumol and Bowen published their significant findings in 1966. W. J. Baumol and W.G. Bowen, Performing Arts-The Economic Dilemma (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1966). 199 Bladen's use of the term dinosaur could be replaced by flagship. He is referring to the most established larger arts organizations. 200 The parliamentary appropriation for 1971/72 was $26 million. It increased the following year to $32 million. (Canada Council, Annual Report 1972/73 116) Although the introduction to the 1972/73 Annual Report accentuates the growing deficits of major arts organizations and the widen income gap in the performing arts despite increases in both Canada Council and provincial arts council funding. (Canada Council, Annual Report 1972/73 13) 201 For more information see, Frank T. Pasquill, Subsidy Patterns for the Performing Arts in Canada (Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, February 1973). 202 Bladen 1-22.
82 Cultural Policy Slowly Evolves: Growth at the Canada Council
The early and mid-seventies are often remembered as the boom time for arts funding in
Canada, in comparison to the cutbacks and bankruptcies of the eighties and nineties.
Certainly, the number of public funders at the provincial and municipal level had
increased since the Canada Council began: the Saskatchewan Arts Board (1948), Ontario
Arts Council (1963), Manitoba Arts Council (1967), Conseil des Arts de Montreal (1956)
and Toronto Arts Council (1974).203 These arts councils provided added support to
Canadian arts organizations in the seventies, accounting to an extent for the boom
time.204 The increase in the number of public funders motivated the Canada Council to
define its role as supporter of both organizations and individuals205 that could "be more
responsive to certain needs of artists than provincial bodies."206
Civil servant Andre Fortier207 was appointed Director of the Canada Council in 1972 and
his tenure marked a modest expansion of the Council, especially in dance.208 This growth
at the Council afforded arts organizations greater access to funding and greater visibility.
For example, the Touring Office began funding projects in 1973. The policy of providing
support for touring projects across the vast Canadian landscape was a result of both
recommendations of the Massey Report and the experience of Festival Canada during the
Centennial. The Canada Council was attempting to address the price of mobility in a
203 In addition, to arm's length funding from arts councils, many ministries of culture, at the provincial level, were providing some form of support. 204 Funding from other government sources, such as LIP and OFY, were also significant factors in the growth of the arts sector. 205 Its funding of individuals was accentuated. Canada Council, Annual Report 1972/73 15. 206 Canada Council, The Future of the Canada Council (Ottawa: Canada Council, 1978) 3. 207 Fortier had been working as the Assistant Under Secretary of State. 208 See Appendix Four for statistics on the size of the Dance Section's budget in comparison to the other art forms from 1968-1972.
83 country with the second largest geographical landmass in the world. In addition, each
Section at the Canada Council began offering Explorations grants to individuals, which
greatly diversified the kind of projects funded. Fortier also made a commitment to
gathering statistical data on the arts to make the case for greater funding and to create and
justify policy. With no research on Canadian dance until 1973, the policy was behind in
relation to the level of dance activity at the time.
When it came to dance, the Canada Council's policies and subsequent administration
were at first reactive. It developed granting programs based on existing activity in the
dance community, but the administration of these programs was often limited by dearth
of staff. In the boom period, dance grants were administered in a haphazard manner.
Beginning in 1967, Jean Roberts, as Theatre Officer, managed both the growing theatre
and dance portfolios. In 1970, David Gardner took on this complex role. Monique
Michaud (nee Aupy) assisted both Roberts and Gardner; Michaud, with some knowledge
of the discipline of dance, took care of dance applications under the larger umbrella of
theatre in this period.209 Even though dance was listed as a separate section in the Annual
Reports from 1967 onwards, it was not until 1972 that the Section received its own
budget and Michaud became its first Dance Officer. Michaud remained in the position
until 1988.
David Gardner, William Kilbourn, Claude Des Landes, Walter Learning, David Peacock, Jean Roberts, "The Canada Council and the theatre: the past 25 years and tomorrow," Theatre Research in Canada, volume 3 number 2 (Fall 1982): 165-179.
84 Monique Michaud's reputation in the dance community is legendary. She had a clear
concept of what professional dance was (not folk, jazz or ethnic forms) and which
organizations demonstrated excellence. She was accused numerous times of playing
favourites - in particular, her friendship with Betty Oliphant, director of the National
Ballet School, was called into question. Grant Strate described his perception of
Michaud's methods and preferences in his memoirs:
It seems clear enough to me, looking back on that period, that Michaud and her staff felt a responsibility to engineer the development of the field for what they viewed as its own good. In practice, if not by policy, the Council's dance office followed a path of paternalistic centralism in the belief that bureaucrats know best. This may not have been so true in other sections of the Council, but it was decidedly true of dance. Monique Michaud and a small coterie of self-interested clients, including Betty Oliphant of the National Ballet School and Jacqueline Lemieux, executive director of Entre-Six Dance Company in Montreal, strongly influenced the direction of Canadian dance.212
Certainly, funding patterns during Michaud's tenure primarily support Strate's
contention. Despite her contentious relationships, particularly with the modern dance
segment of the community, Michaud directed the Dance office in the period of its most
significant growth. Michaud recognized that the fledgling office needed direction on
policy issues.213 The new Dance Section moved forward with the desire to create cultural
policy and put dance on the agenda.
In 1973, the Canada Council commissioned the statistical and policy report, Directions for the Dance in Canada from the management consultants, McKinsey and Company Inc.
There is some dispute in the literature as to Michaud's knowledge of dance. Both Roberts and Gardner are quoted as saying that she had more knowledge about dance than they did. In a Dance in Canada article about Michaud, Michael Crabb stated she had little knowledge about dance. 211 See the chapter, "Into the Fray," in Grant Strate, Memoir (Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2002) 147- 162. 212 Strate 152. 213 McKinsey and Company Inc., Direction for the Dance in Canada (Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1973) iv.
85 This document acknowledged that dance was a growing field and that the new Dance
office needed to better understand the complexity of the community it served. The team
of researchers examined the field over an eight-week period, interviewing all of the
Canada Council's clients and dance staff, as well as hosting a three-day national
conference on dance. This report offered advice first to the Canada Council on how to
develop policy for the performing art with the smallest, but most rapidly growing,
audience,214 and second, to the dance community on how to facilitate greater stability.
The authors of Directions for the Dance in Canada concluded with three
recommendations: first, that the Canada Council and the community work together to
find ways to reduce the income gap215 through public subsidies from three levels of
government and through private support; second, that the community make a concerted
effort to build audiences at home and abroad (by increasing supply on television and in
the theatre and thereby increasing accessibility); and third, that the Council support the
community in its attempts to secure stability by building stronger management within
each organization, particularly in the areas of marketing and fundraising.216 This report also outlined six concepts to act as policy guidelines for the Canada Council:
1. democratization 2. regionalization 3. multiculturalism and pluralism 4. Canadian content 5. intergovernmental cooperation 6. internationalization
214 McKinsey and Co. Inc. 3-3. 215 The income gap is the difference between earned revenues and expenses, as defined by W. J. Baumol and W.G. Bowen, Performing Arts-The Economic Dilemma (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1966). 216 McKinsey and Co. Inc. v.
86 These six priorities clearly came from the federal government and have direct correlation
with Secretary of State Pelletier's concepts of accessibility and democratization.
Specifically, the new Dance Section was to: one, support broader more democratic
programming with an accent on accessibility; two, offer greater travel-related funding in
order to spread dance across the country; three, encourage culture-specific and folk
dance; four, employ more vigorous support of new Canadian works; five, seek more
participation from provincial and municipal arts councils; and six, commission
internationally renowned artists to work with Canadians or participate in Canadian
917
festivals. These recommendations were an excellent starting place for the new Dance
Section and attempted to counter the perception that Michaud would only fund traditional
dance forms. This directive suggested a move towards greater accessibility. The Council
considered and implemented the recommendations of the Directions for the Dance in
Canada report throughout the seventies. During the same time period, the dance
community grew and organized an advocacy body that almost immediately questioned
the Dance Section's actions related to fulfilling its priorities and the transparency of its 918 decision making process.
Ironically, officers of the Canada Council encouraged the dance community to develop
national representation in the form of a service organization (like many of the other
disciplines). A three-day national conference on dance in 1972, hosted by the Canada
Council (for the Directions in Dance researchers), spawned the eventual creation of a
national service organization a year later. This 1972 conference was the first time the
217 McKinsey and Co. Inc. Exhibit 34. 218 Questions about the official decision-making process were prevalent. (This was prior to the use of the peer assessment jury system.)
87 dance community came together nationally to discuss the art form. This meeting of minds
resulted in the formation of a steering committee219 to confirm interest in a potential
national service organization by polling the dance community. Ironically, this
committee applied for a small grant to support administrative operations of the fledgling
group, but was denied due to lack of funds in the Dance Office. This setback was a
harbinger of what was to come. Grant Strate, a member of the committee and chair of the
York University Dance program, planned another national conference on dance education
the following summer at York University to bring Canadian dance teachers and artists
together again. This second conference included the inaugural meeting of the Dance in
Canada Association (DICA).
The Dance Community has a voice: the Dance in Canada Association (DICA)
Dance Canada220 was officially incorporated in May 1973; at its first AGM a month later,
the organization's mandate was, "to assist and facilitate the development of dance in
Canada by acting as a common agent for purposes of communication, lobbying and self
help. It will also be concerned with educational standards and better means of exposing
dance as an art form."22 It was the first organization of its kind for dance; it had
members from across the country and represented them at the federal level. From the beginning, DICA had difficulty defining which companies would be eligible for membership. Ultimately, DICA welcomed membership from professional companies
219 The steering committee was comprised of Grant Strate, Dance Department of York University, Murray Farr, producer, Robert Dubberley, general manager of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Uriel Luft, general manager of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. 220 The organization was originally called Dance Canada but it changed its name in 1974 to Dance in Canada, the common usage today. 221 Dianne Miller, editorial, Dance in Canada (jackdaw) 1 (1973/74): 14-15.
88 and schools (but not amateur groups). Despite its numerous internal conflicts, DICA was primarily a positive force within the community representing its members at the federal level.
DICA promoted and advocated for the dance community. Its activities included a regular conference and the publication of a magazine {Dance In Canada magazine). Like the
CTC for theatre, DICA offered the dance community opportunities to perform, discuss and lobby. The regular conference222 brought individuals and organizations concerned with dance in the same room together. The importance of these events cannot be overestimated.223 In addition to the opportunity to communicate with people of like- minds, conferences soon included performances. These marathon non-curated events were a chance to showcase talent and build a greater sense of understanding within the community itself.
The magazine remains DICA's greatest legacy. For sixteen years (1973-1989), Dance in
Canada magazine promoted, documented and discussed the art form during the dance boom era and beyond. The pages of the magazine offered the community the opportunity to rally around a cause or advocacy issue. With the advent of the magazine, the dance community clientele became much more boisterous and unruly towards the
Canada Council.
In "A Brief History of the Dance in Canada Association," Megan Andrews gives the dates and locations of these conferences. They did not happen consistently, especially in the 1980's when the organization was in financial difficulty. 223 Like the Ballet Festivals before them, the chance to get into a room together still does not happen on a regular basis for the Canadian dance community.
89 The internal conflicts within DICA were drawn along specific lines within the dance
community. The ballet companies, represented on the Board by the general managers of
RWB and LGB, wanted to keep their place as rightful heirs to the bulk of the Canada
Council's funding. The dance education contingent was split between issues of
accessibility (dance for all) and quality (dance requires technical expertise). Grant Strate,
first Chairman of the Board, represented the first group, whereas Betty Oliphant, Director
of the National Ballet School, represented the second group. A third contingent, of
modern dance companies and choreographers, was growing larger and more vocal. This
third group was often pitted against the first group. These three contingents represented
the most vocal segments of the organization (there were others). The membership
officially divided into three different forums in the first three years: artistic directors and
managing directors' forum, artists' forum, and dance educators' forum. The pages of the
DICA membership private newsletter and public magazine suggest that these forums
were a kind of appeasement for disgruntled segments of the organization. Ironically, the
Canada Council encouraged the formation of DICA and the only thing the members
could agree upon was criticizing Council's policies (or lack thereof). Strate
acknowledged that, "The Dance in Canada Association and what, as it grew, became the
Dance Section of the Canada Council, were set on a collision course."224 Problems with
the Canada Council notwithstanding, DICA was fraught with infighting. Dominated by very strong personalities, the contentious tone of the first AGM would continue throughout the organization's lifetime (the funding of the organization would continue to be problematic). Some of the most active members of DICA included Toronto Dance
Theatre's founding directors, David Earle, Peter Randazzo and Patricia (Trish) Beatty.
224 Strate 152.
90 Toronto Dance Theatre: Beneficiary of Cultural Policy for Contemporary art
In the late sixties, the Canada Council, very slowly (in comparison to its initial support of ballet), began funding Artistic Director/choreographer Rachel Browne and the Winnipeg
Contemporary Dancers and Artistic Director/choreographer Peter Boneham and Le
Groupe de la Place Royale in Montreal. At first, only the choreographers received funding, not the companies themselves. These two emerging modern dance companies were difficult to describe and categorize because they practiced multiple techniques, including improvization. On a policy level, these two companies opened the door for
Toronto Dance Theatre (TDT) to receive regular consistent funding. By 1969, the Dance
Section was willing to recognize modern dance companies. In many ways, TDT exemplified the Canada Council's concept of a modern dance company because the style was codified (and recognized internationally) and they had a school. It is not surprising that in TDT's second season "the Canada Council 'phoned us to ask what we were doing for money. They told us they would be happy to receive our application ... and they supported us right away' with a grant of $2000."225 Toronto Dance Theatre was not
Canada's first modern dance company, but it certainly was the most recognizable and successful in 1973.
Toronto Dance Theatre was founded in 1968 by three dancer/choreographers who all studied at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York. David
Earle and Trish Beatty both came from affluent families in Toronto. Peter Randazzo, an
225 David Earle did not remember who called from the Canada Council, presumably it would have been Monique Michaud. Katherine Cornell and Nadine Saxton, Toronto Dance Theatre: Stages in a Journey. 1968-1998 (Toronto: Captus Press, 1998) 31.
91 American, was a dancer in Graham's company and a demonstrator at her School. By
1968, Beatty had traveled back and forth between New York and Toronto, and had already started a modern dance company called the New Dance Group. When she heard
Earle and Randazzo were looking for a Toronto school to teach Graham technique and a venue to perform their choreography, Beatty offered them her company and school. She astutely recognized that Toronto would not support two modern dance companies in
1968. The subsequent company, Toronto Dance Theatre, was founded on Martha
Graham's technical principles and was dedicated to the creation of original work, particularly of the three founding directors. The birth of TDT came at the right time.
Not only did the Canada Council appreciate TDT, but audiences did too. The dancers, including the three founders, were embraced both by the hippie culture and academia.
The company had a cult following in the early years. "The audiences in the first years of
TDT were made up of university intellectuals, visual artists and ... 'girls with high cheek bones and tropical flowers in their hair and men with capes' ... [people] thronged to performances and would come night after night."226 TDT embodied youth, athleticism and idealism. They created original new works using an American technique that was more emotional and accessible than 'three pirouettes and arabesque,' of British ballet, for example. They embraced the concept of Canadian works by Canadian choreographers before it was a regulated necessity. Yet TDT's staying power was embedded in the
Graham technique. More traditionally-minded dance audiences were drawn to TDT because, despite the lack of fairy-tale narrative, the work had structure (more so than the other modern dance companies). TDT also had highly skilled performers, not unlike the
226 Cornell and Saxton 36-37.
92 ballet companies. Graham technique demanded strength, flexibility and grace. Ballet dancers and students were skipping ballet class to come take modern dance class with
'Pete, Trish and David'.
For all their innovation, TDT choreography follows a clear lineage. In interviews, Earle accentuated that they were dancing in Martha Graham's light. Each of the three founders had a different style but they all spoke the same technical language - Graham.
Randazzo's work was instinctive and often comedic. Beatty's choreography often contained archetypes and psychological references. Earle's artistry generally remained true to the music and offered a choreographic sense of spirituality. The three founders worked within the standardized framework of her technique and explored within that structure. As a result, their choreographic style wasn't so much new, as new to Canadian audiences. Each founder remounted successful works that helped define TDT's style, but none so much as Earle's Baroque Suite.
An Example of Traditional Anglophone Dance: David Earle's Baroque Suite
93 Baroque Suite epitomized the kind of modern dance sanctioned by the Canada Council in the early seventies. Earle choreographed Baroque Suite in sections (in the form of smaller works) from 1968 to 1973 and the work was constantly revised over its long and successful history. The Suite includes Lyrical Solo (1972), Baroque Suite Duet (1973),
Mirrors (1968), Lament (1973) and Finale (1973/79).228
Earle's early training provided his primary choreographic influences. His schooling in classical music and ballet is reflected in his meticulous musicality and choice of scores.
He moved beyond British ballet to train in both Graham and Limon229 dance techniques, which inform the way his dancers move. His work is full of contractions, high releases and the 'fall and recover' of Limon technique. That being said, Earle did not remount the work of his mentors. He endeavoured to creatively explore the medium of dance with this foundation of American modern dance technique. His earlier works, like Baroque
Suite, demonstrated the struggle to move beyond the student/mentor understanding of the form.
At times, Baroque Suite resembled a series of Graham and Limon exercises craftily woven together in patterns to the music of Corelli, Pachelbel, Bach and Vivaldi. This lyrical work was an accessible and spiritually uplifting work of modern dance that was
2271 watched two video recordings of Baroque Suite to analyze the work. David Earle, chor., Baroque Suite and others, videocassette, Toronto Dance Theatre, circa 1980. John N. Smith, Michael McKennirey, dir., Gala, videocassette, National Film Board, 1982. 228 Baroque Suite was given to Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers in 1975 and the finale was re- choreographed for TDT in 1979. The School of TDT performed the work for years as well. Michelle Green, David Earle: A Choreographic Biography (Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2006) 61-69. 229 Jose Limon established his own technique in the United States during and after the success of Graham technique. His style of modern dance is not based on floor work (as Martha Graham's is) but on the concept of fall and recovery.
94 the cornerstone of TDT's repertoire for more than a decade. Audiences enjoyed watching
Baroque Suite and appreciated the dancers' skill. The Canada Council could argue that
TDT performed accessible dance that was not narrative ballet and that the Canadian public liked it (because it still visualized the music and presented beautiful patterns on the stage). Baroque Suite was exactly the kind of identifiable lyrical modern dance that
Michaud supported in 1973.
1 arlc. an inmiiivcly mimical choreographer, was cleark inspired h\ the poh phonic
structure w ilhm the baroque scores, /I,/-VJ(/-/(- Sum- begins simpK with ihe "Duel." I lie
"Duel" is lull of fluid balletic movements in ihe upright position. The dancing couple follow* the ebb and How of the music, dancing \irtualk the entire piece in unison or sequential pattern. 1 he\ io\misk open their upper bodies in the hea\ens. basking in the glor_\ of the baroque music. 1 he choreogiaphv has a gentle qualilv lo il: the dancers look like ribbons wafting in the bive/e. In "Mirrors." the next section of the work, two couples interact. "1 Ins- staiek segment utilizes such de\ ices as repetition, unison and mirrored movement lo highlight ihe structure of the music I he two couples car\e a sweeping circular Moor pattern spirahng downward to rest on Ihe Moor. Ihe pace of
"Mirrors" is slower than both the "Duet" and the subsequent "Finale" where the entire cast enteis. In the "I male." simple sprightk lumps are repealed at first and then become much more complex and inierlwined as the choreogiaphv e\ol\es. " 1 he dancers move in patterns of two and four. svsiemaitcalk and coniinuousk traveling across the stage w ilh great leaps, using a fugue-like configuration. I heir arms and legs create sweeping
See Appendix Six for an image from the "Finale."
95 arcs through >pace. 'I he movement niclv succumbs 10 grav itv and is lull of breath,
demonstrating the dancers" speed and endurance. Id conclude, the cast spreads out
mm ing in unison io come lo rest in a classic (irahani position holding one arm down to
ihe earth and the othei in diagonal opposition reaching toward* the heavens. Dancing
Humi/tii' Suite required a high standard of technique. The dancers, costumed m
revealing umlards, had nowhere lo hide on the hare stage. "I he quick continuous
movements m the "Duel" and "Tinalc" required stamina, whereas the sweeping leg
movements of "Mirrors" necessiiaicd balance and control. Hiirotfiw Smw demonstrates
larle"s sensitive musical stvle and respect for technique, even in an abstract work.
Baroque Suite appealed to audiences, for more than a decade, because of its universal
quality of beauty and lyricism - but it can hardly be identified as uniquely Canadian. The
music is European and the technique is American. David Earle's passport alone did not
make the work Canadian. The only quality that might be considered vaguely Canadian is
the "horizon-focused" intent of the dancers (a term Northrop Frye uses to describe
paintings by the Group of Seven). Baroque Suite demonstrates how Canadian dance had
moved beyond token Canadian narrative to abstraction, but was still searching in the
early seventies for a unique sensibility in choreography. Generally, Canadian
choreographers did not see American artists as direct competition, as was the case in
some other art forms. Canadian choreographers, like David Earle, still relied on
American dance technique as inspiration in the early seventies. Uniquely Canadian
dance was slower to develop in comparison to other art forms, for example literature.
Canadian Content in Literature: "Authors are Transmitters of their Culture"231
231 Margaret Atwood, Survival (Toronto: Anansi Press, 1972) 12.
96 In the late sixties, Canadian authors realized that they were powerful transmitters of
Canadian culture. The American war in Vietnam inspired Canadians to recognize and distinguish themselves and their culture from their neighbours to the south. The people of Canada slowly became more aware of their poets and authors as a result of the
Centennial celebrations and new curriculums. Canadian literature entered secondary and post-secondary curriculums in part because of the nation's hundredth birthday.
9^9 'Canlit' became a bona fide genre in the early seventies thanks in part to two
9^3 significant publications: The Bush Garden: Essays on Canadian Imagination (1971) by Northrop Frye and Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (1972) by
Margaret Atwood. Frye, esteemed literary scholar, and Atwood, famous novelist and poet, recognized the value in analyzing the Canadian sensibility in literature. Canadian dance paled in comparison to Canadian literature in terms of critical discourse and a comprehensive sense of itself at that point in time.
In the collection The Bush Garden, Northrop Frye discussed the Canadian literary identity. He examined the role of the Canadian artist, in particular, comparing poetry and painting. Importantly, Frye compared the Confederation poets to the Group of Seven because both sought uninhabited landscape as inspiration.234 This comparison demonstrated that Canadian art produced in different disciplines had similarities. Frye argued that what the artist sees in Canada's nature, for example, is very different from
Certainly, Canadian literature had been studied previous to this period. For example, the journal Canadian Literature began in 1959. But it did not become a pervasive part of secondary and post- secondary curriculums until the late sixties and early seventies. 233 Some of the essays had been published previously. 234 Northrop Frye, The Bush Garden (Toronto: Anansi Press, 1971) 34.
97 what the politician or businessman sees. This inspired vision of Canada was something artists offered to society. In his concluding article, Frye summarized some of the major themes in Canadian art:
This foreshortening of Canadian history, if it really does have any relevance to Canadian culture, would account for many features of it: its fixation on its own past, its penchant for old-fashioned literary techniques, its pre-occupation with the theme of strangled articulateness. It seems to me that Canadian sensibility has been profoundly disturbed, not so much by our famous problem of identity, important as that is, as by a series of paradoxes [my emphasis] in what confronts that identity. It is less perplexed by the question "who am I?" than by some such riddle as "where is here?"236
Certainly, Frye's argument has relevance in other art forms as well. His point about the fixation on the past is evident in heavy-handed Centennial performing arts works like
Riel and Rose Latulippe. Indeed, Canadian choreographers also continued to have a penchant for old-fashioned techniques. Frye argues that the "series of paradoxes in what confronts [Canadian] identity" often includes regionalism and separatism; these problems plague Canadian dance too. The question, 'where is here', haunts Canadian artists and scholars to this day. The question itself accentuates the importance of place and space in the Canadian psyche. Historically, Canadian choreographers did not ask that question at least until later in the seventies.
The land and wilderness are prominent themes in Canadian literature as noted by Frye and Atwood. In Survival, Atwood questions "What is Canadian about Canadian literature and why should we be bothered?"237 Her thesis argues that every culture has a central unifying symbol; her symbol for Canadian literature is survival. Survival entails
Frye 146. Frye 220. Atwood 11
98 conquering external and/or internal obstacles in both rural and urban settings. The
Canadian landscape and climate are common barriers to survival, but so too are cultural obstacles like American popular culture. Atwood goes on to categorize writing into personal, cultural, national, and universal areas. She argues the tendency generally in
Canadian literature has been to accentuate the personal and universal, but to omit the national or cultural.239 Again, these contentions are easily applied to dance. For example, Earle's Baroque Suite emphasizes the universal in technique and mood, the national or cultural are missing. Ultimately, Atwood's query should be asked of all
Canadian art forms; the question is when (because art forms develop at different rates).
Through scholarly writing and advocacy, both the Canadian theatre and literary communities demonstrate a greater sense of cohesion and purpose than the Canadian dance community by 1973.
Conclusions
Given his prominent academic status, Frye comparing Canadian poetry and painting in
1971 had an impact on cultural policy. Artists realized that they were not alone and they had allies in different art forms. Civil servants realized that cultural policy didn't have to always be discipline specific; for example, new programs such as Explorations and
Touring were spread across the disciplines. The Canadian Conference of the Arts and other national service organizations became more important not just arguing on a case- by-case basis, but nationally on behalf of artists and art forms. Artists were finally gaining power in numbers. With the rise in individual artists working and applying for funding, each Canada Council office now had something in common; the types of grants
238 Atwood 34. 239 Atwood 15.
99 were the same even though the art forms were different. As the arts sector grew, the need
for one flagship for each discipline waned. Cultural policy itself had become more
democratized by introducing new grants to increase accessibility to individual artists and
opening doors to contemporary art forms such as modern dance.
Many Canada Council documents recognize the extreme amount of growth of clients in
dance, particularly from 1964 to 1981.240 The Canada Council first acknowledged the
needs of the dance community when it created a dedicated Dance Section in 1972.
Employment initiatives such as LIP at the Department of Manpower and OFY at
Secretary of State incidentally supported emerging performing arts companies.
Throughout the seventies, the Canada Council had to adjust to the growth in the field,
deal with inflation and other economic barriers, and recognize the delicate conditions that
characterized dance (such as the large income gap). Sadly, the growth in dance was
somewhat late in comparison to other art forms and in reference to funds available.
The dance community finally united under the banner of the service organization DICA
in 1973. Once the community coalesced and convened around DICA, it became clear that the community was segregated into ballet and modern camps. Within these camps were
individuals interested in maintaining colonial connections to Britain, and others who wanted to explore vital American techniques. Advocacy and lobbying was difficult because not all members agreed on even the simplest issue (such as the requirements for membership). In its history, the segments of DICA agreed on only a few issues - one
240 For example, the Council went from funding 7 dance companies in 1976 to funding 19 in 1977. Please see, Canada Council, Trends in Canadian Performing Arts 1972-1983 (Ottawa: Canada Council Research and Evaluation, 1986)9.
100 being, their common enemy: the Canada Council. They agreed in 1974 that the Canada
Council needed to fund more dance.
The early seventies catapulted dance forward. Growth and more advanced training (based
on American techniques) for modern dance brought greater recognition of dance
companies and artists. Finally, by the mid-seventies choreographers and companies
moved beyond the concept of dance made in Canada to Canadian dance.241 But creating
Canadian dance and funding it were two very different issues. Grant Strate wrote:
The very notion of national dance culture became the subject of fervent and continuing debate. Behind it all was the thorny issue of money. Inevitably, anything to do with public funding politicized what might otherwise have been a purely aesthetic and philosophical debate. Lines were drawn, people took sides or headed for cover. The Canada Council found itself both lionized and demonized. It in turn seemed to divide the dance community into those it regarded as friends 949
and those it viewed as disruptive enemies.
The issue of Canadian content and funding continued to be contentious.
2 Margaret Atwood describes this transition in literature, which happens long before it happens in dance, in her book Survival. 242 Strate 147.
101 Chapter Five Education and Dissension 1974-1977
The political climate of 1974 to 1977 was tense. In October 1976, over a million
Canadian workers staged a one-day strike to protest wage and price controls. As the federal Liberal government's deficit grew, operating budgets of federal cultural agencies froze or shrank. During this period the Canada Council tried to back the growing number of Canadians trained as artists. One way it supported the next generation was grants to the National Theatre School (NTS) and the National Ballet School (NBS). The Canada
Council may have regretted its foray into specialized training institutions as its budget felt the effects of inflation and the field of arts education expanded quickly.
As artistic disciplines grew in Canada, two common methods of training artists also developed. Traditionally, artists studied at conservatories, but more and more in North
America, universities added fine and performing arts programs to the curriculum. In post-war Canada, numerous new universities opened to accommodate returning service men. Growth continued into the sixties and seventies, and universities began to diversify the disciplines taught. As homegrown, primarily contemporary art243 developed in
Canada, the rallying cry for better arts education began to grow.244 Depending on the art form, specialized education could begin as early as the age of 11 (in the case of dance) or as late as the post-secondary level. Canada's first university dance department opened at
York University in 1970. Established professional training institutes, like the Ontario
College of Art and the National Theatre School, worked to distinguish themselves from
243 This contemporary art had little in common with established British techniques. 2 Again, the issue of artist education was originally noted in the pages of the Massey Report in 1951.
102 the growing number of fine arts programs at Canadian universities. The question of who should train professional artists (universities or conservatories) and how they should be trained was debated by scholars in several artistic disciplines. New faculty and students questioned established pedagogies and new modes of teaching were sometimes advocated. Concurrently, governments scrutinized the funding of these specialized schools.
Exception to the Rule: Funding for specialized dance schools at the Canada Council
Specialty training institutes like the National Theatre School (NTS) and the National
Ballet School (NBS) posed a problem to the Canada Council as a federal arts agency because education fell under provincial jurisdiction. Both schools began in the late fifties
(before provincial arts funding) with the goal of better training Canadians artists. Both schools were private, students were only accepted by audition, and the curriculum was highly specialized beyond the scope of the provincial standards. Naturally, both schools sought government support.245 The Canada Council encouraged the creation of these schools and considered their programming to be under its own jurisdiction, despite the constitutional concerns.246 At this time, the Canada Council still funded scholarly research at the university level, so supporting private arts schools did not raise any red
When both schools were created, the only support available was federal but provincial support was also soon available. The Ontario Arts Council was created in 1965; the Quebec Ministry of Cultural Affairs in 1961. 246 Perhaps the Canada Council felt that as an arm's length agency, it was not bound to the constitution. This jurisdictional issue would eventually be addressed in 1993 when the funding of these specialized training institutes was jeopardized. The funding was transferred from discipline offices at the Canada Council to one program at the Department of Canadian Heritage under the new title of the National Arts Training Contribution Program.
103 flags in terms of jurisdiction. The National Theatre School set the precedent in 1960 receiving $40,600. In 1964, the Council awarded the National Ballet School $10,000.247
The expansion of dance across Canada naturally led to the growth of dance education across the country. The National Ballet School was not the only specialized dance school for long. Professional training institutes for dancers emerged in the same regions that supported professional companies. Naturally once L'Ecole Superieure de Danse
(founded in Montreal, 1966) and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School (Professional
Division founded in 1970) established professional training programs, they also applied to the Canada Council for support.
The Council received requests for operations grants from the professional school of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in 1973, and of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 1974. Before embarking on a policy which was bound to require considerable additional funds, not only in the dance field, but potentially in other disciplines as well, the Council decided it needed an assessment of the three ballet schools from a qualified observer.249
Peter Brinson was that qualified observer.
Cultural Policy on Specialized Ballet Schools: The Brinson Report
Peter Brinson, Director of the Gulbenkian Foundation, was known internationally for his work with the Ballet for All education project of England's Royal Ballet; and with the international examining and standards organization for local (commonwealth) ballet studios, the Royal Academy of Dancing (R.A.D.). He had a considerable reputation as a
247 Grant amounts are available in the Canada Council Annual Reports (1960/61 and 1963/64). 248 Both the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and L'Ecole Superieure de Danse have undergone slight name changes. My choice of titles for these two schools is based on common usage, not current or historical titles. 249 The Canada Council, "The Brinson Report: Introduction," Dance in Canada 7 (Winter 76): 6.
104 writer and he came to Canada in the early seventies to teach. He guest lectured in dance history at York University's Dance Department under the direction of Grant Strate and taught at the National Ballet School under the direction of Betty Oliphant.250 Shortly after those teaching contracts, he began working for the Canada Council conducting this survey of Canadian professional ballet training in 1974. Brinson's background indicated a partiality for the British style of ballet.
Brinson reviewed the operations of the National Ballet School, the Royal Winnipeg
Ballet School, and L'Ecole Superieure de Danse. The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School used Royal Academy of Dancing technique and the National Ballet School taught
Cecchetti (another system codified in Britain), whereas L'Ecole Superieure trained its students in Russian ballet. Brinson diplomatically concluded in his final Report that the
Canada Council should continue its foray into education and now support all three institutions in the interest of Canadian dance, although he certainly endorsed the work of the National Ballet School as a leader in the field. Brinson submitted his final Report on
October 28, 1974 to the dance sub-committee of the Council's Advisory Arts Panel, who then sent the Report forward with approval. It was up to Michaud and the Dance Section to allot monetary amounts to the schools using Brinson's Report as justification. After considering Brinson's Report, the Council granted $10,000 to both the schools in
Winnipeg and Montreal and more than doubled the National Ballet School's operating
Peter Brinson was an employee of the National Ballet School. He taught ballet history for a year and therefore had a more in-depth knowledge of that school in comparison to the other two. The playing field was not level at the beginning of this assessment. However, Council documents do not address the issue of Brinson's bias.
105 funding to $600,000. The staggering difference in the funding amounts for the three schools garnered much attention.
Brinson's forty-five page Report examined the standards and training procedures of the three schools. Predictably, he tried to fit the schools into the British model; for example, he equated the National Ballet School's Cecchetti based technique with the Royal Ballet
School and the R.A.D. technique, a confusing and disparate comparison.251 He compared the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School with the Scottish Ballet in Glasgow. Although he commended the Royal Winnipeg's efforts, he stated that the school was small, young, and inexperienced. He did not go so far with L'Ecole Superieure. Brinson stated, "there is no doubt that [L'Ecole Superieure] is excellently administered and the quality of discipline and personal dress of the students stood in marked contrast to the more casual
Winnipeg approach. It reminded me of the National Ballet School." This comparison reveals Brinson's existing bias. Even though Brinson exclaimed that Director, Ludmilla
Chiriaeff s technique classes were "generally higher than the present standards one sees at the R.A.D. in London,"253 he suggested that her technique could not fit in with a broader Canadian ballet curriculum administered by the National Ballet School - a curriculum that he advocated be adopted nationally.
251 The differences between the two British styles of ballet are distinct. The R.A.D. style is quite contained whereas the Cecchetti style is a little more expressive. For more information please see, Nadine Saxton, "An Examination of the Perceived Difference Between the Cecchetti Society and the Royal Academy of Dancing," (unpublished undergraduate thesis, University of Waterloo, 1990). 252 Peter Brinson, The Development of Professional Training for Classical Ballet in Canada: Studies of the National Ballet School, the Professional Student Programme of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, L 'Ecole Superieure des Grands Ballets Canadiens and related matters prepared at the request of the Canada Council (The Brinson Report), Library of the Canada Council for the Arts, (1974) 36. 253 Brinson, The Brinson Report 38.
106 Brinson emphasized the need for a national institution in Canadian ballet, like the British system. Brinson described the National Ballet School's status in reference to the rest of the country: "The National Ballet School should be considered the national centre of excellence and should receive Council support accordingly as a national institution. The establishment and recognition of such a national institution is the key to the development of professional training for classical ballet in Canada."254 This statement suggests that the
National Ballet School (under Brinson's model) would set the national standards that all other schools must follow and these "national" standards would be British.255
Brinson appreciated the complexities of the Canadian dance landscape, but only made a token gesture to the regions. He summarized the funding situation and made corresponding suggestions for the future of professional ballet training in Canada. But his most contentious recommendation dealt with the relationship of the three schools and how the Canada Council should treat the three:
In effect the Council already treats the National Ballet School as an institution of national significance, but has not explained to the dancing profession the cogent reason for doing so. This has led to much jealousy and misunderstanding of the National Ballet School and the Council's policy towards it. Does the Council in fact have a policy? If not it should formulate one. If so, it should enunciate it, followed by a vigorous campaign of explanation and public relations. The aim of such a campaign should be to show how professional training for classical ballet in Canada can become one system to the benefit of all with the National Ballet School setting the national standards in close relationship with provincial centres.256
Peter Brinson, "The Brinson Report," Dance in Canada 7 (Winter 76): 6. 55 Ironically, Chiriaeff was working on a "series of dance schools she would head under the auspices of the province," not unlike Brinson's plan for the country. Linde Howe-Beck, "Les Grands Ballets Canadiens at 50," Dance Collection Dame magazine number 63 (Spring 2007): 8. 256 Brinson, The Brinson Report 2.
107 This statement appeared to negate the work of numerous non-NBS dance educators all across the country. In particular, this recommendation was not well received. In the end,
Brinson's Report advised that the Canada Council fund all three institutions, with the work of the National Ballet School clearly ranking first. The language of Brinson's
Report was criticized for years, but ultimately it was Michaud's application of Brinson's advice that incited fervor. The two $10,000 grants compared with the National Ballet
School's $600,000 represented Brinson's recommendations in the extreme.257
The establishment of cultural policy on dance education at the Canada Council was controversial. William Littler of the Toronto Star noted that the operating grants to NBS suggested a hidden agenda of Michaud and the Canada Council, "What concerns some observers is whether the Council really feels it is trying to respond to the initiatives of the dance community or whether it is attempting to steer the community in directions it favors."258 Clients, especially those not favoured, questioned the Dance Section's agenda.
The Dance Community Reacts to the Brinson Report
Brinson's findings were predictable considering his background (not to mention his established conflict of interest). The unprecedented reaction of the dance community to the Report and subsequent funding was not. The community was enraged over the token
$10,000 grants given to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and L'Ecole Superieure de
Danse in light of the increase to the National Ballet School's funding from $280,000 to
See Appendix Five for a chart documenting the grants to the professional dance schools in the seventies. William Littler, "Politics is threatening the development of dance," Toronto Star 15 May 1976: H5.
108 an astonishing $600,000. Members of the Dance in Canada Association first publicly learned of the Brinson Report in the summer of 1975 at the annual conference.
Dance in Canada magazine allocated a portion of the 1975 summer publication to the
Canada Council and its policies on dance. The community cried out for explanations after Timothy Porteous,259 Associate Director of the Canada Council, spoke at the 1975
Dance in Canada conference and introduced the findings of the Brinson Report. Editor,
Susan Cohen wrote, "those who attended the Edmonton conference of this organization
[Dance in Canada] remember the minor furor created there when Timothy Porteous spoke to clarify Council's vision of the dance scene and of its financial responsibilities. Many of his ideas were based on the then internal document by Brinson." The sedate interview with Porteous and Monique Michaud, the dance officer, published in the magazine did not satisfy the dance community because it did not address the Brinson
Report directly. As a result, Dance in Canada magazine devoted the entire 1976 winter issue to the Brinson Report.
Leading the charge against the Brinson Report was Grant Strate, former resident choreographer of the National Ballet, Chair of the Dance Department at York University and founding Chairman of the Board of DICA. (This is somewhat surprising since he was someone with a potential bias which might have led him to promote the National Ballet
School as a national institution.) However, Strate was insulted at the idea of the National
Ballet School being the designated leading centre of dance education in Canada,
259 Porteous was also a former executive assistant to Pierre Trudeau. (see Strate, Memoirs 166). 260 Susan Cohen, "Editorial," Dance in Canada 7 (Winter 76): i.
109 devaluing his work at York University and that of many others across the country.
Brinson argued that that the National Ballet School had the best quality and methodology to train dancers. Strate questioned the issue of one Canadian training methodology, as well as one curriculum, in defense of his university program, which was producing professional dancers as were other ballet schools. As a representative of DICA, he also drew attention to the treatment of the other two schools. The small grants to the
Winnipeg and Montreal schools came with stipulations. Strate outlined the insulting requirements for the two grants in a letter to Dance in Canada magazine. Ludmilla
Chiriaeff of L'Ecole Superieure and Arnold Spohr of the Royal Winnipeg "both received letters from Mme. Michaud requesting the submission of a teaching plan or project for their schools before release of the funds. These submissions are to be evaluated by an advisory committee of Council for which occasion Betty Oliphant will join the committee."261 Infuriated, Strate continued, "the $10,000 offered to Winnipeg and
Montreal is tokenism. The attached conditions for the receipt of the $10,000 are a slap in the face."262 Chiriaeff agreed and refused the insulting $10,000.263 Strate ended his statement with a challenge to the community and Dance in Canada. "The Canadian dance community will have to be crazy or asleep to accept this version of its future."264
Strate's scathing letter encapsulated the outrage within the majority of the dance community.265
261 Grant Strate, "The Future, Other views," Dance in Canada 7 (Winter 76): 12. 262 Strate, "The Future, Other views," 14. 263 Remarkably, Canada Council Annual Reports indicate that Chiriaeff refused Council funding for L'Ecole permanently. 264 Strate, "The Future, Other views," 12. 265 The 1976 Winter issue of the magazine also included other letters from Ludmilla Chiriaeff, Fernand Nault, David Moroni, Arnold Spohr and Betty Oliphant.
110 The Brinson Report offended many segments of the dance community because it assumed most of the country to be either backward or provincial. First, the dance community was slighted that a foreigner was hired to assess dance education. His status as a British expert established a clear preference, which made his advice questionable.
Second, the dance community was offended at how the Canada Council readily accepted his Report and then allowed Michaud to make extreme funding decisions as a result.
Third, and perhaps most important, the dance community was insulted that Brinson extrapolated his study of the three schools to apply to all Canadian dance education.
There were hundreds of local dance studios (in the membership of DICA) as well as a university dance program that did not appreciate his condescending tone and being lumped together with the three schools. Brinson assumed that all dance educators would welcome uniformity in terms of curriculum and pedagogy. He advocated for a conservative technique that did not even acknowledge the growing popularity of both modern and jazz dance in Canada. The Brinson Report appeared antiquated in the eyes of most in the Canadian dance community because, in part, it advocated a British model of education.
Specialized Education in Visual Art: Revolt at Ontario College of Art
In the sixties, the dance community appeared provincial in comparison to the critical discourse in Canadian theatre and literature of the same era. But in the seventies, for the first time, the dance community was not the only art form debating the curriculum and funding of arts education. Canadian dance was maturing parallel with other more established disciplines. For the first time, the dance community was not behind the times
111 in terms of political issues. Many of the complaints of the dance community reflected the conditions occurring in other disciplines. Some of the same issues raised by the dance community over the Brinson Report, such as conservative or contemporary curriculums and the necessity for several schools for artists, had occurred at the Ontario College of
Art (OCA) in 1971/72. A segment of students and faculty at OCA were enraged at the changes in curriculum.
The essence of the conflict began in the sixties, under the leadership of President Sydney
Watson. He was considered by many of the students as ultra-conservative and uninterested in art created after 1917.266 The structure of the College meant that he was not accountable to any board. Like NBS, OCA was not the only specialized art school in the country267 but Watson ran the College as if it was a national institution. In a conflict with faculty over curriculum and the issue of tenure, the Ontario Ministry of Education
(the primary funder) was brought in to mediate; Bill Davis, Minister of Education at that time, appointed Deputy Minister Douglas Wright to review the structure of the College and the OCA Act. In September of 1968, Wright recommended that a unicameral
Council govern the College and that the OCA Act be re-written. Watson, who had been on a leave of absence, retired officially soon thereafter.
OCA Council, which included faculty, students, and government representatives, began the search for a new president. Roy Ascott, a 37-year-old British artist and teacher,
266 This approach did not even consider the Group of Seven (begun in 1920) as part of the curriculum. 267 Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and the Emily Carr Institute also offered instruction in the visual arts. 268 Morris Wolfe, OCA Five Turbulent Years, 1967-1972 (Toronto: Grub Street Books, 2001) 17-40.
112 accepted the position. Ascott wanted OCA to be a leader in arts education. He hired new faculty in literature, design and experimental art. "Ascott proposed to turn OCA in to the world's first 'visual university,' a place where teachers from many disciplines rubbed shoulders and where students explored themselves and the world in whatever ways they wanted. It would be a place where learning to think came before learning technique."270 First and foremost, Ascott wanted a 'free' school and therefore abolished all departments and formal classes in September 1971. Ascott's changes stood in opposition to the history of OCA and garnered a passionate response.
The student body and faculty divided along lines for and against Ascott. Some new students, unaccustomed to the previous structure, appreciated Ascott's lack of
'curriculum'; other students had difficulty with the sudden change.271 Some faculty embraced Ascott's innovations, others worried about job security. Nine months later,
OCA Council asked for and received Ascott's resignation. Some of Ascott's adversaries included drawing and painting instructors who taught traditional techniques.272 In the end, these instructors succeeded and OCA went back to its old departments and classes with only a few changes after Ascott's departure. Pro-Ascott faculty supported multiplicity within the curriculum and taught at splinter schools of contemporary art with only moderate success.
Alfred Pinsky of Sir George Williams University was offered the job first, but he declined. Wolfe 44-45. Wolfe 47-48. Not all faculty members took sides.
113 Although the OCA and NBS were quite different institutions, some similarities regarding the clash of ideals surfaced.273 Both schools were unique in their respective communities because of their history, scope of practice and influential connections. At the heart of both conflicts lay the issue of perceived excellence in curriculum. Should curriculum only reflect traditional techniques or should it embrace contemporary art? Is it time to start teaching a diversified curriculum (in either visual art or dance) that included
Canadian contributions? In both cases, the conservative forces prevailed but critical discourse slowly began. NBS got its funding and did not add modern dance to the curriculum for more than a decade; OCA returned to its structured schedule and most of the experimental instructors were dropped from the faculty.
The community's revolt over curriculum and leadership at OCA and the disdain expressed in the dance community over the exorbitant funding of NBS demonstrated how the tide was slowly shifting in Canadian art. Contemporary art was gaining momentum in Canada and the composition of artistic communities was changing. Fueled by the
Centennial initiatives, federal and provincial funders recognized that companies focusing on contemporary art and individual artists experimenting in new techniques deserved support. Independent artists, in all disciplines, were growing in numbers. Original
Canadian art on Canadian subjects (not just art in a traditional technique practiced by
Canadians) abounded in the seventies and many of these artists were also politically attuned.
273 It is important to note that students of the three ballet schools generally ranged in age from eleven to eighteen whereas OCA students were in their late teens and early twenties. This discrepancy in age explains the greater involvement of the OCA students in the conflict and the utter silence on the part of ballet students on the topic of the Brinson Report.
114 State Support of Scholarly Research: SSHRC is born
The problems at OCA and NBS indicated how unique arts curriculums were within the
educational sector. The larger issue of funding education and research is complicated in
Canada. As stated in the BNA Act, education is the responsibility of the provinces. As
such, day to day funding of all schools, colleges and universities falls to the provincial
governments. And yet, with transfer payments from the federal government, both federal
and provincial politicians like to take credit for successful education initiatives.
Supporting research conducted by scholars and also the funding of specialty training
conservatories were grey areas in terms of jurisdiction. (For example, the fathers of
confederation did not anticipate the creation of the National Ballet School.) Jurisdiction
was a hot topic in Ottawa. Generally, Trudeau's government was more concerned with
containing the power in a centralized model as opposed to a decentralized structure that
conservatives espoused. The mid-to-late seventies saw the federal government coping
with the rise in wealth and power of several provinces, especially Quebec. The struggle
between centralized and decentralized control was fought in many sectors, including the
arts.
The history of funding scholarly research falls an 'arm's length'274 outside of the federal
government. In 1957, the federal government gave the Canada Council two $50 million
endowments, one for the arts and one for academia. From 1957 to 1977, the Canada
Council funded both artists and scholars in their work and research (with interest from the
274 As stated in the introduction, arm's length is the term used to describe the relationship of crown agencies to the federal government. These arm's length agencies are one step removed from government to protect them from partisanship. Their general composition and mandates do not change with elections. Of course, the length of the arm has suffered the influence of politics over the years depending on the government in power.
115 endowment and then additional Parliamentary allowances).275 Specifically, in its first ten
years the Canada Council poured $70 million towards the construction of humanities and
social sciences buildings at universities276; in 1975, there were six times as many full-
977
time professors in the humanities and social sciences as fifteen years previous. Many
in academia felt that its growing size warranted a separate arm's length agency. In
recognition of this growth, by an act of Parliament in June 1977 the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) was created.278 Like the Canada Council,
SSHRC was an arm's length agency of the Secretary of State.279
SSHRC's mandate was simple, "to promote and assist research and scholarship in the
social sciences and humanities."280 Andre Fortier, who had been Director of the Canada
Council from 1972-1975, became SSHRC's first president from 1978-1982. Under
Fortier's direction, SSHRC promoted "excellence, training [for] the next generation of
scholars, and encourag[ed] broader dissemination of research results."281 In its first year,
SSHRC systematically assessed its programs, expanding and clarifying its purpose.282 At
275 Perhaps because the Canada Council funded educational research, its support of the National Theatre School and the National Ballet School did not raise the eyebrows of constitutional lawyers. The arm's length relationship of the Canada Council to the federal government may have insulated Council from issues of jurisdiction. 276 Charles Lussier, "The Canada Council: The Principle of Excellence and Its Implications in a Democratic Society." Speech to Annual Managers Development Program of Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. July 6,1977, Speech 7702. 9. (found in DICA Newsletter, September 1977 at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Ontario.) 277 SSHRC, First annual report, 1978-79 (Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1979) 27. 278 In addition, the Medical Research Council and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council were created at the same time. 279 Today, SSHRC is an arm's length agency of the Ministry of Industry. 280 Robert Hanson, "Allocation and evaluation: the approach at the social sciences and humanities research council of Canada," Higher Education 28(1994): 110. (The mandate has changed slightly to note that funding is directed towards universities.) 281 Hanson 110. 282 Andre Fortier, "Foreword," SSHRC, First annual report, 1978-79 (Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1979) 5.
116 the same time, SSHRC also introduced funding to scholars wishing to do "thematic
research in areas of national interest."283 In other words, research that in some way
supported the federalist point of view of Canada gained favour. The timing of this new
funding priority is suspicious considering that the Parti Quebecois became the
government in Quebec in late 1976 and a referendum was imminent. Canadian content
was a going concern of the federal government in the seventies. The CRTC had
instituted its Canadian content ("Can Con") enforcement system in 1971. The Canada
Council slowly started monitoring Canadian content in dance beginning in 1972.
Although not a priority until after the Parti Quebecois took power, Canadian content was
clearly gaining momentum as a criterion for funding. Both academia and the arts
suffered from the influence of politics.
When the Canada Council turned twenty in 1977, it published a discussion paper on its
role entitled Twenty plus five. The booklet argued that the Council pursued excellence,
democratization and decentralization equally (the balance between these priorities was
contentious in dance). This document, along with the follow-up report The Future of the
Canada Council, was a roadmap for the future of the Canada Council, without SSHRC.
SSHRC's independence meant the Canada Council could concentrate on the arts and
continuing to diversify the kind of art forms and projects it funded, such as the Art Bank
and Explorations grants. The authors of Twenty plus five acknowledged that the Canada
Council was no longer in the "Fat years" but now operated in the "Lean years."285
Continued growth in the performing arts, thanks in part to non-Canada Council LIP and
283 Fortier, "Foreword," 5. 284 The assessment system was known as MAPL. 285 Canada Council, Twenty plus five (Ottawa: Canada Council, 1977) 6.
117 OFY grants, was somewhat deceptive. The number of arts organizations and artists was certainly growing but the targeted funding was not. Beginning in 1975, "the economic situation deteriorated; the federal deficit increased; growth in the budgets of federal cultural agencies slowed down and in some instances literally stopped or became negative. For example, the Canada Council's budget decreased, in real terms by about 10 percent,"286 from 1975-1981. Despite warnings, the "Lean Years," specifically after
1977, caught many artists by surprise. They stood on the Canada Council's doorstep, hat in hand. Unfortunately, with the "Lean Years" upon them, the Canada Council had to focus its efforts on its three priorities.
Traditional Anglophone Dance Asserts Itself: the National Ballet of Canada's 25th
Anniversary Conference
The Dance Section of the Canada Council appeared to be directing the dance community.
There was the impression that the Dance Section focused funding on companies that
Michaud personally felt exhibited excellence first and foremost, despite public scrutiny.
The criticism of the Brinson Report and the excessive funding of the National Ballet
School lasted for years, exacerbating the schism in the community.287 The Canada
Council (and Brinson himself) had to defend the decision publicly on several occasions; first at the summer of 1975 DICA conference, then in the winter 1976 Dance in Canada magazine, and third at the National Ballet's 25* Anniversary Conference in November
1976.
286 Fortier and Schafer, Review of Federal Policies for the Arts in Canada (1944-1988) (Ottawa: Canadian Conference of the Arts, 1989) 37. 287 Aggravated letters to the editor of Dance in Canada magazine streamed in from the various members of the community and then in turn responses from the Council, the last one was from Peter Brinson himself in 1982.
118 The National Ballet, who continued to tour with Rudolf Nureyev, hosted this conference on the future of ballet in Canada and around the world. It was a meeting of renowned artists, critics and administrators at the St. Lawrence Arts Centre in Toronto. The CBC covered the event and the proceedings were published in the anthology Visions: Ballet and its Future.288 This event, which included the artistic directors of the Royal Winnipeg
Ballet and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, publicly asserted the international reputation of
Canadian ballet, and the National Ballet of Canada in particular.289 Notably, Peter
Brinson and Timothy Porteous of the Canada Council were both asked to speak on the topic of funding.
Brinson only made one comment about the Report and it reflected his being out of touch with the Canadian dance community. "The many members of our dance profession who commended my Report for the Canada Council about the development of professional training for classical ballet in this country largely ignored its reference to a necessary partnership with public education. Partly this was because of the way the Report was presented but also, I think, it is partly because the need for this partnership is somewhat discounted by our profession."290 Brinson recognized that his Report was used by the
Dance Section as justification for the sizeable grants given to NBS, not as a call to reconsider dance education. But he continued to accentuate the importance of spreading
288 Dance writer Michael Crabb edited the proceedings; choreographer and teacher Holly Small was the assistant editor. The proceedings were published two years after the event. By that time, Crabb and Small were the new editorial staff at Dance in Canada magazine. 289 This assertion was particularly important because the National Ballet and Les Grands had suffered serious financial crises in the recent years. The National Ballet had also had a crisis of management. Celia Franca left in 1974 and David Haber was hired on her recommendation; Haber was fired in 1975 and Franca returned temporarily until British dancer Alexander Grant was hired in 1976. 290 Peter Brinson, "A Bigger Future," Visions: Ballet and its Future, ed. Michael Crabb (Toronto: Simon and Pierre, 1978) 111.
119 his concept of ballet education far and wide beyond the walls of the dance conservatories to the public schools. Dance, folk dance to be precise, received only slight recognition in public education within the physical education curriculum. Brinson had no idea that it would take another twenty years291 before dance (certainly not ballet) would be readily included in some provincial public education systems. Brinson laid the responsibility for publicizing his Report firmly in the hands of the Canada Council.
Associate Director of the Canada Council, Porteous attempted to appease the dance community with his statements at the National Ballet's conference, "At the time the
[Canada Council] Act was drafted [in 1957] it was not considered necessary to mention dance. Today it is inconceivable that any draftsman, however unfamiliar with the arts in
Canada, could leave it out. Undoubtedly the principal agents for this change in awareness have been our three large ballet companies and the manifold activities that have sprung from them or sprung up in reaction to them."292 Just recognizing that the dance community was growing was not enough. This statement perpetuated the notion that there were in effect two dance communities, the ballet companies and everyone else.
After the National Ballet's 25' anniversary conference, the conflict in the community exploded one more time at the Dance in Canada conference in Winnipeg in August 1977.
For example, in 1998, Ontario published a new Arts curriculum that moved dance from Physical Education to a full strand with drama. 292 Timothy Porteous, "Palaces Built on Sand," Visions: Ballet and its Future, ed. Michael Crabb (Toronto: Simon and Pierre, 1978) 117.
120 Community and DICA divided: "Lines were drawn, people took sides or headed for
cover"
A sense of nationalism and the need to defend Canadian practices was at the heart of the
conflict. Strate and others were standing up for the opportunity for Canadians to develop
their own style and pedagogy. The final fallout from the Brinson Report was
overwhelming and fractured to the dance community.29 Although the actions of the
Canada Council Dance Section exacerbated the tense situation, ultimately the dance
community self-destructed in 1977, preferring to approach the Canada Council separately than as a unified group. DICA was divided between the large ballet and modern
companies and the rest.
The final battle began when members of DICA attacked the Canada Council for hiring a foreign judge, taking his recommendations to such extremes and for continuing to play favourites. The Canada Council counter-attacked with a reduction in DICA's operating funding. In the spring of 1976, DICA was informed by the Canada Council that the organization would receive its requested $27, 500 grant with conditions. "Council approved the amount requested but noted that the Association has come under criticism from a section of its own membership - the small dance companies - regarding direct service to them [by DICA] and their lack of representation on its board of directors. The issue seemed to centre on the question: 'Who does Dance in Canada serve?'"294 As a result of this perceived lack of confidence, the Dance section uncharacteristically divided
293 After the winter issue of Dance in Canada magazine, special meetings by the regional offices of DICA were held in Quebec, B.C. and Ontario to discuss the report. The Ontario chapter requested a statement of the dance section's policies. DICA, Newsletter (May/June 1976): 1. 294 The comments of the Canada Council were encapsulated in the DICA newsletter for May/June 1976. DICA, Newsletter (May/June 1976): 2.
121 45% of DICA's operating grant and gave it to ten of its member companies as a test. The
Canada Council wrote that the ten companies could keep the extra $1250 or give it to
DICA, thereby testing the service organization's value to its members. The Board of
DICA rejected the Council's petty funding formula and told the companies to just use the
money. This was the first of several cutbacks in its operating funding. This pointed
exchange between the Canada Council and DICA highlighted the fact that not all the
members agreed about the direction of the service organization.
The sense of antagonism continued to rise after Spill (a fledgling dance newspaper in
Toronto) published a controversial editorial. In July 1977, Lawrence Adams, co-founder
of the experimental 15 Dance Lab, complained about the National Ballet School's public
fundraising campaign for $250,000 (considering the School had just received an
operating grant of $660,000 from the Canada Council for 1977). Adams compared the
National Ballet School to organized crime in his editorial titled, with bitter irony, "Some
Cheap Shots."296 Adams also made reference to the large amount of funding TDT had
received for its new facility. Needless to say, his comments did not sit well with
members of DICA's professional dance company forum, namely Betty Oliphant.
The most dramatic events were yet to come. One month later, at the Annual General
Meeting in Winnipeg, the membership of DICA gathered in one room and the sparks flew. First, the membership elected a new Board that included Grant Strate and
Lawrence Adams. Next, Jacqueline Lemieux, Artistic Director of Entre-Six (and a friend
295 Elizabeth Chitty, Lawrence and Miriam Adams and others published 13 issues of Spill in total. 296 Lawrence Adams, "Some Cheap Shots," Spill number 5 (July 1977): 18.
122 of Monique Michaud), asked for a vote of non-confidence in some of the Board members
(namely Adams and Strate). The Chair, Iris Garland, a dance professor from Simon
Fraser University, refused because the Board had just been elected. Tension mounted
when, Dr. Roger Jones, General Manager of Toronto Dance Theatre and Treasurer of
DICA, dramatically resigned. Jones offered several reasons including, "the continuing
vendetta run by a faction at DICA against the dance officer of the Canada Council...
[and the] sniping ... against the large professional organizations, particularly the
National Ballet company and the National Ballet School."297 Jones' comments were
certainly in Toronto Dance Theatre's best interest; he concluded by suggesting that a
splinter service organization might be formed. At that point, Betty Oliphant stood up; she
agreed with Jones and removed the National Ballet School as a member of DICA citing
disorganization, the vendetta, and the "cheap adolescent attack on the National Ballet
School and Toronto Dance Theatre in Spill."29* Finally the meeting ended in a
conflagration when Peter Randazzo, co-founder of TDT, stood up and cried, "At this point I have lost all objectivity - [I] feel so harassed ... I am having a nervous breakdown as a result of this conference."299 These very public confrontations (all in front of representatives of the Canada Council) established the lines between the "haves" and "have-nots." Ultimately, DICA suffered the consequences because it would no longer represent the entire dance community.
DICA, Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Dance in Canada Association, Winnipeg, Manitoba, August 21, 1977, 1. 298 DICA, Minutes 3. 299 DICA, Minutes 4.
123 NBS left DICA, and within a year, became the catalyst for the development of a new
service organization. Betty Oliphant briefly referred to the DICA conflict over Canada
Council funding in her autobiography:
At that time the criterion of excellence was on its way out. The age of democratization and diffusion had arrived. But this was not the case with Madame Michaud. Trained by Peter Dwyer and assisted by Barbara Laskin, who later became head of the section, Monique ran her office with firmness and compassion. She was a fighter and she upheld her standards despite abuse and criticism from a small group of malcontents who belonged to the new order.300
As Oliphant recognized, it was clear that Monique Michaud was going to fund
'excellence' in dance - as she saw fit (the Brinson Report was a means to that end).
Interestingly, Michaud had met with seven Canadian dance companies she considered
promoted excellence in Chicago at the Association of American Dance Companies back
in November, 1974. Those companies were Anna Wyman Dance Theatre,
Contemporary Dancers of Winnipeg, Le Groupe de la Place Royale, Toronto Dance
Theatre, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, National Ballet of Canada and the Royal
Winnipeg Ballet. "This group became what Lawrence Adams referred] to as 'the silver
seven' and several years later they would dramatically make their point within DICA."
At the 1976 conference, this group of seven, and others, formed the Forum of Artistic and
Administrative Directors as a sub-group of DICA. Interestingly, members of this forum
did not have to be members of DICA and the forum considered itself autonomous from
Betty Oliphant, Miss O: My Life in Dance (Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1996) 227. 301 This Association included Canadian members and its Canadian equivalent would eventually be CAPDO. 302 Megan Andrews, "A Brief History of the Dance in Canada Association: Aggregation and Erosion," Canadian Dance Studies Quarterly, CD-ROM, Volume 1, Issue 3 (Toronto: Society for Canadian Dance Studies, 2001).
124 the parent organization. This forum was a forerunner to the Canadian Association of
Professional Dance Organizations (CAPDO). CAPDO was formed in the fall of 1978 after eight prominent members left DICA.304 Its mandate was to service and represent professional dance companies. The organization did not have a staff, but rather, met regularly and agreed as a group on action.305 Notably, CAPDO received funding from the Canada Council in its first year; as CAPDO's operating funding increased over the years, DICA's decreased. Again the agenda of the Dance Section (funding the Silver
Seven first) was apparent.
Moving Beyond the Traditional: 15 Dance Laboratorium
In the seventies, one vocal member of the conflict at the DICA conference was Lawrence
Adams. A former dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, Adams had the appearance of a malcontent with long hair and a scruffy beard. Adams' Spill editorial and repeated elections to the DICA Board were sources of discord.306 It is possible his actions were considered more egregious by certain members of the ballet community because of his previous membership in the "have" category.
Lawrence and Miriam Adams retired from the National Ballet of Canada in 1969 and began teaching at the Lois Smith Dance School. In 1972, a group of Lawrence Adams' students approached him about performance opportunities in Toronto. He determined
303 DICA, DICA newsletter, (October/November 1977): 3-4. 304 Those companies were Anna Wyman Dance Theatre, Contemporary Dancers of Winnipeg, Le Groupe de la Place Royale, Toronto Dance Theatre, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the National Ballet School. 305 CAPDO archives, York University Scott Library, Toronto, Ontario. 306 As a Board member, Adams advocated slow growth of DICA based on the organization's current means, this cautious approach was not favoured by all.
125 that none existed, so he and his wife became founding members of 15 Dancers; this move
would change the face of Canadian dance in the early seventies. 15 Dancers was an ad
hoc group that performed in Ontario from 1972-1974. The Adams created the venue 15
Dance Laboratorium307 in 1974 (commonly known as "15 Dance Lab") as an atelier for
experimentation in post-modern and conceptual dance (and received some public funding
for it).308 In 1975, Miriam Adams created her version of the Nutcracker, which was a
satire of the original; despite its box office success, she refused to remount it citing the
importance of always redefining dance.309 It was an untraditional space that asked
audiences to reconsider (and sometimes participate in) dance: "One hundred and thirty-
five choreographers passed through 15 [Dance Lab] during this time [1974-1980], many
of them just beginning with little experience or opportunity to produce dance work. The
one element which they all shared was the adventure of taking a first step, be it working
in a new environment, accepting new responsibilities, or simply having the courage to
take a risk."310 Perhaps the most contentious of 15 Dance Lab's works was "The Brick
Series" by Lawrence Adams.
07 The literature on 15 Dance Lab is growing. A new anthology on Lawrence and Miriam Adams' contributions is currently being written (edited by Allana Lindgren). Also see, Allana Lindgren, "Critiquing the Baryshnikov Brouhaha: Spectatorship and Cross-Cultural Scandal in Miriam Adams' Sonovovitch (1975)," World Dance Alliance 2006 Global Assembly, York University, Toronto, Ontario, July 2006. 308 Susan Cohen, the Dance Officer at the Ontario Arts Council, supported 15 Dance Lab before the Canada Council did. 309 Elizabeth Chitty, "Fifteen is an Amoeba," York Dance Review number 4 (Spring 1974): 38. 310 DICA, "Lawrence and Miriam Adams recipients of the Dance Ontario Award, 1980," DICA Newsletter (December 1980): 1. 11 "The Brick Series" appears in quotes because it is a group of works. In total, there appears to have been seven Brick works, but 15 Dancers and 15 Dance Lab did not always print programmes, so this number is only based on published reviews and existing archives. Lawrence Adams passed away in 2003.
126 Heymnmij in l('~3. \danis ucated a seiic-> of vv oiks on ilic theme ol'huck kivin». "T hcic i i is no film 01 video available on Adams" "1 he Duck Series." As a result, desenplion of i
ihe vvoiks is based on written documentation.'1 I he series lvuiin w it Li ;i solo. Hrn-k M all
it limit uiiil *» I.nnii. whete \dams liteiallv hmli a wall on static between himself and his
' audience lo \l;ihler"s 5'' Svmphonv '1 he series expanded Ironi there In other works,
\d.ims l.nd miniaiuic buck-., climbed a laryc Mwofoam buck in a pieee dial was meant
10 repiesein a da> in the hie of hi kk. and delivcicd an address on the \iriues of die
•» I
hi iek In Hi n A / a\ inn >.i Jaiu < u //// imu •>. \dams w role, "or$iani/cd ehaos seems to he
the order ol ow I arih. and I helie\e thai this law must applv to rhvtmii also. '1 here for
|sie| the "scoie" ol this hiicklaviiiu woik is M) to I lor the hneks. And ofcouise |il| is
asvmnieliical I uriher insiuhts to brick la> ins? will eome. Iroin ihe use of video and film
plus talks with hikklavers. Hopel'ullv some small insiiihl into this suhieei as vet not lullv
ie\ealed will he iiained I inther e\ploiation> to lollow in time." "' 'I he series garnered
a lot ol media attention, loi conceptual .in \il.inis larelv perfouned the same work
twice."lhe Hnck Senes"\\,is peit'oimed liom I *>—3 toeuea 1T()
Brick Wall 6 High and 8 Long gained attention because of its utter lack of dance.
Conceptual choreography like Adams' had not been seen in Toronto, the bastion of
ballet, even though American audiences had been experiencing it for years.
Consequently, it was often difficult for Canadian critics to understand. Indeed, a 1974
Ottawa Journal article on one of the works was entitled, "Dance of a Different Colour
312 See Appendix Six for an image from one of the works in "The Brick Series." 313 William Littler, "Swan Song for 15 Dance Lab," Toronto Star 31 May 1980: H5. 314 Lawrence Vaughan Adams, chor., Brick Laying, a dance with notes, no date. (Dance Collection Danse archives, Toronto, Ontario.)
127 great, if you like bricks ...".315 These conceptual works followed in the experimental
style of the Judson Church Dance Theater of New York in the sixties. Ultimately,
conceptual works such as "The Brick Series" challenged audiences to reconceive dance.
Adams thrust the question, 'why can't brick laying be dance?' upon spectators and
critics. In 1974, William Littler of the Toronto Star wrote, "What Fifteen offers is a
challenge to attitudes about dance and dancers. This is why some candidate for a PhD
may one day produce a thesis on the role of bricks in the choreography of Lawrence
Adams ... [he didn't dance] He merely exhibited bricks (big, small, photographed,
floating etc.) and talked about them."316 "The Brick Series" demonstrated Lawrence
Adams' irreverence for tradition and the establishment.
Adams's work was an original Canadian solo but, like Earle's Baroque Suite, certainly borrowed from American choreographic explorations. Baroque Suite demonstrates how
Canadian dance had moved beyond the token Canadian narrative of Rose Latulippe to
abstraction, but "The Brick Series" represented a significant shift towards a unique
strident sensibility in Canadian choreography. Adams' irreverence on stage was notorious. Adams' "The Brick Series" also marked the beginning of small-scale solo works that became a prominent way of working in Canada for the next two decades.
Independent choreographers created work on their own bodies first and built a following based on their own individual expression.317 15 Dance Lab was established to encourage
315 Eileen Turcotte, "Dance of a Different colour great if you like bricks ..." Ottawa Journal 10 June 1974: page number unavailable, (found at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Ontario). 316 William Littler, "Dancers prefer audience to get in on the action," Toronto Star 5 February 1974: E7. 317 Some prominent independent choreographers, such as Marie Chouinard, only performed their own solo work. Numerous independent choreographers began on their bodies, but were also versatile enough to create solo and group forms.
128 this kind of personal exploration. 15 Dance Lab was the first of many presenters to
champion the independent Canadian choreographer. Lawrence Adams's "The Brick
Series," and other explorations at 15 Dance Lab, marked the beginning of original and
recognizably independent Canadian choreography.
15 Dance Lab was a pivotal organization in the history of contemporary Canadian dance
in English-Canada because it offered a democratic space for independent artists to
explore their choreographic voice.318 In 1980, Lawrence and Miriam Adams closed 15
Dance Lab to pursue publishing the Canadian Dance News and working in the
burgeoning field of dance film and video. By the time 15 Dance Lab closed, there were
other venues for dancers and choreographers to continue the experimentation, thanks in
part to the Adams' pioneering efforts. The position of resident choreographer at a
dance company was no longer the only way to get your work produced. With modern
dance students of the York University Dance Department graduating every year since
1974, 15 Dance Lab encouraged those emerging revolutionaries. The position of
independent choreographer became a possibility. In the same period, the number of
contemporary dance companies in Toronto grew quickly. These companies,
encouraged dancers to also be choreographers. Many established dance companies, like
TDT, offered regular choreographic workshops in order to satisfy the growing desire of
dancers to create. York University's dance professor and noted Canadian choreographer,
3,8 William Littler, "Swan Song for 15 Dance Lab," Toronto Star 31 May 1980: H5. 319 By the time, 15 Dance Lab closed in 1980, DanceWorks, a presenter of independent dance in Toronto, was established. 320 Dancemakers began in 1974, the Danny Grossman Dance Company was formed in 1975.
129 Grant Strate went one step further and established a workshop on the enigmatic art of
making dances.
An Attempt to Build Bridges Between Canadian Ballet and Modern Dance
Choreographers: the National Choreographic Seminars
As a choreographer, Grant Strate had struggled with the unsystematic character of his
choreographic training (when he worked for the National Ballet). Primarily,
choreographers learned on-the-job or by watching; there were no courses on 'how to
make a dance.' Furthermore, the limited writing and analysis on the topic did not satisfy
Strate.321 When he started teaching dance at York University in 1970, Strate began to
investigate the pedagogy of choreography, to help teach both his students and
professional dancers. He discovered intensive seminars to train choreographers were
offered in other places around the world; often taught by Robert Cohan, co-founder of the
London School of Contemporary Dance. Strate recognized that Canadian choreographers
would benefit from these intensive seminars.
Despite financial woes and political obstacles, Strate began the National Choreographic
Seminars at York University in 1978. Unlike previous international choreographic
initiatives, participating artists had to pay a fee. "The Dance Section of the Canada
Council deemed the Seminar to be a university project and therefore outside its jurisdiction, although it did fund some participating artists."322 Potential participants
auditioned across the country; six choreographers, six composers and twenty-four
321 Most composition classes used Doris Humphrey's book The Art of Making Dances, one of the few sources. 322 Strate, Memoirs 166.
130 dancers were selected for the first Seminar. Strate hired Robert Cohan to lead the
Seminars; Cohan emphasized that the choreographer's task is as much about organization as it is about creativity. Each day, Cohan posed choreographers a question; they worked with a variety of composers and dancers to create an answer. The questions Cohan asked remained in the minds of a generation of dance artists. The nature and intensity of these seminars pushed choreographers, and dancers, beyond their comfort zones to create something new. Participants realized that "accidents [were] the most important thing."
The first Seminar inspired collaborations and the formation of companies. Strate organized two more: the second Seminar was held at the Banff Centre for the Arts in
1980, and the third at Simon Fraser University in 1985. The Seminars inspired numerous choreographers including James Kudelka, Tedd Robinson, Holly Small, Karen Jamieson,
Terrill Maguire and Christopher House. The Choreographic Seminars shaped a generation of choreographers, created a national network of dance artists, and blurred the line between Canadian ballet and modern dance. The Seminars added to the growing
'cult of the choreographer' and the creation of a uniquely Canadian choreography.
Conclusions
As the federal deficit and inflation grew, established arts organizations saw the writing on the wall and fought for their piece of the pie based on the argument of excellence.
Toronto Star columnist John Fraser wrote, "there is a profound concern that serious damage is going to be done to the art if the [established] companies are not allowed to
323 Many of the dancers involved in the first Seminar became choreographers at the second. 324 Elizabeth Zimmer, "The Month of the Long Days: The First Canadian Choreographic Seminar, A Diary," Dance in Canada number 17 (Fall 1978): 5.
131 develop on a more assured basis." On the other hand, emerging contemporary arts organizations argued for their portion based on the federal directive of democratization
(and decentralization). In 1977, both the LIP and OFY were cancelled and the Canada
Council had to deal with artists asking for more funding to fill the gap left behind by these employment programs. The Canada Council may have regretted supporting specialized training institutions to such a large extent as its budget felt the effects of inflation and the field of arts education continued to expand.
The newest Section at the Canada Council experienced the greatest amount of growth during this difficult fiscal era. Dance Section clients, especially those not favoured, questioned its agenda and policies. The growing dance community clearly needed more funding, but also wanted the artistic freedom and independence to decide on its own priorities. Neither, under the political climate, was forthcoming.
The Brinson Report marked a turning point in the relationship between the Canada
Council and the dance community. For the first time, the Dance Section publicly released portions of an advisor's Report and the dance community held the Dance
Section accountable to the community it served. By 1975, the dance community had several forums, namely the Dance in Canada magazine and conference, to express its concerns. During the time between the release of the Brinson Report and the ensuing fervor, the lines in the dance community were drawn: first, between those who wanted to maintain an allegiance to British traditions and those interested in other contemporary techniques; and then, between the haves and have-nots. In the years to come the Council
325 John Fraser, "Dance Politics," York Dance Review number 3 (Winter, 1974): 21.
132 could not have expected the overwhelming reaction against this document and the
resulting policy.326 In the end, the Brinson Report and Michaud's application of it
polarized the membership of DICA.
The unforgettable public split from DICA at the 1977 conference signified the evolution
of Canadian dance. The primacy of ballet as the default Canadian dance form was over.
Modern dance, in the eyes of the dance community (or at least the membership of DICA),
became the majority. The teaching of modern dance, especially at universities, also
gained popularity. Grant Strate uses the term the 'cult of the choreographer' to describe
the shift in this period from the glorification of the dancers to a fascination with the
creator.327 This shift occurred in the dance community, in the media, and in funding
bodies. The DICA split sadly perpetuated the antithesis between the "have" and "have-
not" groups, though it also served to draw attention to the size and diversity of the dance
community. DICA (and CAPDO) could not claim to represent the entire dance
community and therefore neither was highly effective as an advocate. After 1977, DICA
decentralized with more power moving to the regional offices; the service organization
eventually collapsed in 1989. Individual artists took on their own causes, which was
reflected in the solo art they created, but never again would the dance community, as a
whole, be a force.
326 It appears the growth and organization in the dance community surprised Council. An equally contentious report, the Kirstein-Buckle Report of 1962, barely caused a ripple in the dance community. But thirteen years later, the emotional reaction to the Brinson Report was unexpected. See Katherine Cornell, "The Dance Community Revolts: The Brinson Report of 1974," Canadian Dance Studies Quarterly, CD-ROM, Volume 2, Number 1 (Toronto: Society for Canadian Dance Studies, 2001). 327 Karen Kain and Frank Augustyn, the Gold Dust Twins of 1972, certainly garnered a lot of public attention. The very public defection of Mikhail Baryshnikov in Toronto in 1974 marked the height of dancer-mania in Canada. But a decade later, journalists are more interested in the choreographers with whom Kain and Augustyn were working.
133 Chapter Six Distinctly Canadian Dance in Quebec 1977-1982
Beginning in 1973, Quebec dance artists328 and organizations moved away from the
federal funding and began to isolate themselves, becoming a cluster within the larger
Canadian dance community, united by language rather than dance style. As a primarily
Francophone community, it certainly felt the alienation experienced by all citizens of
Quebec and described in the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism
(1967-1970). Ludmilla Chiriaeff of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens was the first to
associate with the Parti Quebecois (PQ), which believed in funding Quebec artists as
carriers of the Quebecois culture. The 1976 election of the PQ and the 1977 split at DICA
allowed the Quebec dance community to separate and become self-sustaining.329 After
the PQ was elected, funding started to flow from its new super-ministry of Cultural
Affairs330 and Quebec dance companies became less dependent on Canada Council
funding. The Montreal dance community not only survived but even expanded and was
sustained when dance companies in English Canada floundered. The Montreal dance
community also became fertile ground for new independent work. Some Quebec dance
artists, such as Marie Chouinard, began working only in solo form on their own bodies
and gained reputations as avant-garde innovators. In the seventies, Quebec modern
The new term dance artist is first used in this era. It is a specific phrase used to encapsulate both dancing and choreographic duties, but also to accentuate the serious work of 'artists'. The question of titles has been an issue in contemporary dance, especially in Quebec. For more on this topic, please see Pamela Newell, "The Role of the Interpreter," The Dance Current (November 2003): 18-21. 329 The Regroupement de Danse, a provincial service organization for Quebec dance artists, was formed in 1984. 330 In 1976, the PQ created the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Education, Communications, and Leisure and Immigration. It is described in greater detail later in this chapter.
134 dance, with the 'tradition of no tradition, quickly distinguished itself as unique from
the mainstream structured English-Canadian modern dance.
These innovations were possible thanks to the pioneering work of the mothers of French
Canadian modern dance, such as the Automatist, Francoise Sullivan. A brief history of
the Automatist movement and the Quiet Revolution is necessary to contextualize the
work of Quebec dance artists in the seventies.
Francophone Dance and the Refus Global
The Automatist manifesto of 1948, the Refus Global, foreshadowed the Quiet Revolution,
calling for the rejection of conformity and tradition, as well as the acceptance of life and
its riches.332 It boldly attacked the conservative traditions of the Catholic Church in
Quebec. The style of the Automatists was inspired by the improvisational nature of
stream-of-consciousness writing pioneered by the Surrealists in the twenties and thirties;
this method was extended to other art forms such as painting.333 Automatists tried to
create freely without the imposition of structure or technique. They saw themselves as
leaders in Quebec society. The group was comprised mainly of visual artists, but also
included playwright Claude Gauvreau and dancer/choreographer Francoise Sullivan.334
Specifically for Sullivan, the "Refus Global 'aimed in its prophetic writing at 'disturbing'
331 Iro Tembeck, Dancing in Montreal: Seeds of a Choreographic History (Madison: Society of Dance History Scholars, 1994) 64. Allana Lindgren, From Automatism to Modern Dance: Francoise Sullivan with Franziska Boas in New York (Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2003) 14. 333 Certainly, there are similarities between the Automatists in Quebec and the Abstract Expressionists in New York. 334 In addition to her work as a choreographer, Sullivan is a renowned sculptor and painter. She studied visual art in Montreal where she met Paul-Emile Bourdas and the other Automatists. She won the Governor General's Award in Visual Art in 2005.
135 the heavy drowsiness of the province. The freedom we were appropriating in our art we
wanted to extend to all aspect of life for everyone.'"335 The Automatist manifesto
prophetically marked the beginning of modern art in Quebec. The Refits Global included
a philosophical article on dance by Sullivan, entitled "La Danse et L'Espoir" ("Dance and
Hope"), where she argued for expressionism, akin to that of Isadora Duncan and Mary
Wigman, in Quebec dance.336
Francoise Sullivan had studied ballet in Montreal, and then moved to New York to learn
modern dance, improvisation, and the choreographic process. When she returned to
Montreal, she applied the Automatist philosophy to her choreography by substituting
technique with "an intuitive approach, stemming from dreams and the collective
unconscious." In 1948, she performed her work in a mixed programme with
dancer/choreographer Jeanne Renaud at McGill University's Ross House; this would be a
seminal performance of modern dance in Quebec. Sullivan and Renaud (together with
Francoise Riopelle) became the "founding mothers of French Canadian modern
dance."JJO This was the beginning of modern dance with a French sensibility in Quebec;
but the Roman Catholic Church still exerted considerable influence over audiences' tastes
for the next decade.
335 Lindgren20. 336 Fran9oise Sullivan, "La Danse et L'Espoir," Refus Global, ed. Anatole Brochu (Shawinigan: A. Brochu, 1972) 97-99. 337 IroTembeck47. 338 Iro Tembeck 47. It should be noted that Ruth Sorel and Elizabeth Leese taught modern dance in Montreal at the same time as Sullivan, but neither was born in Quebec.
136 Despite Sullivan's work, modern dance continued to struggle and be suppressed by the
Catholic Church in the fifties. Sullivan began to focus on sculpture, photography and
visual art. Many artists left for New York and Paris. At the same time, Chiriaeff
campaigned for the Church to reevaluate its label that ballet was a sin. Slowly but surely
ballet was accepted in society (first on television) and then Chiriaeff formed the
company, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in 1957. However, modern dance, led by these
determined women would have to wait until the death of Premier Maurice Duplessis and
the election of Jean Lesage's Liberal government in 1960 for a more progressive
environment during the Quiet Revolution.
Quebecois Culture, the Quiet Revolution and Dance
The Quiet Revolution, from 1960 to 1966, fundamentally changed Quebec's culture.
Lesage campaigned on the platform of 'maitres chez nous'339 and this powerful message
infused all the changes made to the provincial government. Lesage radically reformed
the education system, lessening the influence of the Catholic Church. Lesage also took
ownership of private hydroelectric resources increasing Quebec's wealth and bargaining
power with Ottawa. The people of Quebec, especially the working class in urban centres,
were encouraged to break with tradition. Quebec artists had already embraced
modernity. But, for the first time, the new Ministry of Cultural Affairs funded artistic pursuits and Quebec society generally became more supportive of art and arts education.
Loosely translated, masters of their own home/domain; in other words, Lesage wanted Quebec to control its own resources.
137 The Quiet Revolution would see the rise of contemporary art in all disciplines. Modern
dance developed without the benefit of an infrastructure ensconced in other artistic
disciplines. Dance historian Iro Tembeck argues that drama in Quebec had an academic
tradition so it had a support system, at the National Theatre School in Montreal, with
which to build the new artistic philosophies in light of the Quiet Revolution. But dance
did not have an educational institution:
Unlike music or drama, which had managed to establish the semblance of tradition despite clerical disapproval, dance had no tradition to fall back on in Quebec. Not only had the academic dance tradition never sunk roots in the Quebecois landscape; the negative attitude of the public and the opposition of the church had precluded all possibility of establishing an official school of dance. Nor was an artistic support system yet in place. Rejecting the very notion of tradition, the followers of Automatist dance now sped along the path of modernity at all costs. In adopting this course, they engendered a 'tradition of no tradition.' This idea, which their disciples and successors would embrace, implied a rejection of all conventional types of dance whether local in origin or imported from elsewhere ... Henceforth, choreographic discourse would be a purely individual phenomenon.340
This disadvantage became an advantage; without an established academy, modern dance
was free to develop without barriers. The first Quebec dance artists (mainly women)
built companies, schools, and created styles simultaneously. For example, in the early
sixties Renaud taught with Francoise Riopelle at L'Ecole de danse moderne Montreal
while exploring her own style of modern dance influenced by Automatism and American
choreographer Merce Cunningham. Renaud would co-found Montreal's first
professional modern dance company, Le Groupe de la Place Royale, in 1966.3 As a
result of all this non-conventional activity during the Quiet Revolution, several
340 Iro Tembeck 47. 341 Other modern dance companies, such as Ruth Sorel's Dancers, existed previously but were short lived and their professional status was at times questionable.
138 experimental dance companies started and folded. More important than the companies themselves was the training of future choreographers. Choreographers such as Paul-
Andre Fortier (of Le Groupe Nouvelle Aire) and Jean-Pierre Perreault (of Le Groupe de la Place Royale) began creating during the end of the Quiet Revolution and embraced the
'tradition of no tradition.' They would be known as danse d'auteurs.343 These choreographers had individual visions; they would found companies solely based on their personal expression as part of the purely individual phenomenon.
All of this experimentation was finally possible due in part to the Quiet Revolution and a change in cultural outlook of French Canadians. The revolutionary ideas of Quebec artists in this period would furnish elements in the future policies of the Parti Quebecois.
The changes wrought by the Quiet Revolution made Ottawa sit up and pay attention.
Quebec wanted fair treatment and representation in Ottawa. Going into the 1965 election, Pearson realized that his federal government needed more Francophone and bilingual representatives in Quebec; he solicited several newcomers to politics to run, including Pierre Trudeau. With the rise of Quebec's independence, the federal government attempted to address the inequitable treatment of Quebec Canadians.
It took many of the modern dance companies years to be recognized by the Canada Council. 343 The term 'auteur' translated means author and carries with it a great amount of respect. It is used in the critical writing on cinema to describe the single vision of the auteur (generally the director). Iro Tembeck uses the term to in reference to the second generation of highly innovative Quebec choreographers who had studied with the founding mothers. Iro Tembeck 47. Tamar Tembeck points out that using the term auteure for a female choreographer is still subversive, (see "The Staging of Desire: A Feminist Portrait of Marie Chouinard.")
139 The State's Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism
The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism began in 1963 under
Pearson's government to examine the Canadian condition as it applied to language and culture. This Commission attempted to address the unequal treatment of Francophones.
The Commission was co-chaired by Andre Laurendeau, publisher of Le Devoir, and
Davidson Dunton, the President of Carleton University. This Royal Commission, like the
Massey Commission, surveyed an issue for several years and made recommendations to be adopted by the federal government. The Commission published findings in six areas: official languages, education, work world, cultural contributions of other ethnic groups, federal capital, and voluntary associations. The "Preliminary Report saw both the public and commissioners coming to grips with enormous problems arising from French- speaking Canadians' historical disenchantment with their place and status and English- speaking Canadians' apparent failure to perceive the situation."344 The results were published in six volumes from 1967-1970. As a result of this Royal Commission, language became a central issue for Quebec politicians in the seventies.345
As Prime Minister, Trudeau made the implementation of the Report's recommendations a priority in order to build an equal partnership between Francophone and Anglophone.
The Official Languages Act was passed in 1969; the civil service and the capital region quickly became bilingual. Trudeau worked to address historical inequities. The
Bilingualism and Biculturalism Report naturally influenced the offices of the Canada
344 Hugh R. Innis, Bilingualism and Biculturalism: An abridged version of the Royal Commission Report (Ottawa: McClelland and Stewart in cooperation with the Secretary of State Department and Information Canada, 1973) foreword. 345 With the October Crisis of 1970, radicals of the FLQ also made Ottawa very conscious of its policies relating to Quebec.
140 Council as a federal agency. Beyond the use of both official languages in the work place, the only direct recommendation that applied to the Canada Council was the encouragement of bilingualism in municipal and provincial groups awarded grants to work in the capital region. The Report certainly captured the alienation experienced by many Francophone artists.
The Report commented, in the section on voluntary associations, on the sense of segregation felt by Francophones in various sectors. The Report made mention of the
Dominion Drama Festival and its difficulties finding bilingual adjudicators fluent enough in both the English and French dramatic canons to judge the finale of the Festival. As a result, judges often displayed their ignorance of French drama, discouraging Quebec dramatic organizations from participating. Members of Montreal's dance community experienced a sense of misunderstanding and isolation as well. For example, Dance in
Canada magazine rarely published fully bilingual issues, and inconsistently translated versions of the membership newsletter were distributed only in Quebec.346 English-
Canadian members got more press, and they outnumbered Quebec members on the
Board; as a result, English-speaking members participated more in DICA. Moreover, the organization had its head office in Toronto. The membership did not represent an equal partnership; consequently, francophone membership in DICA waned. The Royal
Commission tried, with its recommendations, to mend the gap between French and
English Canada; in dance, the damage of segregation and isolation had been done. By
Vincent Warren, principal dancer with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens until 1979, tried for years to organize the Montreal dance community around a DICA conference; he succeeded in 1981. This token event did little to mend the divide between the dance companies in Montreal and the rest of Canada.346
141 the seventies, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens preferred an insular existence within
Canada, and the rest of the Montreal dance community slowly followed suit.
Rejecting the Dance Community and the Canada Council: Funding and Les Grands
Ballets Canadiens
Funding disputes in the mid-seventies forced Ludmillia Chiriaeff, founder and Artistic
Director of the company, to pick sides. As the largest dance institution in the province, her subsequent actions affected all of dance in Quebec. In the summer of 1973, Les
Grands Ballets Canadiens was threatened with the real possibility of closure.347 At the time, Chiriaeff remarked to journalist John Fraser, "If the governments of Quebec and
Montreal continue to treat us like scum and dirt, then this company will die. It won't rest for a year and come back again. It will end. This is not Les Petits Ballets and we are not going to diminish our artistic worth to satisfy the foolishness of foolish politicians."348
This conflict resulted when Mayor Jean Drapeau refused to give any civic grants to companies working with the disgruntled musicians union, which included Les Grands
Ballets Canadiens. At the eleventh hour, Madame Chiriaeff astutely "took her case to the people of Quebec - primarily by getting the Parti Quebecois to ask some embarrassing and pertinent questions in the Legislature and with the media skip[ping] obediently along the same path - and won provincial finances to end the current crisis and help with the backlog of debt." She knew how to play politics and her choice of the PQ was significant, not only for her company but for the future of dance in Quebec. Chiriaeff recognized that her company deserved significant provincial support considering its
347 John Fraser, "Dance Politics," York Dance Review number 3 (Winter 1974): 18. 348 Fraser 18. 349 Fraser 19.
142 mandate and operations in the province of Quebec. The Parti Quebecois was the official opposition at the time and placed a considerable amount of pressure on the provincial government. Chiriaeff sided with the Parti Quebecois presumably because of its interest in protecting institutions of cultural identity in Quebec. Thus in 1975, after the release of the Brinson Report on specialty ballet schools, Chiriaeff refused the Canada Council's token $10,000350 and again went to the province for financial support; quite simply, she found more receptive funders in Quebec City than in Ottawa. This bold move was the beginning of a self-reliant Quebecois dance community.
In the mid-seventies, Quebec dance stands on its own and demands provincial support, thereby dramatically separating it from dance practices in English Canada. By approaching the separatist Parti Quebecois to plead her case, Chiriaeff affirmed the relationship of dance to culture. The PQ, eager to protect Quebecois culture, championed
Chiriaeff s work and that of other Quebec artists. Chiriaeff was the first to define her choreography in opposition to dance in English Canada (for example, Tommy, the ballet set to the rock opera, was everything the National Ballet was not);351 she inadvertently started a movement in Quebec dance that was apparent in funding patterns and repertoire.
Quebec dance companies began to rely more on provincial funding than on the inconsistent support from Ottawa. Ballet in Quebec was innovative and not primarily remounts of the classics; modern dance in Quebec rejected most American techniques in favour of new personal styles. The number of dance companies in Quebec recognized by
350 Based on Canada Council Annual Reports, L'Ecole Superieure never accepted a penny from the Canada Council. The school ran exclusively on provincial and municipal support. 351 Tommy, choreography by Fernand Nault with music by The Who, premiered in 1970. It toured the world for three years.
143 the Canada Council grew from one in 1974 to seven in 1980. These companies filled their repertoires with original work primarily by Francophone Canadians, such as
Fernand Nault and Martine Epoque. Together, they would eventually build an avant- garde dance community in Montreal that would benefit generations of independent choreographers and become the envy of many. The first major event that showcased
Montreal's growing dance community was the Olympic Program of Arts and Culture in
1976.
The State Celebrates Francophone Culture: 1976 Montreal Olympics
The first Canadian Olympic games, held in Montreal in 1976, brought international attention to the city, just as Expo '67 had done. This time, Quebecois culture was very much in the forefront.353 For instance, shortly before the opening of the Olympic games, air traffic controllers in Quebec went on strike to use the French language, a right in the new bilingual Canada, in their workplace. Parliament legislated the air traffic controllers back to work but the issue of Quebec's rights remained prominent throughout the year
1976. In addition, the rising cost of the Olympics was much on the minds of Quebeckers.
Despite the expense, the Montreal Olympics included a Program of Arts and Culture, as was the tradition. The Canadian festival offered a focus on poetry, film, visual and the performing arts. "The celebration was a compelling one, and like the Centennial and
352 Canada Council, Trends in Canadian Performing Arts 1972-1983 (Ottawa: Canada Council Research and Evaluation, 1986) 91. This is a somewhat deceptive statistic because there were at least four dance companies in Montreal in 1974: Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Le Groupe de la Place Royale, Les Sortileges, and Le Groupe Nouvelle Aire. Only Les Grands Ballet Canadiens is recorded as the single Quebec client receiving operating funding in 1974. The other three companies just received project or individual support from the Canada Council, as a result these three organizations were not listed as 'companies' in this Canada Council document. 353 Expo '67 had included a small festival, La Semaine de la Chanson, for French Canadian singers.
144 Expo 67 ten years earlier, it captured the attention of Canadians. The event was
enlivened by an important cultural program, costing several million dollars."354 As a
decade earlier, the three Canadian ballet companies were featured, but this time the
festival also included almost a dozen modern dance performances.355 Les Grands Ballets
Canadiens, the hometown company, performed a mixed program that included works by
Canadian choreographers Brian Macdonald and Fernand Nault.356 Le Groupe de la Place
Royale, one of Montreal's modern dance companies,357 performed Les Nouveaux Espaces
by co-artistic directors Peter Boneham and Jean-Pierre Perreault. The National Ballet
stopped briefly in Montreal on the way to New York City to perform John Cranko's
Romeo and Juliet (this was not Canadian content).359 Despite the innovative nature of the
work by Les Grands Ballets and Le Groupe de la Place Royale, the classically based
performances of the National Ballet and a performance of the New York City Ballet and
the Royal Ballet garnered the most attention in the media. The schedule of the Olympic
Program of Arts and Culture exemplified which companies had sway with the organizing
committee: "English Canadians do control Canada's cultural institutions [and agencies],
as Quebec complains, but this control is often undermined by the enormous economic
and cultural influence of the United States."360 Clearly, the New York City Ballet had
354 Andre Fortier and Paul Schafer, Review of Federal Policies for the Arts in Canada (1944-1988) (Ottawa: Canadian Conference of the Arts, 1989) 40. 355 Olympic Cultural Activities and Events, Montreal 1976, 2007, Canada's Culture Gateway, Government of Canada, 18 May 2007
145 top billing. In the end, the number of performances and media attention given the
Program of Arts and Culture was nominal.
The performing arts portion of the Olympics Program was smaller than the Centennial's
touring Festival Canada of 10 years previous. The Program of Arts and Culture
emphasized primarily Canadian artists, particularly those from Quebec. The modest
addition of modern dance only somewhat reflected the state of the Canadian dance
community in 1976. For example, DICA did not have a presence at the Olympic
Program of Arts and Culture. Certainly, only a handful of its members were presented.
The Program exemplified how the State (in the form of the Olympic committee)
envisioned Canadian dance as classical and for the most part conservative, even when the
composition of the dance community was changing rapidly. The Program of Arts and
Culture gathered the Montreal performing arts community together and offered some
contemporary Quebecois dance to visitors. The Program also reflected to the people of
Quebec the wealth and depth of artistry in their home province. Indeed, Montreal gained
a reputation as an international destination.
The Olympics ended on August 1st, 1976 and ultimately did more for Quebec than
Canada. Although Quebec was left with most of the debt as well; many citizens blamed
Montreal's Mayor Drapeau and the Premier Bourassa for the gross expenditures. A
provincial election followed in the autumn. The Parti Quebecois defeated the Liberals
Once in power, the PQ commissioned an inquiry into the Olympics budget. Levesque had hoped his predecessor, Bourassa, would be found at fault; instead the inquiry laid most of the blame on Mayor Drapeau.
146 and won a majority government on November 15,1976. This dramatic turn of events heralded a new era for the cultural portfolio.
Cultural Affairs in Quebec, before and after the election of the PQ
The Ministry of Cultural Affairs in Quebec has been much more influential than its counterparts in other provinces.362 Appropriately, culture became a portfolio during the
Quiet Revolution. A brief history of the Ministry is necessary to appreciate the changes made by the PQ when they came to power. In 1961, the Lesage government established the first provincial Ministry of Cultural Affairs363 signaling culture as a priority.
"According to Quebec Premier Lesage, 'the government does not create culture, nor does it direct it... it simply attempts to create a climate favorable to the development of the arts.'"364 Defining and supporting Quebec's contemporary culture was part of the
'maitres chez nous' movement. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs would protect and disseminate primarily the Francophone cultural identity. In 1963, the Ministry created its theatre section, which funded several established and new companies.366 The first significant cultural policy document to articulate its priorities of cultural identity was the
White Paper on Culture published in 1965. In general, policies of the Lesage government accentuated educational reform and the addition of agencies and institutions that asserted
Quebec's independence. The Liberals had presented the new Green Paper, "Pour
362 Many provinces do not even have culture as a portfolio in 2007. 363 Notably, this is a Ministry, not an arm's length arts council insulated from partisanship. Directed funding of the arts by a government ministry is very much in keeping with the French model. 364FortierandSchaferl2. 365 Diane St. Pierre, "Quebec, its Cultural Policies, and the handing down of Culture in a time of Globalization," The Handing Down of Culture, Smaller Societies and Globalization, ed. Jean-Paul Baillargeon (Toronto: Grub Street Books, 2001) 1. 366 "Its influence was so pervasive that some observers began to distinguish between 'official' Quebec theatre and the 'other,' non-subsidized one." Elaine F. Nardocchio, Theatre and Politics in Modern Quebec (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1986) 51.
147 1'evolution de la politique culturelle du Quebec," to the National Assembly in 1976, but
its policies were not implemented due to the election of the Parti Quebecois in
November.
The Parti Quebecois, founded in 1967 by its leader Rene Levesque, would embrace the
portfolio of Cultural Affairs with a greater degree of protectionism than had the Liberals.
In 1976, the government created the super-ministry of Cultural Affairs, Education,
Communications, and Leisure and Immigration. This larger, more powerful ministry was
meant to compete with the "federal cultural offensive,"367 presumably from the troika of
the Canada Council, SSHRC, and Department of External Affairs.368 The PQ published
its White Paper on cultural policy in 1978. The thrust of the PQ's policy was to work
towards being the only government supporting Quebec artists both at home and abroad.
The new super-ministry notably drafted the province's first specific dance policy.
"Among its priorities were the promotion and preservation of the Quebecois dance
heritage, not only in terms of content, but also with respect to the number of performers
of French Canadian stock hired for a given production."370 This was generally a positive
and inclusive policy for all types of dance companies including ballet, modern, jazz and
folk.371 Certainly, in this super-ministry funding remained strong, but often the
performing arts were lost among the other priorities.
367 Nardocchio 2. 368 The Department of External Affairs directly supported (not via an arm's length agency) international touring of Canadian artists with a small fund. 369 The relative small size of the provincial population necessitated touring and disseminating Quebec culture internationally. 370 Iro Tembeck 58. 371 In Richard Handler's ethnographical study of Quebec after the PQ victory, he accentuates that the government's new policies focused on the folkloric traditions of the province as well as its contemporary
148 The PQ advocated for and protected the French language; this was a major priority of the
party. The importance of language to the PQ demonstrated Herder's concept of national
language and the importance of language to culture.372 In 1977, the PQ passed Bill 101,
which made French the language of education, law and all business in the province of
Quebec. This bold move established the Francophonie as the dominant culture, which
was already the case in many sectors including the arts. 73 The connection between art,
culture and language was significant for the PQ. Since the sixties, the Parti Quebecois
had treated artists as exemplary intellectual rebels. Artists would play a role in the
upcoming Referendum.
The Referendum: Politicians and Artists
The PQ's existence was predicated on the idea that Quebec would secede from Canada
and become an independent country. In 1976, in an effort to become a more mainstream
political party, the PQ offered in its election platform the promise of a Referendum on the
subject of sovereignty association with Canada in the near future. That Referendum
occurred on May 20, 1980. Rene Levesque was ready to see his dream realized.
The federal government was poised for the fight of its life. Trudeau returned to politics
to defeat the short-lived Joe Clark Conservative government in February 1980, in part
because he wanted to convince the people of Quebec to not separate.374 The Levesque
government had the upper hand in terms of preparation. Trudeau had established the
innovations. This is quite different from the Canada Council's policy of funding just ballet and modern dance at the time. 372 Johann Herder, "Letters for the Advancement of Humanity (1793-7)," Johann Herder, Philosophical Writings, ed. Michael N. Forster (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) 378. 373 There was an exodus of English speaking business after Bill 101 was passed. 374 Joe Clark's minority government was in power for nine months before it was defeated in a vote of non- confidence.
149 Canadian Unity Commission and the Canadian Unity Office in 1977 to create "special programs within several federal cultural agencies,"375 including a reluctant Canada
Council.376 This special money, in a time of cutbacks, was directed towards cultural activities that shaped national consciousness. Yet the polling results remained bleak.
Then, in a final appeal to the people of Quebec, Trudeau promised constitutional reform if the people of Quebec voted 'non.' Beyond the drama of the battle of the titans,
Levesque and Trudeau, both sides had their fair share of high profile supporters.
Folk singer Gilles Vigneault had been an ardent sovereignist since the October crisis of
1970. His original music was inspired by traditional folk melodies with modern, often politically charged lyrics. He first gained notoriety during the Quiet Revolution as both a poet and musician. His most famous song, "Mon pays," released in 1965, was called the unofficial anthem of Quebec (and spoke of the province's sense of isolation within
Canada). Leading up to the election of the PQ, Vigneault released "Gens du Pays," and performed it at the June 1976 St. Jean Baptiste day concert. His music and his presence charged the 'oui' side. Vigneault represented the image of the native artist/intellectual that the PQ wanted:
If culture - including the arts - is a pillar of the nation-building process, hindsight allows us to see Le Refus Global as a forerunner of certain political strategies of the 1960's, when artists and intellectuals adopted a revolutionary stance and retrieved the manifesto so as to include it within the broader ideology of the separatist Parti Quebecois. Henceforth, the image of the Quebecois artist would be that of an intellectual rebel and liberator.377
Fortier and Schafer 47. Canada Council, The Future of the Canada Council (Ottawa: Canada Council, 1978) 14. Iro Tembeck 46.
150 Vigneault, with his raspy voice and charismatic stage presence, was that intellectual rebel
and liberator. Although he had little in common with Quebec's dance artists, it must
have been reaffirming to see an artist recognized and welcomed by politicians. The Parti
Quebecois offered dance artists greater visibility, regardless of the outcome of the
Referendum.
In the end, Trudeau's promise for change was heard, the people of Quebec voted almost
60% against sovereignty association: for his part, Levesque accepted defeat but promised
sovereignists a next time.378 Pundits argued that Quebeckers in 1980 were more
concerned with the lack of jobs and the everyday reality of the economy than abstract
concepts like sovereignty association. Trudeau moved quickly on his pledge of
constitutional reform, calling together the Premiers for discussions that would last almost
two years.
In the wake of the Referendum, Quebec dance artists kept creating. The money, filtered
to dance artists through the PQ super-ministry, meant that artists could start companies or
be independent choreographers. This need for personal expression was part of a trend.
Historians and sociologists have documented the "demise of family solidarity and the rise
of individualism" in late twentieth century Quebec. The rise of individualism is reflected in "the cult of the choreographer" that was experienced in pockets across
Canada, but most significantly in Montreal. Some highly trained choreographers like
In his concession speech, Levesque famously said, "A la prochaine fois." 379 Richard Handler, Nationalism and the Politics of Culture in Quebec (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988) 57.
151 Paul-Andre Fortier and Jean-Pierre Perreault gained notoriety, but so too did self-taught
dance artists like Edouard Lock and Marie Chouinard.
The Individual Contemporary Dance Artist: Marie Chouinard
The Montreal dance scene changed in the late 1970's. Chiriaeff and her Grands Ballets
Canadiens remained the founding company, although she was not directly involved with
its management. The number of modern dance companies had rised. The city also
supported two jazz-based companies, as well as folk dance troupes. Specialized dance
education programs at the elementary school level flourished (L'Ecole Superieure de la
Danse)380 and which led to post-secondary programs (UQAM).381 In addition,
supplemental education programs emerged, like Le Groupe Nouvelle Aire's
Choreochanges, which attempted to demystify dance for audiences and students. All of
these educational programs produced more dancers and choreographers. The rise of
individualism meant that choreographers, like their counterparts in English Canada, were
looking for conventional and unconventional locations to produce their work. In 1981,
Tangente, a new venue for avant-garde contemporary dance, began presenting
independent choreography. One of the many artists that performed at Tangente was
Marie Chouinard.
Choreographer Marie Chouinard reveals the body on stage. Largely self-taught, she
began her career as a solo artist in 1978, quickly touring internationally; she created her
380 As mentioned in Chapter 5, L'Ecole Superieure de Danse was the residential school training students to become professional dancers in Montreal. 381 UQAM's dance department began offering classes in 1980.
152 company in 1990, which performed group works as well as solos. Her long blond hair
and compelling presence on stage was often as mesmerizing as the movement she
created. Chouinard, the dance artist, gained a reputation for provocative work. Ironically,
"Chouinard's Canadian reputation was quickly established after presenting a
controversial work at the Ontario Art Gallery,"383 in Toronto, certainly not the home of
avant-garde expression. In La petite danse sans nom (1980), she appeared on stage with
a pail, urinated in the pail, and then exited. This minimalist work created a media interest
in Chouinard, not necessarily for the right reasons. Despite her lack of formalized
training, Chouinard was more than just an exhibitionist: she was clearly a talented
choreographer. Her movements were raw and exposed, embodying ritualistic qualities
and driving rhythms. In the early eighties, she toured several renowned solos including:
S.T.A.B. (Space, Time and Beyond), L Apres Midi D 'Un Faune, and Marie Chien Noir.
Chouinard's choreography stands out, in comparison to other Canadian choreography of the time, because of her intense physicality and intimate aesthetic. Her work exhibits many of the characteristics of the avant-garde.
Avant-Garde Quebecois Dance
In the book, Avant-Garde Theatre, writer Christopher Innes identifies several major characteristics of avant-garde work. First, avant-garde performing artists refer to, or are influenced by the primitive.384 Innes cites numerous examples of playwrights influenced
382 Compagnie Marie Chouinard, Marie Chouinard - Biographical Notes, 2007, Compagnie Marie Chouinard, 20 July 2007
153 by primitive artistry - most notably, the impact of the 1931 performance by Balinese
dancers on writer and actor, Antonin Artaud. Second, avant-garde artwork rejects the
establishment and questions societal norms with radical political views.3 5 Third, avant-
garde work often utilizes the theatre laboratory as a site of exploration. These three
characteristics of the avant-garde are readily prevalent in dance as well as theatre.
Chantal Ponbriand, Parachute editor and writer, applies the notion of the avant-garde to
dance, particularly in Quebec. The work coming out of Quebec in the late seventies and
early eighties was unlike mainstream modern dance in the New York or Toronto; it defies
categorization and is often just labeled contemporary. The contemporary dancer, the
Tor 'inn
hired body, performs what Pontbriand calls "expanded dance." Pontbriand defines
the contemporary dance seen on Quebec stages as expanded dance, which is "a tool for
developing consciousness."388 This kind of dance does not subscribe to a specific style or
technique. Expanded dance embraces different approaches to the creative process
including laboratories as well as multimedia technology and encompasses bodily practices within any art form.389 Expanded dance follows in the 'tradition of no tradition'
established by Quebec dance artists back in the Quiet Revolution. The choreography of
Marie Chouinard embodies the avant-garde, but also exhibits characteristics of expanded dance as well. 385 Transgressive avant-garde artists often have extremely right-wing views. 386 Susan Leigh Foster defined this term as a dancer trained in many different styles such as ballet and many types of modern dance ready to work for an independent choreographer. See Susan Leigh Foster, "Dancing Bodies," Meaning in Motion: New Cultural Studies of Dance, ed. Jane C. Desmond (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997) 253-257. 387 Pontbriand has borrowed the established term, expanded cinema, and here applied it to dance. 388 Chantal Pontbriand, "Expanded Dance, Extreme Dance," The responsive body: a language of contemporary dance, ed. Brian Webb (Banff: Banff Centre Press, 2002) 107. 389 Expanded dance resembles visual culture in that Pontbriand defines it as a growing field that reaches beyond the traditional artistic fields.
154 From the beginning of her career, critics have noted the primitive in Chouinard's
choreography.390 Her lack of formalized training made her movements rough around the
edges (not unlike Vigneault's singing). Many of her solos, such as S.T.A.B. (Space, Time
and Beyond), include sections on all fours or on the ground; this is primal developmental
movement compared to the codified techniques of ballet and Graham. Her fascination
with guttural sounds and the use of the voice, in works such as Marie Chien Noir, drew
attention to the animalistic nature of her choreography. Her choreography is also keenly
tied to the breath; unlike dancers before her she made her laboured breath palpable
removing a sense of ease and effortlessness from the movement and drawing audiences
in.391 Her panting breath adds to the sense of the primal in the work. Her use of breath
along with the setting suggests a tribal ritual. Her simple settings can often include
elements such as water and soil. Chouinard's sense of ritual on stage is akin to the
primitive.
Second, Chouinard's work clearly rejects society's norms as well as those of the dance
establishment. Acclaimed dance critic Deborah Jowitt states that "Chouinard builds
powerful art from the tension between transgressiveness and artful structures,"392
particularly in her solo works. For example, Chouinard clearly transgresses society's
notions of gender and private regulation of the body. Her choreography invites
controversy because she questions gendered movement and, at times, makes intimate and
390 Primarily, Chouinard's solos have been described in this way. Her most recent group work explores some different territory. 391 There is a body of literature on the relationship of the spectator to the performer that addresses the issue of breath and sound. For more on this topic see, Roland Barthes, "The Grain of the Voice," The Twentieth- Century Performance Reader 2nd Edition, eds. Michael Huxley and Noel Witts (New York: Routledge, 2002) and Susan Leigh Foster, "The Ballerina's Phallic Pointe," Corporealities. Ed. Susan Leigh Foster (London: Routledge, 1996). 392 Deborah Jowitt, "Eyes that Dance," Village Voice 23 May 2000: 129.
155 private experiences (like urination and masturbation) into performative acts, thereby
rejecting society's norms. Her choreography is expanded dance because it defies
definition in terms of style, but also pushes audiences into developing a different sense of
consciousness about the dancing body. Her transgressive movement questions the dance
establishment and as a result takes audiences to new levels of spectatorship.
Third, Chouinard's choreographic process is akin to a laboratory of bodies. At the
beginning of her career, she used her own body as a canvas for experiments. She pushed
it to extremes not usually asked of dancers. Her solos evolved once she remounted them
on other dancers; each work reads as timely and of the moment because she allows the
work to evolve. Chouinard writes that she sees each new work as a blank slate searching
for wavelengths embedded within the dancers' flesh, be it her own or another's.393
Chouinard's avant-garde solo Marie Chien Noir, with a scene of masturbation,
demonstrates primitive and anti-establishment elements.394
Rejecting the Traditional: Marie Chien Noir, a work in three parts
Marie Chien Noir has many of the hallmarks of Chouinard's choreography; the work is broken into several non-linear episodes, the dancer's breathing and vocal emissions become part of the soundcape, repetition with building intensity is employed throughout the work to create tension, and the choreography deconstructs dance technique leaving just raw and emotionally charged movement.
Compagnie Marie Chouinard, Marie Chouinard - Biographical Notes, 2007, Compagnie Marie Chouinard, 20 July 2007
156 The work is separated into three sections: "Mimas: lune de saturne," "Plaisirs de tous les sens, dans tous les sens," and "Chien Noir." Each section involves a prop. In "Mimas," a pail of water is used for sound effect and to dip body parts into. In "Plaisirs," Chouinard covers the stage in oil and writhes in it. In "Chien Noir," she appears wearing a large dog's head. Conceptually these items appear unrelated, but the entire work raises the consciousness and the senses of the spectator. As a body artist, Chouinard's work has been described as a kind of performance art because of its lack of traditional dance content and her use of multi-disciplinary elements.
[ lie In si MX'I ion begins \\ ilh ( hoimiatd creating her o\\ n soundscape b\ blow mg bubbles iniu a large nielal pail of water, which augments lhe sound I'lus seclion addresses the senses ol sight, sound, touch and lasie. ('houmaid's long hau is lied back and she wears a white jumpsuit wuh a black g-sirmg on the outside. I he selling is denoted b> the trace ol"a red moon on llie lloor In one eoinei sits ihe pail and in the oiher stands a skeleton
('hoiiin.ird approaches ihe skeleton, turns in profile and slowl\ attempts to swallow her i ighl hand, gagging. 1 his action is repealed. She then drops to ihe lloor mo\ ing on all lours in an animalistic fashion She makes n 10 standing onl\ to u>llapse. as il the pins ol her skeletal name had been icleased \iuun. lepelilion is emploved Chouinard then begins to chant and stomp hei leet as il imohed in a ritual Her \oice is guitural and amplified b\ her mo\einent. She adds piogressi\ely more complicated mo\emenl and slaps herself in a irance-like rile Returning to the pail, she dips her hands in water
I hen. I luminald uiuereniomousK renunes the lop of her costume, crouches down and slips her hand down hei pants. She chants and vocali/es as she climaxes. (JuickK
157 I recovering (and dressing), she reitirns in ilie pail where she dips her long h.nr in ihe • ' water. 1 he rhvlhmic movement of dropping and then standing with liei wet hair dripping i creates stormv soundscape C houinard wrings her han and proceeds to whip it on the
ground repeatedly I he sound is Inghllul. as she heats the waier out oilier hair. She ! proceeds to slap her chest, lace and legs creating hodv percussion As a final sensorial J i act. (.'houinard picks a gieen pepper from the pail and eats in lioni of the skeleton. i
I he second section begin-, with ( houinard moving lo the sound ot limit ihroal-singing.
This section is lull of ritual and a sense of cerenionv. 1 he selling has changed and now
includes a bed prone against the back wall. Primitive drawings in llorescent paint are lit
periodicalK throughout this section ('houinard reveals a large red staff, which she
plunges downward to push oil in a series of vv ide-legged jumps. I he sia IT becomes part
of the set and is placed on the stage beside bells and jars of water, which she rings and
drinks intermittent!}. Ihe dancing in this section is much more aggressive and extensive.
She walks in a line beside the stall, which now acts as a svmbol of ihe present between
ihe past (on her right i and the future (on her left).'"' She falls forward, then recovering lo
vertical: ne\l. she falls to ihe lloor in convulsions, (.'houinard proceeds lo vocali/e and
make faces distorting her face and bod\. 'I his section ends in v irtual darkness as
( houinard. onlv clothed in a g-sinng. spreads oil on the stage and then on her body. She
lies in the pool, sliihering and spinning in the viscous material. A bell is rung to
svmboli/e the conclusion of the second section.
Chouinard speaks at this point stating, "a droit, le connu, a guache l'inconnu, ici le present." Loosely translated - on the right the known (or the past) and to the left the unknown (or the future) and here the present.
158 1 1 he third section is entitled "( hicit \mi" hcLausc t homnaiJ first appeals Iro/en upstage
cenlic wealing a laiLIC doe's head in piolilc I his final section is symbolic ami pi>litic«ill\
• chareed I he bed IN 'june. leplaccd h\ a In sueen I astles ol Mind will) lines of several I
, L outlines stand at eenire stage I he stage is now separated into four quadianls h\ icd
lape. She e\iis (temoves ihe mask), then she stomps in and performs a series of abrupt
leaps in loud peieussive sounds l houinaid tetuins again to peilorni the same
movements while vvearmi! the do»"s he.id \s ihc black don. she steps on all the sand I " i
1 castles icpiescnling a Miiual I nited Nations She exits and returns calm. A large book
now stands downstage left fhoiunaid sits in Iront ol the book and teveals a smaller
loumal and begins to read hei poeti>. 1 .ILII poem is lllusiiated in the larger te\l. which
she then leads to the audienee She diseaids the hooks and erouelios with her back to the
audience. I lei movement sequence heie has a fluid vet angulai quahtv. often with Hexed
haiiils and bent knees I ler legs bend and tvv Nt as her aims sw tng and stretch At one
point, she teaches behind her torso while stiaddlin" her legs. 1 hen. she walks to upstage
right to discovei a small li/ard in a glass bo\ She lifts the li/ard out and stares at it. 1'lie
li/aid moves ieikil\. Ile\m» limbs and torso alternately in a futile attempt lo escape.
( houinard looks at the li/ard and then at the audience, and beats her chest in one final
ph\s]cal proclamation.
This solo made Chouinard notorious for questioning the boundaries of dance as well as
the relationship of the spectator and performer. It also garnered Chouinard a lot of
attention. The act of masturbation, in the first section of the work, caused controversy
and brought audiences to see contemporary dance. Chouinard's controversial expanded
159 dance differed in content and approach compared with her predecessors in Quebec, and differed greatly in structure and technique compared with her contemporaries in English
Canada. Chouinard could be compared with German choreographer Pina Bausch and her
Tanztheater396 because of the risque content and cross-disciplinary approach.
Chouinard's dances were not linear and the eclectic content was extremely sensual. If her choreography could be categorized, it draws on concepts from German expressionism, beginning with the work of Mary Wigman and developed by Pina Bausch, but it also expands beyond to confront issues of sexuality and the physical limits of the body.397 In Canada, no one was doing was Chouinard was doing.
Chouinard's Marie Chien Noir embodies the characteristics of avant-garde art and is indicative of the 'tradition of no tradition' apparent in Quebec dance. The work also exemplifies the kind of personal expression artists of many disciplines were playing with in the early eighties. Marie Chien Noir follows in the experiments started by Lawrence
Adams with "The Brick Series". Both works could be categorized as conceptual art. Yet
Chouinard pushes the concept of dance further to consider the dancing body as the site for the soundscape, as well as the choreography. Although the entire work does include a few musical recordings, the sound of the body dancing is integral to Chouinard's personal expression. Marie Chien Noir is one of many solos (and group works) that include the sound of the dancer, breathing, gagging, and singing, as part of the work. Chouinard's
396 Tanztheater is a style of dance known in English as dance theatre, developed first by Bausch in the seventies. This style uses some pedestrian movement (by highly trained dancers) but is less abstract than post-modern dance and more theatrical, as seen in Bausch's Sacre du Printemps. 397 As a relatively untrained solo artist, Chouinard's choreography was extremely raw and unpredictable, more so than Wigman. Her more recent group work has similarities to Bausch's sensibility, but Chouinard constantly challenges the spectator to question what is dance and how to look at the dancing body.
160 choreography is just one example of how French-Canadian choreographers were exploring new territory that few English-Canadian choreographers attempted. Although the distinctness of Francophone choreography can be traced back to the Automatists,
French-Canadian dance asserts itself locally, nationally and then internationally beginning in 1976 with the support of the PQ. One way Marie Chouinard stands out in both the Quebec dance scene and the Canadian dance community of 1982 is as a solo dance artist, an old concept that was gaining new popularity and notoriety.
The Rise of the Individual: Canadian Solo Dance Artists
Dance is not often a solitary pursuit like writing. You learn to dance in a group setting.
The bodies line up and conform to movement patterns in space and time. Unison is one of the first lessons of dancing. Dance, both amateur and professional, is a communal activity.398 Romantic and classical ballets have huge casts on large stages. Even during solos or pas de deux, the stage is flooded with onlookers. It is not until Isadora Duncan emerges at the turn of the twentieth century that dance can be considered an art form of one. Duncan heralded the idea of the choreographer and dancer in one body. She was followed by many others (mainly women) specializing in primarily solo works, such as
Loie Fuller, Ruth St. Denis, and Martha Graham. In Canada, there have been several renowned solo artists, many from Quebec.
Franziska Boas, Francoise Sullivan's teacher, described dance in this way in a 1945 interview, (see Lindgren 29)
161 Francoise Sullivan pioneered solo dance in Quebec, which would become a prevailing form.399 For an artist interested in improvisation and Automatism, the solo form was easy. Her most famous improvised site-specific solos were based on the seasons; she began with summer and then winter.400 Sullivan's contemporaries, Jeanne Renaud and
Francoise Riopelle, also created solo works at the beginning of their careers. Of course, solos were and are inexpensive, which was an important model for Canadian choreographers in the forties and fifties before public funding, and after 1977 when federal public funding was cut back. The solo form emerged again as a regular choice, in both Toronto and Montreal, in the late seventies and early eighties. Dance artists performed at venues such as 15 Dance Lab in Toronto and Tangente in Montreal.
Dancer/choreographers from Montreal, such as Margie Gillis401 and Marie Chouinard, gained national and international notoriety quickly. Undeniably, Chouinard is part of a tradition of solo work in Quebec. The form is one of the only things she has in common with her contemporaries from Quebec and the rest of Canada. Marie Chouinard and other avant-garde dance artists were not on the radar of the Canada Council Dance
Section; the Council officers were more concerned with budgetary matters.
Back at the Canada Council Dance Section, the State virtually Ignores the growing divide between Anglophone and Francophone
The election of the PQ, the budget cutbacks, and the subsequent Referendum sent ripples through the public service. Some funding was reallocated to the Canadian Unity
399 Certainly, there were other solo artists in Canada, notably Jean MacPherson in Toronto. 400 The solos in site-specific locations were documented in photos and on film. Sullivan stopped the season series to become a mother of four and finished the series more recently. 401 In 1981, Trudeau named her a Canadian cultural ambassador.
162 Commission and the Canadian Unity Office and belts were tightened. Each Section of the Canada Council had to internally defend its right to funding. In December 1980, the
Council released The Art of Partnering Dance - A Federal Pas de Deux to plead its case.
This report was written by Monique Michaud and the officers of the Dance Section (not an external author) and articulated a mandate and direction for the Section considering inflation, as well as the state of the dance community. The Dance Section had recently experienced its first significant cutback in its budget and braced itself for a difficult future in this report.402 The Art of Partnering Dance was clearly addressed first and foremost to the Canada Council's Board and the federal government, entreating them to increase (or at least maintain) dance funding. The report briefly acknowledged the public criticism of the Dance Section and attempted to alleviate the lack of transparency. The authors attempted to address criticism, mainly from the Dance in Canada Association, about the lack of a philosophical basis behind funding decisions, especially during lean years.40
The report enumerated a three pronged mandate: "to develop, promote and encourage all forms of professional dance in all regions of the country; to encourage the rational and orderly development of the discipline; and to render dance accessible to as broad a public as possible."404 This mandate supports the federal government's policy of multiculturalism and regional development by accentuating all forms in all regions, the
402 Council support for dance went down for the first time in 1979 and then again in 1980 (see Trends in the Canadian Performing Arts, 1972-1983.) 403 Canada Council, The Art of Partnering Dance: A Federal Pas de Deux (Ottawa: Canada Council, 1980) 3. 404 Canada Council, The Art of Partnering Dance: A Federal Pas de Deux (Ottawa: Canada Council, 1980) 1.
163 Council's role as observer, advocate, and supporter within the arts community, and the vital importance of audience accessibility to the longevity of the art form. The Art of
Partnering Dance report also offers four principles, nine problems and fourteen recommendations. Notably, the authors describe important issues of equity and accessibility, competent management, and full-time employment as deserving attention and, of course, funding. This document demonstrates the hard times that the Canada
Council was generally experiencing in 1980, the Dance Section's awareness of the dance community's plight but with no reference to Quebec, and the need for a new comprehensive cultural policy, which would be rectified shortly. In addition, The Art of
Partnering Dance report, like the Olympic programming committee, suggests that the
Dance Section was not in touch with the most provocative new works being produced by
Canadian choreographers.
Conclusions
Today, dance in Quebec differs greatly from dance in the rest of Canada because of its avant-garde disposition. This chapter asserts that the fertile artistic period of the late seventies was initiated in 1976 in part with funding from PQ super-ministry of Cultural
Affairs, which supported the important work of Quebecois artists. Quebec dance artists separated from the rest of the dance community (which was disintegrating) and began to rely on the province for assistance; this allowed for a period of artistic freedom. French-
Canadian ballet405 and modern dance choreographers were not interested in British or
French traditions of art-making or in American innovations; they wanted something new
405 In 1976, the contemporary (and Canadian) nature of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens repertoire differed from the National Ballet's primarily British repertoire and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's mixed repertoire (that relied on an Argentinean choreographer).
164 - the tradition of no tradition. This new choreography, begun by the generation oidanse d'auteurs, could often be described as conceptual, pedestrian and/or avant-garde.
This period, in Canadian dance, marks the beginning of the dialectic of Francophone and
Anglophone dance. Unlike Canadian literature or music, English-Canadian dance does not battle to define itself in relation to American dance culture. In many ways, English-
Canadian choreography, such as Baroque Suite and "The Brick Series," is inspired by
American techniques and experimentation. Distinguishing Canadian dance as different from American dance first happens in Quebec because Quebecois artists reject the formalism and technique of English Canada and take dance in a completely different direction. "This spirit of renewal in Quebec can be defined as a shift from the perspective of the 'French Canadian' who 'feels in the minority in his own home,' to the 'dazzling, overflowing, ribald' feeling of being a 'Quebecois.'"406 Francophone choreographers working from 1976 onwards are clearly Quebecois in expression and funding.
In the late seventies, Quebecois dancers were alienated by the Canada Council's funding of primarily English-Canadian dance companies and gap between them expanded. "The new consciousness in Quebec [faught] these feelings of alienation and attempts to revitalize a society."407 Certainly the Quebecois dance community was part of that revitalization of society. The shift to a provincial source as the primary funder gradually changed the dynamic between the Quebec dance companies and the Canada Council; a shift that eventually happens in other provinces as well. The federal government
Leach 104. Leach 104.
165 acknowledges the need for a clearer cultural policy and tries to appease the entire arts community with the impending Federal Cultural Policy Review (Applebaum-Hebert
Committee) beginning in 1980. Quebecois dance leads the way for changes in Canadian dance.
166 Chapter 7 Constitutional Reform and the Applebaum-Hebert Report: Tough Times Ahead for Dance Artists, 1982-1983
In 1964, Pierre Trudeau acknowledged that constitutional reform was not prudent, yet.
He wrote that the relationship between the federal and provincial governments needed years to be worked out before it could be translated into basic law.408 Before entering politics, Trudeau also wrote about the necessity for a Canadian bill of rights. Trudeau asserted that, "a constitutionally entrenched bill of rights seems to be the best tool for breaking the ever-recurring deadlock between Quebec and the rest of Canada."409 He believed the Charter would change the relationship of the people of Quebec to the federal government because it would include language rights. This new relationship would be more just, for as B.W. Powe wrote, "justice [in Canada] is living harmony - the marriage of opposites that creates the only balance we can know."410 After the 1980 Referendum the time was right for constitutional reform and the Charter; it would be Trudeau's legacy. As a lawyer, Trudeau recognized that the antiquated BNA Act, as the law of the land, needed revising. In addition, Trudeau realized that politicians were not necessarily the best law-makers, writing in 1963 that, "politics is too serious to be left to the politicians ... three out of four times these politicians are lawyers ... not only have they learned nothing, but they have also forgotten everything they picked up in
Pierre Trudeau, Gerard Pelletier ed., Against the Current: Selected Writings 1939-1996 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1996) 215. 409 Trudeau, Against the Current 216. 410 Bruce Powe,v4 Canada of Light (Toronto: Somerville House, 1997) 54.
167 university." As a result, Trudeau wanted to counter-balance the power of groups in
Parliament by enshrining the rights of individuals in the Charter.
On April 17, 1982, the government of Canada, led by Trudeau, repatriated the
Constitution412 and signed the Charter of Rights and Freedoms thereby making the
Constitution and Charter the primary law of the country. Trudeau utilized the
Constitution as a legal document dictating jurisdiction and procedure for the federal government. The new Constitution more clearly defined the role of State, where
Trudeau's sense of reason would govern.413 Specifically, the implementation of the
Charter of Rights shifted the power in Ottawa from the legislature to the Supreme Court.
Parliament would continue to make the laws, but laws could be challenged in the
Supreme Court if they infringed on inalienable Charter rights. In many ways, the
Supreme Court became a counter-balance to Parliament, thereby protecting Canadians' rights from the actions of ignorant politicians.414
The Charter enshrined a liberal notion of equality. In the sixties, Trudeau stated that before constitutional reform could begin, politicians had to envision the country of the future where these laws would be enacted. Trudeau's vision of Canada included treating minorities as equals; as a result the equality rights were a prominent part of the
4,1 Powe 209. 412 All provinces signed the Constitution except for Quebec. 413 As mentioned in Chapter one, Trudeau's concept of State and nation differed; the State was governed by reason, the nation by emotion. 414 The centralization thesis, offered by Hogg and Laforest, argues that the Charter homogenizing policies is naturally federalist. James B. Kelly counters that in effect the Charter has promoted federal diversity and that the centralization thesis is inconclusive. James B. Kelly, "Reconciling Rights and Federalism during Review of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms: The Supreme Court of Canada and the Centralization Thesis, 1982 to 1999," Canadian Journal of Political Science (June 2001): 321-355.
168 Charter.415 Yet by making the rights of the individual superior to the collective, national identity suffered. In many ways, after the Charter, multiculturalism defined our sense of national identity. Before entering politics, Trudeau spoke of the "hope that in advanced societies, the glue of nationalism will become as obsolete as the divine right of kings."
He considered nationalism a romantic way of thinking about the country; the emotional glue of nationalism was something he rarely resorted to. The Charter elevated the rights of the individual and thus continued the Canadian tradition of a lack of national identity.
Generally, Canadians welcomed the Charter and the Constitution. Constitutional reform had been discussed since the forties and the repatriation of the document inspired a sense of pride for the country. Artists were no different. For example, in 1981 artist Charles
Pachter started a patriotic series of paintings based on the theme of the Canadian flag called The Painting Flag; the exhibition coincided with the repatriation of the
Constitution. Artists generally welcomed the Charter as a document of empowerment.
However, there have been few legal cases related to the arts and the Charter.417
Primarily, artists have used the Charter to assert their freedom of expression in opposition to censorship brought on by the Copyright act.418 The scholarly and popular discourse on
415 Part one, Clause 15 of the Charter reads, "Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability." 416 Karen Mulhallen, "Of Wardrobe and Mask: Seven Takes on Stitching a Prime Minister," Trudeau's Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, eds. Andrew Cohen, J.L. Granatstein (Toronto, 1998) 100. 417 Filmmakers Michael Snow and R. Bruce Elder legally challenged the Charter in the mid-eighties, questioning the idea of rights as a given in the first place. 418 For example, in 2003 playwright Jason Sherman wrote a work about the last years of Marshall McLuhan's life, entitled The Message. The family objected stating they had copyright on McLuhan's life and works (and anything deriving from those works based on the Canadian Copyright Act) and would not sell the rights to Sherman. Writer Andrew Potter argued that Sherman could mount the work and take the
169 the Charter and the arts was small (which suggested its general acceptance). In many ways, the Charter encapsulated the way artists had been working in recent years.
By 1982, the number of independent dance artists was growing. Dance artists were interested primarily in personal expression; for years, they explored new ways of working outside the company and creating innovative works and styles. This new independence was both a creative imperative and financial necessity. Beginning in 1982, the Dance
Section of the Canada Council offered a new grant to dance presenters working with independent choreographers.419 This new grant demonstrates how things were changing in Canadian dance (and how the Canada Council was trying to acknowledge those changes). Individual dance artists rose in prominence as the 'cult of the choreographer'420 took hold. At that time, Canadian choreographers were better trained thanks to the
National Choreographic Seminars (of 1978 and 1980) and they worked independently and for companies. In the next decade, individual dance artists attracted attention. The
Charter of Rights reinforced the idea that the individual had a powerful and relevant voice in Canadian society.
Regardless, for Canadian artists the repatriation of the Constitution and adoption of the
Charter of Rights were not as popular as the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee
Report (known as Applebaum-Hebert).421 The Report on federal cultural policy reform was published only six months after the adoption of the Charter. The Applebaum-Hebert
McLuhan family to court asserting his Charter rights. This issue is discussed in Andrew Potter, "Is copyright unconstitutional?" This volume 37 issue 2 (Sept./Oct. 2003): 22. 419 A list of which organizations received that first grant is available in Canada Council. Canada Council, Annual Report 1981/82. (Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1982). 420 As mentioned in previous chapters, the cult of the choreographer is a term used by Grant Strate to describe the shift in fascination from the star dancer to the mysterious choreographer. 421 Some secondary sources called it the 'Applebert' Report or the FCPRC.
170 Committee was years in the making, its formation the result of a desire to revisit and revise the Massey Report (and address the complaints of concerned constituents).
The State's Response to the Issue of Culture Policy: The Applebaum-Hebert
Committee
In the late seventies, while Quebec artists and arts organizations were isolating themselves and using the fiscal support of the Parti Quebecois, the rest of the Canadian arts community was trying to get the attention of the federal government. The federal government was focused on market forces and Quebec, so public questioning went on for some time. The boisterous complaints of the arts community calling for a focused cultural policy eventually resulted in the creation of the Applebaum-Hebert Committee in
1980 by the Liberal government.
The artists' outcry began in 1978; the Writers' Union initiated the formation of a group of service organizations called the 1812 Committee. The 1812 Committee publicly opposed cutbacks to the Canada Council budget. The money channeled to the Canadian
Unity Commission, the dissolution of the LIP and OFY, and the cutbacks at the Canada
Council suggested that the Liberal government was inconsistent when it came to cultural policy:424
The federal government's financial situation had not improved and economic problems were multiplying in Canada. Inflation and interest rates increased; the
422 Service organization is a term used today to describe institutions (like the Canadian Music Centre) that represent the interests an entire discipline. In addition to service organizations, unions representing artists, such as Union des Artistes, were also involved in the 1812 Committee. 423 The Dance in Canada Association was a member of the Committee. 424 The Clark government, only in power for nine months, did not develop a clear cultural policy either. Although David MacDonald, as Secretary of State, did establish an Advisory Committee that would become the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee.
171 imposition of restrictions and federal budget cuts became more frequent. Under these circumstances, the growth and development of federal cultural policies slowed. Some 25 years after the Massey-Levesque report, there was talk of another Royal Commission on the arts.425
In 1979, the 1812 Committee marched on Ottawa and presented the media with a manifesto, which demanded stronger and protectionist Canadian cultural policies.
Specifically, the group demanded stable funding for the arts and a clear cultural policy for the federal government.
Of course, the federal government of this period changed tremendously and cultural policy was not a priority. By 1978, the economy informed every move of Trudeau's
Liberal government; a world-wide slow down in economic growth and an increase in inflation were problematic. Critics argued that the Liberal government procrastinated on necessary cutbacks. The difficult financial situation faced by many Canadians prompted the election of a minority Conservative government, led by Joe Clark, in June 1979.
Although the Clark government did little in the area of culture, formation of the
Committee did begin during his time in office.426 A Royal Commission was expensive especially in tough times and so a leaner format was debated. What would become the
Applebaum-Hebert Committee was charged with completing the review of cultural policy
425 Andre Fortier and Paul Schafer, Review of Federal Policies for the Arts in Canada (1944-1988) (Ottawa: Canadian Conference of the Arts, 1989) 43-44. 426 Beginning in the fall of 1979, Clark's federal government put forward a bill that would shorten the arm's length relationship of federal cultural agencies to Parliament. "The cultural community feared that the bill would have a disastrous effect on the arm's length status of certain cultural agencies." Fortier and Schafer 50. In the end, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Estimates maintained the status quo. The prospect of this change woke many arts organizations up to the mounting fiscal realities of the impending decade.
172 in a much shorter time than the Massey Commission. Joe Clark's government would not survive long enough to charge the Committee with its task (the government was defeated in a vote of non-confidence).
Following the re-election of Trudeau and the April 1980 defeat of the Referendum in
Quebec, the Prime Minister addressed the issue of cultural policy in three steps. First, he created a new department: "On July 31, 1980, in a press release, the Prime Minister
[Trudeau] announced that the federal government's arts and culture program would be transferred from the Secretary of State to the Department of Communications."
Second, the provincial ministers of culture held their first Conference to discuss federal and provincial partnerships as well as policies. Thirdly, the Massey Commission could no longer be the only cultural policy document for the federal government.429 A new and articulated cultural policy appropriate to the time was warranted.
In August 1980, Trudeau's Liberal government announced the establishment of the
Applebaum-Hebert Committee. As mentioned earlier, culture was now part of the portfolio of the new Department of Communications and the Department needed policy directions. The eighteen-member Committee, chaired by composer Louis Applebaum
The Applebaum-Hebert Committee (18 members) was actually larger than the Massey Commission (5 members); but not all members participated in all the meetings with the authors of briefs. The Applebaum- Hebert Committee had a huge task ahead of them. 428FortierandSchafer45. 429 The Massey Commission's high art/flagship revering rhetoric still has influence over cultural policy today. One has only to look at the performing arts organizations at the top of the operating grant recipient list to see the continued impact of the Massey Commission. Many of the recommendations of the Massey Commission have yet to be adopted.
173 and writer/publisher Jacques Hebert, included artists, producers, distributors, academics and policy specialists. The Committee was charged with specifically examining existing federal cultural policies and programs, listening to the needs and concerns of the arts community at public hearings, and then recommending directions for future policies in its final Report.431 In less than two years, the Applebaum- Hebert
Committee published three items; first, Speaking of our Culture, second the Briefs to the
Committee, and third the final Report. Prior to the public hearings, Speaking of our
Culture was released as an invitation to artists and managers to present briefs when the
Committee visited their town. From April to July 1981, the members of the Committee crossed the country, visiting 18 centres and listening to 521 presentations from arts organizations and individuals. Of those 521 briefs and presentations, 19 came from the dance community.432
In general, the briefs to the Committee impart a specific and local picture of arts organizations' financial situation.433 Unlike the Massey Commission, the Applebaum-
Hebert Committee published some of the briefs presented with the final Report to give voice to the artists for whom they advocated. Dance was not a large or controversial part of the review; but one brief, from the National Ballet, stood out.
Framing the Fracturing Dance Community: Two Dance Briefs
430 The formation of the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee actually began under Joe Clark's government. According to Joy Cohnstaedt, Trudeau inserted the francophone Jacques Hebert (his friend) as co-chair on the committee at the last minute. 431 Notably, the Committee was not surveying the state of Canadian art. Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee, Speaking of our Culture: Discussion Guide (Ottawa: Information Services, Department of Communications, 1981) 3. 432 Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee, Summary of Briefs and Hearings (Ottawa: Information Services, Department of Communications, 1982) 245-262. 433 Most of the 521 briefs came from organizations, although some individuals did participate.
174 In March 1981, the National Ballet of Canada, the country's second largest performing arts organization,434 submitted a brief to the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee
entitled, "An Imminent Crisis: Canadian Cultural Policy and the National Ballet of
Canada." This brief reviewed the past, present and future of the company with particular attention paid to touring within and outside of Canada and to the international status of the National Ballet. This brief argued for increased funding in general and special treatment specifically for the National Ballet.
The National Ballet recognized the important role that the Department of External Affairs played in funding tours abroad. However, the brief lamented that the funding from
External Affairs had not increased in nine long years. The National Ballet also noted that when touring in the United States, the company did not receive funding from External
Affairs and therefore extensive touring became difficult in comparison to years past. The
National Ballet welcomed the additional support from the new Touring Office of the
Canada Council, acknowledging that touring helped to build audiences (and touring ticket sales were buoyed by television productions as well). Essentially, the document suggests that the National Ballet realized it would need both Touring support from the Canada
Council and funding from the Department of External Affairs to tour internationally and maintain its reputation into the future.
The brief passionately advocated for only arm's length funding from the Canada Council.
Correspondingly, the brief also insisted on an increase of the Canada Council's allowance to permit the support of both "less proven organizations" as well as "cultural flagships"
434 The Canadian Opera Company was the largest at the time.
175 which of course included the National Ballet.435 Most importantly, the National Ballet did not want to the Council to reduce the funding of financially successful companies who reported surpluses in order to support emerging groups.436 Clearly the National
Ballet wanted to support the main purpose of the Review - to assert the importance of the
Canada Council.
The brief used the National Ballet's growing international reputation as justification for increased funding. In the seventies, the National Ballet toured internationally with
Rudolf Nureyev to great acclaim (and with great expense) raising the company's profile.
Not surprisingly, the National Ballet requested stable consistent funding that matched inflation.437 The document described that from year to year grants slipped behind the rate of inflation and did not take into account the growing costs of transportation, materials, accommodation and currency exchange, for example.438 The brief explained that, in ballet, it is next to impossible to avoid the income gap4 9 between ticket revenue and the soaring costs of production. The document included many charts and impressive statistics regarding government support of other international companies, such as the
Stuttgart Ballet,440 to prove that the National Ballet could not compete, at current funding levels. The brief warned that, based on projections, the National Ballet would quickly
435 National Ballet of Canada, An Imminent Crisis: Canadian Cultural Policy and the National Ballet of Canada (Toronto: National Ballet of Canada, 1981)8-11. 436 National Ballet of Canada 29. Public funders tried to deal with the mounting deficits of Canadian arts organizations in the late seventies and early eighties. The larger more established companies worried that deficit repayment would take precedence over their funding. The FCPRC addressed the urgent issue of deficits in their recommendations; the Committee suggested that public funders avoid supporting arts organizations that were mismanaged. This suggestion started a shift in arts administration and in funding. Arts organizations stopped relying on artists to manage the finances and funders slowly began requiring balanced budgets (not deficit spending). 437 Funding that matched inflation was a dream that had not happened for more than five years. 438 National Ballet of Canada 18. 439 This term was popularized by Baumol and Bowen's 1966 research into arts funding. 440 National Ballet of Canada 8.
176 accumulate a deficit of $500,000 by 1983 if federal support continued at the same slow pace - thus bringing about the 'imminent crisis.'441
The National Ballet's brief reflects its perceived role as a national flagship institution that honored the British tradition of ballet. Although, the company's repertoire evolved and included some Canadian and American works, in 1981, it was still run by a former member of the Royal Ballet. This document also reflects the reality that the ballet companies (and schools) realized that the federal funding formula pitted every organization against each other and that other sources of funding (both public and private) had to be found if organizations were to flourish.442 The desperate tone of the brief accentuates the National Ballet's desire in 1981 for the federal funders (the Canada
Council, the Department of External Affairs et al) to remain leaders in the amount they funded these large arts organizations. Other sources of funding would be difficult to secure if the federal funders demonstrated a lack of concern for, or faith in, the National
Ballet.
Of course, the National Ballet was not the only dance company in the community in
1981. Other smaller members would scoff at the threat of'imminent crisis' at the
National Ballet when it received by far the largest percentage of the Dance Section's total support. Naturally there were other briefs and reports from the dance community. The most significant was "Simply Dance," a report by Timothy Plumptre of Hickling-
Johnston Limited, commissioned by the Department of Communications in cooperation
441 National Ballet of Canada i. 442 By the late seventies, the amount of funding from the provincial and municipal governments often matched the monetary support from the federal level.
177 with CAPDO. This report emphasized to the Federal Cultural Policy Review
Committee that dance was unique and deserved individual consideration apart from other performing arts. The report offered chapters on: the history of dance including the
Canadian perspective, the professional dancer's lengthy and expensive training, the management necessary to bring a performance to the stage, economics, the audience, and business and government support. "Simply Dance" attempted to describe the complex nature of the Canadian professional dance community. Plumptre argued that dance was incredibly fragile, particularly modern dance companies in comparison to ballet companies. The report compiled statistics from large and small members of CAPDO, noting that the major difference was that the large (ballet) companies earned almost half their revenue from box office, whereas the small (modern) companies earned less than a quarter from box office sales.444 "Simply Dance" did not offer recommendations to the
Applebaum-Hebert Committee, it merely described, in detail, the precarious nature of the art form to the general public, government funders, and potential private donors.
Undoubtedly, the Applebaum-Hebert Committee read many other briefs with equal cries for more funding across the disciplines. Inflation had hit the arts organizations hard; so too had the dissolution of the LIP and OFY grants and the Applebaum-Hebert Committee held the promise of relief. Canadian arts organizations wanted to grow and they wanted a
Applebaum-Hebert Report that would force the federal government to make the financial situation better. The Applebaum-Hebert Report clearly summarized the dire situation
443 The "Simply Dance" brief was one project of CAPDO. The other major project was the Canadian Dance Spectacular at the National Arts Centre in 1981. This gala performance of the eight member companies of CAPDO was recorded by the NFB. 444 By just referencing CAPDO members, the brief was limited in scope. Timothy Plumptre, Simply Dance (Ottawa: Department of Communications, 1982) 60.
178 many arts organizations experienced and it offered suggestions to both the federal government and arts organizations themselves - not exactly the panacea for which artists had hoped.
The Future of Cultural Policy: the Applebaum-Hebert Report
In November 1982, the Applebaum-Hebert Committee published its recommendations regarding both immediate and long-term plans for the federal government and its cultural agencies. The Report offered 101 recommendations referring to political economy, heritage, contemporary visual and applied arts, writing, publishing, recording, film, broadcasting, international cultural relations and the performing arts.445 The Report placed particular value on the relationship between artists and their audiences, on supporting creative activity instead of infrastructure, and on the artistic objectives of cultural policy over the economic or social objectives. Some of the recommendations affected the Canadian dance community.
In its first recommendation, the Committee clearly recognized the importance of
Canada's federal cultural agencies (including the Canada Council and the National Arts
Centre) and called for a new Cultural Agencies Act to clarify and maintain the arm's length distance of the agencies to the federal government. In its ninth recommendation, the Committee referred directly to the Canada Council, recognizing its important work for artists and calling for increased support. The Report strongly advised that,
"Parliamentary appropriations must be of a magnitude that will permit new initiatives,
445 Dance was a sub-section of the performing arts. The performing arts chapter was just one out of eight devoted to specific disciplines and artistic practices.
179 both inside and outside the Council's current areas of support." In other words, in order to enact the recommendations of the Report, the Canada Council needed more funding immediately.
The Committee devoted a chapter in the Report to the performing arts. The Report explained that since the Massey Commission of 1951, the growth in the performing arts sector had been overwhelming. The Committee acknowledged that traditional art forms, such as ballet, had flourished in the past thirty years, whereas contemporary arts had generally blossomed since the country's Centennial celebrations in 1967. The Committee also noted that Canadian ballet companies lagged behind modern dance companies in terms of the percentage of Canadian content in their respective repertoires. Accordingly, the thirty-ninth recommendation insisted that the Canada Council create a program of incentive grants to generate, produce and market new Canadian works, but not to institute a quota system (like the CRTC). In addition, the Committee strongly advised against the
Canada Council adopting a consolidation policy447 for grants in dance - in order to maintain the dance ecology and encourage experimentation, creativity and new Canadian works.
The Committee deliberated over solutions to providing the financial stability to artists and arts organizations. It considered cost cutting, but the briefs attested to the fact that it was difficult because of the already meager wages, particularly for professional dancers.
The Committee also rejected the National Ballet's suggestion of special
446 Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee, Report of the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee (Ottawa: Information Services, Department of Communications, 1982) 57. 447 As mentioned earlier, the consolidation policy meant that the Section did not take on any new clients (regardless of growth in the community).
180 treatment/funding for certain flagship companies. Instead the Report advocated a blended approach of fundraising from multiple sources, both public and private.4 The
Committee acknowledged that the large accumulated deficits of some Canadian performing arts organizations qualified as a "state of financial crisis."449 But the
Commissioners agreed, "that the practice of simply erasing deficits could provide the wrong kind of incentives to companies."450 Instead of suggesting more aggressive support from the Cultural Initiatives Program of the Department of Communications,451 the Committee advised a long-term deficit reduction policy based on attendance or some other measure of accomplishment. The idea that some grants would be decided based on audience numbers was a relatively new and (for the modern dance community) daunting concept. The Committee also strongly advocated that performing arts organizations create programming to attract young audiences to build audiences of the future. This suggestion also put the onus on the arts organizations to produce more. As well, the
Report acknowledged the need for standards in arts education both in the public school system and specialized training institutes. Therefore, the Committee's fortieth recommendation agreed that the Canada Council should continue its somewhat suspect funding452 of the National Theatre School and the National Ballet School and other professional training programs.453 In addition, the Committee considered the short careers and lack of job security for professional dancers once they graduate from these training programs. In its forty-first recommendation, the Committee stated that, "the
448 The Report advocated arts support that combined the approach of government support in European nations and the prominent private philanthropy in the United States. 449 Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee, Report 176. 450 Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee, Report 178. 451 This program often helped debt-ridden companies out of crisis. 452 As stated in Chapter 5, as a federal agency the Canada Council was really out of its jurisdiction funding educational institutes. 453 Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee, Report 181.
181 federal government should assist dancers and other artists who have short professional careers to resettle into allied professions where their artistic skills can best be put to use."454 This bold recommendation exposed the inherent problems in dance, and attempted to build a healthier sector for the future.
Finally, the Committee examined the role of the National Arts Centre in the overall the health of the Canadian performing arts community. In their briefs, many companies, including the National Ballet, requested more money and opportunities to perform on tour. The Committee required more showcases of Canadian talent at the National Arts
Centre in its forty-third recommendation. Although not all of the Committee's recommendations apply to the dance community today, the above suggestions and recommendations became necessities (within a decade) as the economy changed and the dance community slowly adapted.
Mixed Reaction to the Applebaum-Hebert Report
Stakeholders of the Report included politicians, artists and arts organizations, federal cultural agencies and academics; however, not all interested parties commented publicly on the Report's findings. The Canada Council did not comment on the Report but politely recognized the ongoing hearings of the Applebaum-Hebert Committee in its
Annual Report for 1980/81; then in 1981/82 Annual Report, the Chairman's report included the Applebaum-Hebert Committee's assertion that the Canada Council must remain an arm's length from the federal government.
Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee, Report 182.
182 The suggestion of a dramatic shift in structure for the CBC and the National Film Board caused the greatest amount of criticism. "Controversy generated by the recommendations concerning the National Film Board and the CBC obscured the debate on the report, overshadowing the other recommendations and the report itself."455 Cabinet formed a committee to consider the recommendations of the Report, while NFB filmmakers attacked the controversial recommendations. Within four months of its release, the
Minister of Communications announced a new policy on broadcasting, first for the CRTC and then seven months later for the CBC. The new policy moved towards the
Applebaum-Hebert Committee Report's recommendations, but with a sense of moderation.456
Academic reviews of the Report commented on its amalgamated ideological approach to cultural policy; clearly with eighteen Commissioners, its ideological foundation had to be blended. "The Report is an amalgamation of arts-for-arts sake, a dependence on supply- demand economies, and a grudging acceptance of the necessity of state subsidy."457 This combined approach weakened the efficacy of the recommendations, for some reviewers.
The large committee had not agreed on all the recommendations and three minority comments were offered as appendices.
The recommendations about the Canada Council and the performing arts were not scrutinized in the public press. Generally, artists voiced their concerns to the service
455 Fortier and Schafer 54. 456FortierandSchafer55. 457 loan Davies, "Review Symposium," Canadian Journal of Sociology volume 8, number 4 (Autumn 1983)462.
183 organizations. Critics noted that the Applebaum-Hebert Report followed in the tradition of the Massey Report by maintaining the reverence for the artist and the distinction between high art and popular culture. Yet, the Applebaum-Hebert Report was less concerned with the competition of American cultural products than the previous document. Unfortunately, the Applebaum-Hebert Committee's numerous (expensive) recommendations came out in the midst of a very poor economy; there was little hope within arts organizations for implementation because government deficits were at record levels and unemployment and inflation rates continued to grow.458 Each discipline, as was exemplified in the Simply Dance brief, continued to push and strategize for their small slice of any possible increase. As usual, Canadian dance artists felt under- represented, as if they had not been completely heard in comparison to the other art forms.
Glimpse at a Community: Changes in Canadian Film
The Applebaum-Hebert Report made recommendations that the CBC459 and the NFB no longer create productions in house, but instead hire independent filmmakers. The
Applebaum-Hebert Committee argued this would be beneficial for the advancement and growth of Canadian film. These recommendations were debated in public. In Cultural
Regulation in Canada, Globerman supported the Committee's suggestion in principle by stating that too much government intervention and regulation from agencies such as the
458 Fortier and Schafer 53. 459 Interestingly, policy analyst George Woodcock notes that the federal government's relationship to the CBC is one of employment rather than patronage. George Woodcock, Strange Bedfellows: the state and the arts in Canada (Vancouver: Douglas and Mclntyre, 1985) 30.
184 CBC and NFB could potentially infringe upon an artist's freedom of expression.460 This artist-based argument appears to be the motivation for the Committee's somewhat radical recommendation (along with the financial ramifications of the shift). On the other hand, reviewer loan Davies asserted that the recommendation reflected financial realities when,
"the artist-as-entrepreneur stands on guard for individualism against the bureaucracies of the ideological state apparatuses."461 Even though his comments refer to art that is market-driven,462 it is important to recognize the growth of Davies' (and others') concept of artist as commodity within a cultural industry during the early eighties. (This economically based concept of the artist-as-entrepreneur would be advocated in future conservative policy.463) The controversial recommendations envisioned by the
Committee did not happen; Mavor Moore, Chairman of the Canada Council, and others resisted these recommendations.
After the Report, the discipline of film was clearly and officially divided into two groups.
The division ran along funding lines; producers of motion pictures applied to Telefilm and independent/artisanal filmmakers applied to the new Media Arts Section of the
Canada Council.464 Cultural policy struggled with the reality of the economy and the desire for Canadian culture in film. Scholar Zoe Druick recognized that, "Canadian film policy, like the discourse of Canadian nationalism, often seems saturated by
460 Steven Globerman, Cultural Regulation in Canada (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1983)xviii 461 461 Davies 461. 462 The majority of artists and arts organizations that submitted briefs to the Applebaum-Hebert Committee created art in a not-for-profit setting. 463 Part-time and freelance contractors became a fast growing section of employment across sectors in the eighties and nineties. 464 In 1983, the Canada Council creates the Media Arts Section to address the growing number of applications in the areas of film, video, new media and audio, which had previously been handled by visual arts. In its first year, the Media Arts Section awarded more than $3 million in grants.
185 contradictions between economy and culture." Cultural policy, in part, divided the profession in this way. Both these two groups existed before the Report but after the recommendations, the producers of feature films were encouraged to create works for international consumption. Notably, artisanal filmmakers, like choreographers, are barely acknowledged in the Report. Makers of full-length features received secondary consideration in the Report.
In the early eighties, Canadian cinema, like dance, demonstrated distinct differences between English and French Canada. Writer James Leach analyzes the differences in narratives his article, "Second Images," about Canadian cinema466 in the seventies.
Leach argues that at the heart of Quebecois cinema is a questioning nature whereas there is a greater resistance to change within English Canadian cinema.467 This observation aptly describes Quebecois choreography and the conservative nature of English Canadian dance during the same period. Leach also asserts that both English and French cinemas have a pessimistic vision of Canada: "In the cinema as in literature, the stress on these negative aspects represents a serious distortion which only serves to increase the public's alienation from its own culture." By the eighties, Canadian artists (in film and dance) had moved beyond the sentimental interest in Canadiana inspired by the Centennial and were not creating works that fit into a prescribed understanding of Canadian culture. The differences between English and French cinema attested to the multiplicity of Canadian
Zoe Druick, "Framing the Local," Canadian Cultural Poesis: Essays on Canadian Culture, eds. Garry Sherbert, Annie Gerin, Shelia Petty (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2006) 96. 466 Leach uses the term cinema but concentrates on full-length films. His research includes a work by Joyce Wieland, but generally does not consider the avant-garde. 467 James Leach, "Second Images: Reflections on the Canadian Cinema(s) in the Seventies," Take Two, ed. Seth Feldman (Toronto: Irwin Publishing, 1984) 102. 468 Leach 106-107.
186 culture and supported the need for individual Charter rights. As independent dance developed, it had some similarities to film.
The writing on Canadian film in the Report and beyond describes a discipline that was generally struggling, like dance. Film struggled for funding and audiences. Ironically, film (and television) were still considered by the dance community as the answer to their financial problems. In the early eighties, Canadian artists like Lawrence Adams, John
Faichney, Peter Dudar and Lily Eng were investigating film as medium for dance with several possible applications.469 This was just the beginning. Mixed-media works, which were more commonplace in the visual arts, such as those of Joyce Wieland, would slowly influence Canadian dance. One of the first Francophone choreographers to work in an interdisciplinary fashion, combining visual arts and dance, was Jean-Pierre Perreault.
A Contemporary Francophone Choreographer negotiating the Dance Community:
Jean-Pierre Perreault
Jean-Pierre Perreault became a leader in the dance community, both locally and nationally, early in his career. He was actively involved with CAPDO470 during its formative years. He believed in the importance of the artist to society; throughout his career, he spoke to politicians about the power of art and the necessity of funding artists.
He began as a visual artist and a dancer, and then quickly started choreographing; his company Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault fulfilled his artistic vision.
American choreographers such as Yvonne Rainer had been experimenting with film for years. CAPDO was founded in 1978 after the split with DICA.
187 Perreault began his dance career when he joined Le Groupe de la Place Royale in 1967 with little experience. He trained on the job as a dancer and quickly became interested in choreography. Perreault identified with the artistic style of Le Groupe's founding co- artistic director Jeanne Renaud. Dance historian Michele Febvre described Renaud's non-narrative experimental style "as the marriage and alternation of forms, intercorporeal spaces, rhythms, intervals, and silences, all strongly defined."471 Renaud explored the
Automatist concept of an open collaboration between the performing and visual arts.
Perreault, a visual artist as well as dancer, must have been drawn to Renaud's painterly sense of movement. In 1971, Renaud left Le Groupe and Perreault replaced her as co- artistic director alongside Peter Boneham. Perreault created several works while at Le
Groupe. His choreographic creations always began at the easel with a sketch or painting.
In 1981, Perreault left Le Groupe to work as an independent choreographer and teacher.473
In 1984, Perreault founded Le Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault in Montreal as a vehicle for his choreography. His choreographic style was often built on pedestrian movement as opposed to a specific technique. The dancers, in his works, looked like average people, both in costume and movement language. His movement language explored weight and gesture.474 Furthermore, his works included ramps and/or large industrial set pieces that often move. Perreault designed the set pieces himself, beginning the choreographic
471 Michele Febvre. "The Sweep of Gravity," Michele Febvre et al., Jean-Pierre Perreault: Alternate Visions (Montreal: Blue Dawn Press, 2004) 8. 472 Iro Tembeck, Dancing in Montreal: Seeds of a Choreographic History (Madison: Society of Dance History Scholars, 1994) 95. 473 In his career, companies such as Montreal Danse commissioned his choreography and institutions, including Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, and the Laban Centre in London, hired him to teach. 474 Peter Boneham, "The Quintessential artist," Jean-Pierre Perreault, Choreographer (a translation) ed. Aline Gelinas (Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 1992) 24.
188 process at the easel. The presence of open space loomed large in most of his works.475
His mentor, Renaud succinctly summarized Perreault's complex style as "a paradox
[making] use of the gigantic and the miniature, of silence and amplified sound, of hard, brusque movements and lyrical and romantic gesture."476 Perreault's innovative choreography played with the intersection of opposites such as stillness and blustery movement and silence and the sound of dancing.477 His indefinable style was part of the growing eclectic Montreal dance scene (that included Chouinard).
In the two anthologies about Perreault's work {Jean-Pierre Perreault: Alternate Visions and Jean-Pierre Perreault, Choreographer), several authors try to locate and contextualize his choreography. They ask if it is post-modernist dance, new dance , or expressionist dance? A possible answer may be found in Chantal Pontbriand's complex interpretation of dance styles and eras in her article "Expanded Dance (extreme dance)" in the anthology The Responsive Body. Pontbriand investigates the essential link between the body and dance in order to redefine the field. She states that new dance is a cousin of post-modern dance because of the predominant use of pedestrian movement in both styles.479 Although she does not mention Perreault directly, this type of pedestrian movement certainly pervades his works. In addition, Pontbriand posits that in an abstract
475 The setting and space were of paramount importance to Perreault. He would sketch and paint the setting of the dance before he would choreograph a single step. 476 Jeanne Renaud. "The essence of his secret," Jean-Pierre Perreault, Choreographer (a translation) ed. Aline Gelinas (Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 1992) 15. 477 Peter Boneham, Co-artistic Director of Le Groupe, questioned Perreault's choreographic choices early in his career and encouraged him to use the voice, an important element in Perreault's expanded dance. 478 A vague term used to describe choreography primarily from the 1980's that does not completely refute the ideals of modern dance. In comparison, the post-modernists rejected the structure and technique of the modernists. 479 Chantal Pontbriand, "Expanded Dance, Extreme Dance," The responsive body: a language of contemporary dance, ed. Brian Webb (Banff: Banff Centre Press, 2002) 98.
189 work of dance the narrative is not an external device but is directly embedded in the body itself. The body contains and conveys a synthesis of dialectical forms. Perreault's expanded dance is an original Quebecois expression because of its lack of formalism and specific technique, yet it is still influenced by other artists' work.480
Joe (1983), a Canadian masterpiece
Perreault created his landmark work Joe in 1983; it was acclaimed around the world for decades as a seminal work of Canadian dance.481 Perreault first created Joe on a group of female dance students from the Universite du Quebec a Montreal in 1983.482 Initially, he constructed this work as an exercise in musicality and unison for his students.483 The success and universality of the work motivated a performance by professional dancers.
Le Fondation first performed Joe in its inaugural season (1984).484 Since that time, the work has traveled across Canada, the United States and Europe, in five tours.485
JIIC i» non-iuiume woik based .irniiikl (he (heme ol c\ei>mim and eonloimny 1 his piece has no soimdliaek olhei ilun (lie sound of (he dancer- mounu I he woik hejiins
480 Reviews are replete with references to other artists' works and characters to describe the Joes, such as the anonymous men of Rene Magritte and L.S. Lowry's paintings, and the frustrated and rebellious characters from Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot. 481 See Appendix Six for an image from Joe. 482 Chantal Pontbriand, "Jean-Pierre Perreault: Joe," Choreographic Masterworks-Dance Collection Danse magazine 55 (2003): 24. 483 Not unlike George Balanchine's famous work Serenade, which was created for summer school students. 484 Joe had its professional debut on Nov. 14, 1984, at Salle Marie-Gerin-Lajoie, UQAM, Montreal. Perreault created the set design, music and costumes: Jean Gervais lit for the work. The first professional cast had only 24 dancers. 485 Perreault passed away in 2002. A final 2004 tour of Joe celebrated his life's work. For more information see, Jackie McGlone. "A final boot up the arts from the cult of the extraordinary Joe," Scotland on Sunday 15 August, 2004: page unknown.
190 wilh I IK* lhui\-lwo Joes"1"' huddled, faces hidden, in a mass representing the cold with their bodies. 1 he Joes huddle in a group, lor warmth and camaraderie. The\ stand in what louk.o like a factory, with lall frosted blue windows up abo\e '" l'he baek pari of ihe stage is ele\aied with a sleep ramp ihal reaches towards the window; and possibK to the outer world. Within ihe lust seconds of the work, we know dial ihe .loo are
"average" ever\ man (and e\ery woman). Individual!). Joes are virtual!) unrecognizable. 1 he brims of their hats hide faces: bulk) overcoats disguise gender. The character m./w is "ihe anonymous figure [who| is anvhody and cvervhod).""^ The Joes represent shades of realil). I'he> nio\e in unison. slow l\ spreading out across the stage.
1 he movements are simple and non-siv h/ed. I he Joes do not perform superhuman feals: the) look like someone on his or her way to work and therefore tra\el in a pedestrian lashion.
I he piece moves back and forth, from slow controlled movement to moments of frantic chaos. Ai first, the Joes mo\e s!ow|\ as die cold light rises. The hghl haunis the space: it rarelv illuminates bodies directly. I he simple footsteps of the Joes charges the barren space: "\\ ith Perreault. space is ah\e. an organic environment to which dancing bodies adapt and against which they measure themselves, as if the expression of space was as intimate as the e\pression of ihe body."v' flic group mo\es across the bleak grev stage accompanied onlv by ihe rhythmical toimd of their own footsteps. Mier the introduction.
486 The size of the cast varies from tour to tour. The 2004 tour had a cast of thirty-two. I have purposely avoided calling the cast "dancers" because of Perreault's assertion that they are people first, dancers second. I therefore chose to call them by their character name, the Joes. 487 Dance critics have described the backdrop in many different ways. The dancers call the backdrop "la verriere" which means the glass wall. 488 Therese Saint-Gelais, "The Eclipse of the Body," Michele Febvre et al., Jean-Pierre Perreault: Alternate Visions (Montreal: Blue Dawn Press, 2004) 83. 489 Therese Saint-Gelais, "The Eclipse of the Body," Michele Febvre et al., Jean-Pierre Perreault: Alternate Visions (Montreal: Blue Dawn Press, 2004) 77.
191 i .ill the Joes kill into three parallel lines addicting the spectator. I he hack line 1 i i siuKleiiK turns aw:i> from the audience and. in detei initiation, charges the ramp
sinmluneoiisK. I hev reaeh the summit .mil aie suspended there lor a moment holding
then hre.ilhs. only to inn h.iek to wheic thev began. ()n the seeoml ascent, the middle
line nuns to charge w ith the haek line: and on the third round, the fust line joins in the j i i
giuup effort 'I he\ diaigc and retieat anain I his futile eseape eontinues unabated with
individuals left at the Lop of the lamp to stare off into the darkness I he running feet
•ieneiaie a sound mediated b\ anticipation and disappointment. I he audience leeks the
Joes" IrustiaLion because of the pause in Mep at the tup of the ramp I he Joes quicken the i tempo as a poilion ol the lioupe hue up at the bottom of the lamp, like protestors. Instead i
\ ol a barrier, the lamp Lranslornis into a percussion instrument as the Joes stamp their
heels into the tamp in patterns ol eight I he lemaming Joes use this •music" to run across
the tamp, arms outstretched in dcspeiaiion. resembling a charactei Irom a James fhurber
illusiialion I he lamp nnmedialelv draws oui altenlion to the dancing bod\ ptodueing ; i sound j i i i i \\ e Hi M heai icbelhon in footfalls ihal aie out ol step at the beginning of the work. |
i
Intermiitenllv. one Joe tries to change the pace and rlnthni ol the step, but is quicklv
absorbed b> the crowd. 1 he gioup uses unilv and icpelition to suppress rebellion, hut it
is not alwa\s successful I uistiation and desue for escape mount as the work de\elops.
Instead of |iisl one Joe pioducing a counter lhvilim (like the soloist tap dancing in tront ol
the platoon), we start to see gioups ol mdi\ iduals rebelling In the middle of the work.
the mass splits MK\ two groups face each olhei in confrontation. I he Joes look dircctk at i i the olhei tioupe. w uh one elbow pointed towards their opposites while their feet stomp
192 out a dianutic heat. I lie gioup downstage left lues to stamp the rh\ihm faMei and hauler than the gioup upsiagc light, like the sound of two warring drums. Suddcnlv. lhe\ chaige cjifli oilier and merge into one niihlarv ni.iss. I he incessant pounding ends and we hear ihe lone civ ol'the hainiomea tiom within the gioup a ditteient kind ot rebellion. One
loe emciges liom the crowd t<> >>lowh climb the r.nnp to plav die iiisirumenl in solitude.
He she resembles a pied pipei cliuium a lelhaigic emotional iespouse from the mass of
Joes I hev look up longinglv and then nil their heads 10 one side. "1 he rebel seduces the
"roup, loi a brief moment I his poignant mieiludc ends when the pipei slides down the ramp, screeching into the harnionka and landing in a heap I he harmonica blast pierces through the space and supeieedes the sound ol the steps '1 he harmonica represents lebelhon and indivuluahiv simplv because n is the onl\ "instrument" in the piece. The audience empathizes with the mournful uies of the hannonica because we feel the loneliness and fiustration ol the bleak world the Joes inhabit. I he indi\ idual c\piesses him or heiself. but still c.innot escape
I he end ol the piece highlights siaikh the opposition between the gioup and the individual The Iocs ijuieilv huddle at the fiont ol'the stage: the sound of a hannonica walls through the space (as if signaling the appioach of a rebel). I he others watch as one
Joe delerminedlv treads the lamp-mountain auain. oulv to slide down in defeat several tunes. 1 he icbel looks up. lithium giav itv and the ramp, wheieas the gioup stavs low to the ground The visual image ol one watched by lhiit>-one is sinking.
The Dialectic of Individual and Community in Joe
193 Perreault's overall design for Joe stands out because of its lack of music and its large unified group movements. The floor and the set are also wired to pick up the sound of footfalls. Steps ring out and are amplified on the treacherous ramp that rises at the back of the stage. "In close and continued contact with the ground, the steps, the feet, make us hear an obsession as indefatigable as it is monotonous. An obsession that resonates between and through these steps."490 The ramp is used as a springboard, a slide, a drum, a refuge and a barrier. Bodies double as instruments in Joe; they communicate through images and sounds.
Perreault explores the relationship between the individual and the group in this piece by clustering and isolating his Joes. The anonymous (and androgynous) group of Joes, with their hidden faces and bodies, represents society's expectations - the everyman in the act of conformity. Individual Joes challenge that status quo throughout the work. The rebellious individual body is often juxtaposed with conformist bodies en masse. We first hear rebellion in footfalls that are out of step at the beginning of the work. Intermittently, one Joe tries to change the pace and rhythm of the step, but is quickly absorbed by the crowd. The group uses unity and repetition to suppress rebellion. In the middle of the work, the group of Joes assumes a square formation and begins marching like the military around the periphery of the stage. This simple image is overwhelming and stark; yet individuals try to break free. Soloists leave the platoon to perform an opposite movement and rhythm. The figures moving as a mass quickly overwhelm any individual Joe who tries to break free of the group producing a counter-rhythm in an act of non-conformity.
In the square, they plow over the soloists and engulf the rebel Joe. This act is repeated
490 Therese Saint-Gelais 90.
194 for emphasis. In the end, one Joe stands alone on the ramp, while the group remains together on the stage.
In many ways, Joe reflects common themes in Canadian culture, such as survival and isolation. All of the Joes attempt to survive in the bleak surroundings either by conforming to the group or breaking free as individuals and experiencing isolation. The struggle to define the relationship between the individual and the collective is clearly physicalized in Joe. The dialectic between the individual and community in Joe could represent the independent choreographer's relationship to the divided Canadian dance community. The dynamic of individual in relation to the community also abstractly portrays some of the concepts of the Charter of Rights, such as equality rights and freedom of thought. Ultimately, Joe is an example of contemporary French-Canadian dance created by an independent choreographer; these three traits (contemporary, French-
Canadian and the individual) would dominate the future of Canadian dance.
Joe\ Legacy and the Applebaum-Hebert's Prophecy
The place of Joe in Canadian dance history is clear.491 Joe still resonates with audiences twenty years after its premiere. In a discipline where works are rarely remounted, Joe is perhaps the most performed work in the contemporary Canadian dance repertoire (David
Earle's Baroque Suite would be the second). Joe has been documented, studied and
The five works of choreography examined in this dissertation ranged in style and popularity. They were produced by four male and one female choreographer in three different regions of Canada. I chose these pieces first based on their historical proximity to significant dates in the evolution of Canadian cultural policy, but then on their relevance. Joe and Baroque Suite stand out as significant and successful works, but that does not make the other three less relevant.
195 labeled a choreographic masterwork. Its place as a Quebecois work, instead of
Canadian, has not yet been addressed in the literature. Certainly, Joe was created in
Montreal and demonstrated many similar characteristics to the works of other Quebecois artists. But Perreault did work outside of Quebec and his interest in raw pedestrian movement arguably began during his travels.493 Joe has a universality about it with which Canadians identify. Historian and art critic, Therese Saint-Gelais describes Joe as the quintessential Canadian work of dance:
In Joe (1983)... we unmistakenly [sic] see the emblematic style of Perreault. More: this is the definitive Canadian choreographic creation. Joe is part of the history of contemporary dance. And justly so. In it, we find concentrated innovations of recitation - marked by the apparent banality of the main "character" - as well as of decor, costumes and music. But Joe also excels in its affirmation of the mass rather than the individual, of the multitude rather than the subject, and what is more, of the unfathomable.494
As a 'definitive Canadian choreographic creation,' Joe represents how Canadian dance evolved over the dance boom era and into the eighties.
Joe is a seminal work of Canadian choreography because it incorporates some of the innovations of previous generations, but also breaks with the establishment to create something unique. The work is Canadian because of the themes and images (not because of Perreault's passport). Specifically, Perreault addresses some of B.W. Powe's concepts of Canada such as prominence of space and the lack of homogeneity. Space looms on the stage and the Joes try to interact with it and consume it. The choreography evolves with and without synchronized movement; rarely is the entire cast homogeneous in their steps.
Pontbriand, "Jean-Pierre Perreault: Joe," 24. 493 Much has been written about the influence of Perreault's trip to Bali. In addition, Perreault's everyman was first developed in the early eighties when he was teaching at Simon Fraser University and working with non-dancers. 494 Saint-Gelais 88.
196 Unlike previous Canadian choreographic works, Joe is not bound by technique or narrative (like Rose Latulippe or Baroque Suite), yet the piece invites narrative interpretation and discussions about non-gendered technique and the hired body. Joe, like Chouinard's Marie Chien Noir, uses the dancing body as a musical instrument; the dancers stomp and speak the soundtrack of the choreography. The work moves beyond the personal expression of a solo to tackle the implications of a large group of dancers with a comparable attention to the intimacy of the space. Joe, like many other great works of art, is influenced by other techniques, such as Balinese dance, and the work of other artists such as Magritte, Lowry and Beckett. Yet Perreault's choreography speaks its own language in a bleak cold landscape that resembles the Canadian winter. The dialectic of the individual and the community, as played out in the work, could symbolize
Quebec and its relationship to Canada, but more likely the role of artist as instigator in society. Certainly, Perreault himself was a boisterous advocate for the choreographer within the dance community.
This history of the work itself is an example of the challenges dance community would face. The high costs of touring was one of the major points of the National Ballet's brief to the Applebaum-Hebert Committee. Only the largest, or in the case of the Fondation, the most successful companies were able to mount a tour that would be worthwhile both artistically and financially. The Department of External Affairs funding was inconsistent at best and the Touring Office of the Canada Council tried to make up the difference with a frozen or diminutive budget in the 1980's. As the National Ballet argued, touring built audiences in smaller centres and perpetuated the art form. Touring was essential for
197 dancers to have longer contracts than seasonal workers. The Applebaum-Hebert Report recognized the importance of touring but the Commissioners could not stop the cutbacks.
Touring certainly suffered greatly in the eighties. Dance companies who toured did so to their own peril.
There were five tours of Joe, each with diminishing financial support. Joe toured to the
U.S. in 1989 and again in 1996; it went to Europe in 1991, and then Canada for the 10th anniversary in 1994; Joe was last performed on a world tour in 2003/04 until the company went bankrupt. In many ways, Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault did not heed the belt-tightening advice of the Applebaum-Hebert Report to construct a balanced income from both public and private funders; in 2004, the company suffered the consequences.
The Fondation was mismanaged and carried an accumulated deficit, which ultimately led to severe 'financial crisis' that the public funders would not pay off. The last tour was
Perreault's dying wish - but it happened quickly without enough public money in place.
Even though the work sold out many European engagements, the expense of touring a large cast for weeks on end ballooned way beyond the profits from the box office. The
Applebaum-Hebert Report had noted the effects of inflation on cultural policy and warned arts organizations to strengthen administration and reduce deficits in the coming tough times. The Report foreshadows the fate of many arts organizations during the
Mulroney years and beyond. Sadly, the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault was one of them.
Joe stands as a testament to the strength of Canadian choreography produced by an independent choreographer, but also as a reminder of the cost of mismanagement.
198 Individuals emerge as the Dance Community divides
In 1983, choreographers, as opposed to dancers, were garnering attention across the country. Toronto Dance Theatre's youngest resident choreographer Christopher House495 created his first professional success in Glass Houses. James Kudelka, a dancer/choreographer with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, premiered one of his most renowned works, In Paradisium, in 1983. Both House and Kudelka had benefited from
Grant Strate's National Choreographic Seminars. They, along with Perreault, Chouinard and others, represented what Strate called the growing 'cult of the choreographer'.
Critics (and audiences), especially in modern dance, seemed more interested in the creator than the muse. Several independent and a few company choreographers emerged in this period. The financial hardships of the eighties forced dance artists to work independently to make ends meet. This fiscal necessity inspired a period of individual expression on a small scale.
Conclusions
The Charter of Rights affected all sectors of Canadian society including the arts. In many ways, the Charter expressed the manner in which independent Canadian choreographers had been working in recent years. In 1982, the Charter was ideal theory for dance artists whereas the Applebaum-Hebert Report meant money; therefore the dance community paid more attention to the less significant Report. Despite the criticism about its ideological shortcomings, the Applebaum-Hebert Report summarized the harried state of
Canadian dance in 1982 and foreshadowed the impending cutbacks and company bankruptcies. Dance companies that survived the eighties and nineties did so by
495 House was named resident choreographer in 1981.
199 establishing strong administrations, reducing debt, finding both public and private funders, and building audiences for the future, as the Report had suggested. Independent artists survived too, working with several companies and individually as well. The fractured dance community continued to fight for increased funding at the Canada
Council, even though it was a losing battle considering inflation and the arrival of the
Conservative government in 1984.
The Applebaum-Hebert Report was forgotten quickly when it became apparent that the economy and the financial state of the federal government in the eighties would not allow for many of its recommendations. The Applebaum-Hebert Report is significant in the history of Canadian cultural policy because it was quite accurate in predicting how arts organizations would have to adapt in the future. The Report also documents the federal government's move towards a blended approach (including both public and private)496 to arts funding.
Canadian choreography, despite financial woes, blossomed artistically in 1983. Several significant works including Joe were created in that year. As the Canada Council floundered, provincial arts councils (and ministries of culture) began to fill some of the void in annual budgets of arts organizations, especially in Quebec. The financial situation required (as it had at different times in the past) Canadian dance artists to migrate from city to city and company to company for work, as well as working independently. This was the new reality and Canadian artists adapted. The dance boom was over with the community divided; but Canadian choreography was alive.
496 This blended approach to arts funding is closer to the American model than the British.
200 201 Postscript: Canadian Choreography, 1983 and Beyond
The dance boom era lasted from 1967 to 1977. The dance community grew and numerous companies were created and offered work to Canadian dancers and choreographers. By 1983, few new companies developed, some began to disintegrate and fold under the pressure of the fiscal responsibility called for in the Applebaum-
Hebert Report. Dark times lay ahead for most of Canada's artists. Thanks to provincial funding, the active Montreal dance scene was an exception. Although the boom of companies was over, the rise of the independent dance artist had begun.
Dance education increased dramatically during the dance boom era. Specialized schools and universities trained dancers who would audition for, and in some cases create, new dance companies. Beginning in 1978, the education of choreographers (in addition to dancers) became a focal point thanks to the work of educator/choreographer Grant Strate in the National Choreographic Seminars. The rising federal deficit and stagflation necessitated a freezing of funding. Creative dance artists moved away from the beleaguered companies and started to work independently (and freelance for numerous companies). Naturally, the public and media were fascinated with the enigmatic choreographer, hence the term the "cult of the choreographer." Independents were mobile and could survive on less, which was a necessity in the bleak years of the eighties when numerous dance companies folded.
202 Politically, Trudeau appreciated the arts but he avoided establishing cultural policy for most of his tenure because of issues of jurisdiction and economic forces. The inconsistency of policies and funding certainly impacted the development of the dance community. But the inconsistencies of the seventies would seem like a dream compared to the frozen landscape of the eighties. In 1984, the arts are shifted way to the back of the line of priorities with the election of Brian Mulroney and the conservative government.
Once the Mulroney government stepped in, there were task forces to examine philanthropy and some incentives put in place to encourage private funding of arts organizations.497 Despite incentives, the State continued to play an influential role in the maintenance of Canadian dance (especially contemporary dance) because private funders were more interested in supporting prominent and impressive organizations, like the
Stratford Festival and the National Ballet, than independent choreographers.
Multiculturalism in the eighties
Although certainly present from 1967 to 1983, multiculturalism does not become a prominent force in the performing arts until the eighties.498 In protecting language rights and the right to religious practices, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms legally supported multicultural policy.499 The Charter reflects a globalized mode of thinking because it envisioned a future Canada shaped in part by immigration. As a result, the State embraced multiculturalism and the realization of the policy was eventually felt in the arts.
497 For more information on the initiative to increase private funding of the arts, please see, Task Force on Program Review, Culture and Communications (Ottawa: Task Force on Program Review, 1986). 498 The first federal multiculturalism policy was created in 1971; the Multicultural Act was passed in 1985. 499 For more information on multiculturalism and rights in Canada, please see Janice Gross Stein et al., Uneasy Partners: Multiculturalism and Rights in Canada (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2007).
203 In Uneasy Partners, Multiculturalism and Rights in Canada, scholar Will Kymlicka recognized that multiculturalism was not just a State policy, but a fact and ethos as well.500 The ethos of multiculturalism was slowly felt in mainstream dance, however it was prevalent in independent dance more quickly. In the seventies and even eighties, multicultural audiences and artists rarely saw themselves on Canadian stages and they worked towards changing that picture. The history of performing arts in Canada becomes very dense and difficult to negotiate in the late eighties. Of the few new companies that are created, those that survive, such as Sampradaya Dance Creations, speak to a certain multicultural community, or address a certain under-recognized constituency, such as
Buddies in Bad Times.501 Questions of national identity and dance become more complicated (and often disregarded) with the multiplicity of independent voices in this period.
Canadian choreography - the arc of the community
Canadian choreography grew up in the dance boom era. In 1967, there was no sense of a dance community, rather only three ballet companies and a scattered number of modern dancers. National identity in Canadian dance appeared in the form of mythology, narrative and images. By 1973, the dance community ballooned in size and rallied around a service organization, DICA that advocated for it. For a short period between
1973 and 1977, the dance community tried to work together and attempts to be a national
500 Will Kymlicka, "Disentangling the Debate," Janice Gross Stein et al., Uneasy Partners: Multiculturalism and Rights in Canada (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2007) 138. 501 These arts organizations survive because of dedicated audiences and then changes in cultural policy that recognizes more than just mainstream arts organizations, first provincially then federally. For more information, please see Katherine Cornell, "Dance Defined: An examination of Canadian Cultural Policy on Multicultural Dance," Culture and Tradition 23 (Dec. 2002): 98-105.
204 force. The beginnings of an original independent Canadian choreography grew at
alternative spaces like 15 Dance Lab in Toronto and Tangente in Montreal. Most
Canadian choreographers still drew inspiration from the U.S., creating new works in an
established technique performed by highly trained and accomplished Canadian dancers.502 But the methods in which to train those dancers were brought into question; again the opposition of the traditional British methods versus the contemporary technique of primarily Americans was at the heart of this conflict. The subsequent Brinson Report of 1975 on ballet training institutions began disintegrating the community from the inside. In 1976, dance companies and artists in Quebec started separating from the national dance community, realizing that the PQ offered a better living than the Canada
Council. By 1977, lines were drawn between professional ballet and modern companies and the 'other' (and the taps are turned down to a trickle at the Canada Council and other federal funders). A new service organization, CAPDO, was formed in 1978 and signified the end of a united dance community. Individuals from the fractured community filled the void left by the lack of national identity503 with personal and local artistic expression.
Those new works, which blatantly questioned the establishment, were truly Canadian.
By the late seventies and early eighties, choreographers often created on their own bodies or started companies based solely on their choreographic repertoire. In 1982, the dominance of individual expression in Canadian art was codified into the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. Quebec, as a fertile ground for artistic expression, became the new centre of uniquely Quebecois dance, which would lead the way in future Canadian
502 Supra 103-106. 503 Garry Sherbert, "A Poetics of Canadian Culture," Canadian Cultural Poesis: Essays on Canadian Culture, eds., Garry Sherbert, Annie Gerin, Shelia Petty (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2006) 20.
205 contemporary dance development. Original contemporary Canadian choreography dominated, but could be clearly divided into Anglophone and Francophone.
From 1967 to 1983, Canadian dance had grown in a different direction from many of the other art forms. It had moved beyond its British roots, but some of those techniques were still practiced (in combination with others) in English Canada. American dance did not threaten Canadian dance and as a result, dance service organizations were not interested in protectionist actions taken by representatives for Canadian writers, for example.
Canadian dance experienced the greatest amount of growth in comparison to the other arts supported by the Canada Council in the seventies. This sudden growth spurt meant that dancers and choreographers were underrepresented constituencies, in comparison to other art forms which had organized under the banner of service organizations back in the sixties. The cohesiveness of the dance community suffered greatly as a result.504
Quebecois dance became a force in the late seventies when the Parti Quebecois came to power. Dance companies, like Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, realized that the provincial government would support its work more than the floundering Canada Council. Canadian dance developed a bicultural nature by the early eighties where dance from English
Canada was quite different from Quebecois dance. Although the dance boom era of growth was over, most of the training institutes were in place to foster the next generation who would create provocative smaller work in difficult financial times.
It was not until 2003 that another national service organization, the Canadian Dance Assembly, tried to act in the same way as the Dance in Canada Association. Its effectiveness to represent the entire dance community, include Quebec, is still in question. The split of 1977 altered the dance community permanently; the consequences of that split are still evident today.
206 Conclusions: Individual and Community
What was the relationship between the Canadian dance community and the State from
1967 to 1983? The relationship was definitively combative at times. The community never felt as though the State supported them. Cultural policy, established for other art forms and applied to dance, alienated the community. Yet the State, represented in part by the Canada Council, played a central role in the dance boom era despite how artists felt about government. The performing arts, and dance specifically, benefited from a rise in State-supported nationalism (first during the Centennial, and then after the election of the Parti Quebecois). The increases in funding from 1967 to 1977, despite the apparent agendas of the Dance Section, clearly advanced development within the community.5 5
Is Canadian choreography of 1967-1983 reflective of national character? Canadian choreography, as created by the 'Silver Seven' companies, was generally reflective of mainstream State-sanctioned national character exploring mythology and imagery in works such as Rose Latulippe and Baroque Suite. However, Canadian choreography by the growing independent contemporary dance community was not reflective of the
State's idea of national character. Instead, choreographers created very personal, satirical and avant-garde works, such as "The Brick Series," Marie Chien Noir, and Joe, that were reflective of the nation's sense of ambiguity. Ultimately, Canadian dance remains the personal expression of a choreographer embedded in a complex culture with a purposeful lack of identity. That lack of identity provides Canadian artists with a great deal of inspiration and freedom. This can be seen in the diversity of work produced in the
50 Of course, it begs the question: if the money was not there, would the dance community have found another way to support the new companies and works?
207 eighties from the punk rock-influenced work of Edouard Lock to the balletic disposition
of choreography by James Kudelka.
Yet some Canadian culture and identity are played out in Canadian choreography (and not just in narrative works like Rose Latulippe). The work ethic and technical ability of
Canadian dancers are apparent in works such as Baroque Suite. The sarcastic Canadian sense of humour shines through in "The Brick Series." Marie Chien Noir asserts a
Quebecois sense of independence and originality. Despite Canadian choreographers' contention that their work is only individual and personal, those approaches to art are based in Canadian concepts like the Charter as embodied in Joe. The disintegration of the dance community as a unified group is unfortunate not only because of the need for advocacy with State institutions, but for the moral foundation the community could provide.5 6 Canadian choreography embodies the dialectic of the individual and community, the traditional and contemporary, and of the Francophone and Anglophone because it is full of counter-balances, on and off the stage.
506 Supra 16-18.
208 Appendix One:
Background on the three ballet companies and the Canada Council
When the Canada Council was finally created in 1957, the diverse and active dance community507 had complicated matters significantly by establishing three different ballet companies instead of one national flagship. The opening of the Canada Council represented the first period of financial crisis for the dance community; they had to compete and justify their requests for federal funding. The National Ballet of Canada was the big winner, consistently awarded larger operating grants than the Royal
Winnipeg Ballet or Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. But the National Ballet was in debt due to the rigorous touring schedule it had undertaken since its inception in 1951. The
National Ballet implored the federal government for support even before the creation of the Canada Council in 1957, and successfully attained an emergency grant of $20,000 (on top of an operating grant) in 1960 to help deal with its debt. The Council would have been in a difficult position publicly if it had refused funding and thereby caused the demise of the country's 'national' ballet company. It acquiesced, in part due to Kenneth
Carter's assessment, the first of many Canada Council reports written about the dance community. Carter, an accountant, stated that the National Ballet deserved further funding (along with the other two companies) but suggested that an assessment of the artistic value of the Canada's three ballet companies be undertaken. Each of the three ballet companies hoped for greater funding as the result of this important report. The subsequent Kirstein-Buckle Report of 1962 was a problematic document because Lincoln
Kirstein (of the New York City Ballet) wrote that Les Grands Ballets Canadiens deserved
507 Dance professionals were not recognized as a community until the seventies. In the late forties and early fifties, the Canadian Ballet Festival Association brought serious amateurs and selected professionals together on a somewhat regular basis. This was the beginning of the community.
209 all the Canada Council's dance funding, whereas Richard Buckle (of the Sunday Times in
London) wrote that the Royal Winnipeg Ballet was more worthy of substantial funding.
Neither foreign expert could agree, therefore the Council maintained the status quo, funding all three but increasing the allotments to the Winnipeg and Montreal companies accordingly. Periods of crisis in Canada dance often include the preparation of reports and/or policy documents at the Council. The three ballet companies continued to have financial difficulties, but the crisis of exclusive funding was over.
210 Appendix Two:
Chapter 3: Dancing through the Centennial of Confederation in 1967
For Chapter three, numerous public archival documents on the Centennial were retrieved from the Toronto Reference Library. Government representatives wrote these primary source reports, with only a government audience in mind, during the preparations for the
Centennial. These sources provided an excellent foundation for this chapter. The
Toronto Reference Library collection also included a copy of The Centennial Play, as a commissioned work. Newspaper and journal articles from the period supplemented my understanding of Festival Canada from the perspective of critics and participants. In particular, Stage in Canada, the journal of the Canadian Theatre Centre, published a series of important articles and the Yearbook reflecting on the critical discourse of
Canadian theatre at the time.508 Stage in Canada articles provided a perspective on how the theatre and performing arts community participated in and reacted to the Centennial celebrations. This perspective complemented the government documents. Lastly, it was very difficult to find secondary sources on Festival Canada specifically, so Helen Davies' dissertation provided a contextualized perspective of Centennial in general.
In this chapter, an assortment of other primary sources were used including material on the Ontario curriculum, the ballet Rose Latulippe and the company Les Feux-Follets. My understanding of the 1967 Ontario curriculum was based on a detailed primary source curriculum guide for teachers from Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.509 The
508 Many thanks to my Ryerson Theatre School colleague Sholem Dolgoy who retrieved the journal articles and offered me copies for my research. 5091 am also indebted to my parents, Karen and Keith Cornell, for their vivid memories of teaching during this exciting time.
211 premiere of the Centennial commissioned ballet, Rose Latulippe, was documented in the print media. It was more challenging to find a video copy of the ballet Rose Latulippe, but very rewarding. The archives at the CBC graciously made me a copy of the 1967
Radio Canada televised version (which includes Macdonald's wife, Annette av Paul in the title role). My description and analysis of the work is based on repeatedly viewing the film and reading reviews.510 Dance Collection Danse's archives in Toronto offered programmes from Rose Latulippe performances, as well as a significant collection of primary source material on Les Feux-Follets. Programmes often supply the choreographer's sense of the work at the time of premiere. In addition, Amy Bowring's meticulous article on the history of Les Feux-Follets provided essential information as the only secondary source on the company.
Lastly, a selection of Pierre Trudeau's writing is used throughout this dissertation to greater understand the actions of the federal government. His anthology Federalism and
French Canadians is a valuable primary source that defines Trudeau's opinion on the issue of jurisdiction as it relates to culture. In addition, articles from his anthology,
Against the Current, are also used throughout this dissertation.
Chapter 4: Advocacy and the Economy: Dance in Canada Association, 1968-1973
There was a wealth of written material, in the form of reports and articles, to draw on for this chapter. The specific official writings of Trudeau and Pelletier on cultural policy were published in the journal Cultural Affairs and provided a starting point for a sense of
5101 have also talked to colleagues in the dance community who saw the ballet in the late sixties to get the audience's impression of the work.
212 the federal government's priorities.511 The Canada Council commissioned several reports, such as those by Bladen and McKinsey, which provide a glimpse into the workings of the Council and its priorities. These reports are often bias to the artist's point of view, are written for civil servants, and have a general tone of urgency, regardless of the topic or era. This chapter relies on Andre Fortier and Paul Schafer's essential text on the history of cultural policy, Review of Federal Policies for the Arts in
Canada (1944-1988). This secondary source, by two former bureaucrats in the field, reviews the many reports and importantly places the work of the Canada Council in the context of the larger federal government's agenda. In addition, no analysis of cultural policy for the performing arts would be complete without a reference to the seminal research done by Baumol and Bowen. It is important to recognize that Canada was struggling with the same funding problems felt in the performing arts around the world.512
My research on the Dance in Canada Association (DICA) is primarily based on the organization's archives held at Dance Collection Danse (DCD) in Toronto. In addition to the Dance in Canada magazine, which began publishing in 1974, the archives include
Board minutes and membership newsletters, which provided a wealth of primary source material. Some of this material had been private or within the confines of the membership at the time and clearly expresses very personal points of view. The founding
5,11 also consulted Pelletier's biography and other writings by Trudeau from the period to get a sense of their perspectives on the cultural portfolio. 512 The Canadian system of public funding is based first on the British model of arm's length councils, but then secondarily on the French model of direct funding from ministries of culture (or the equivalent). To further complicate matters, the Canadian system also embraces the American model of private funding to a certain extent (less the tax benefits) and therefore is combination and compromise of many other models of funding the arts.
213 president of DICA, Grant Strate, published his memoirs in 2002, which includes an entire chapter on the organization and its relationship with the Canada Council. His memoirs provided a wealth of material. Lastly, Megan Andrews was the first to analyze much of the DICA archival resource in 2002. Her article, the only secondary source on the subject, provided a roadmap to DICA's history. I refer to Andrews' work in Chapter four and five.
Much of the material on Toronto Dance Theatre is based on years of research with
Nadine Saxton for our book Toronto Dance Theatre: 1968-1998, Stages in a Journey.
My understanding of this company's history and style came from working for the organization (1997-2000) and interviewing the artistic directors and many of the company members over the years. The analysis of David Earle's Baroque Suite is based on viewing two different videos of the production repeatedly.513 In addition, the new choreographic biography on Earle by Michelle Green provided specific premiere dates on the various sections of the work. Enthusiasts of Canadian dance will be familiar with this much-loved well-traveled work.
Although Atwood and Frye's writings on Canadian literature are commonly considered secondary sources on the discipline, in this chapter, the two seminal texts are treated as primary sources for comparison. Atwood's Survival and Frye's Bush Garden encapsulate the 'CanLit' movement of the early seventies, which is quite different from the activities
51 Baroque Suite was partially shown in the NFB documentary, Gala. TDT's video archives include several versions of the work. I have seen students learn segments of this piece, but unfortunately I have not experienced the complete work in live performance.
214 of the Canadian dance community. I use these significant works as signposts to compare
Canadian literature to Canadian dance at the beginning of the seventies.
Chapter 5: Education and Dissension 1974-1977
In this chapter, archival material and reports for the Canada Council make up the majority of the bibliography. The Brinson Report itself is available from the Canada
Council's library. The tone of the Brinson Report is highly personal and biased, as would be expected. Peter Brinson wrote the report for the Head of the Dance Section Monique
Michaud. My analysis of the Brinson Report was supplemented by other secondary sources written by Brinson, DICA newsletters and Board minutes, and commentary on the Report available in Dance in Canada magazine and the Visions anthology.514 Grant
Strate of York University and Betty Oliphant of the National Ballet School played central roles in the Brinson Report therefore my examination includes reference to their autobiographies as well. In addition, the York University Archives provided access to the CAPDO administrative records, which offered yet another perspective on the
National Ballet School's place within the dance community. I compare the National
Ballet School to the Ontario College of Art. This section relies on Morris Wolfe meticulous document of the revolt at the Ontario College of Art in OCA Five Turbulent
Years; this secondary source written by a former instructor was essential to my understanding of the events.515
514 This chapter also draws on an article I wrote in 2001 on the Brinson Report. I presented the paper at the Association of Canadian Theatre Research conference and then published it with the Society for Canadian Dance Studies. 515 Many thanks to my father, Keith Cornell, a visual artist and former OCA student, for his help and guidance with this section.
215 The year 1977 marked a shift in cultural policy. The creation of SSHRC and the cancellation of LIP and OFY changed the Canada Council. SSHRC's Annual Report provided a wealth of primary source material written by civil servants for interested parties and the general public at large. SSHRC encouraged transparency from the beginning and the first Annual Report demonstrates that policy. In addition, one secondary source by Robert Hanson and writing by Andre Fortier, the first director of
SSHRC, enhanced my understand of SSHRC and its relationship to the Canada Council.
My examination and analysis of Lawrence Adams's "The Brick Series" was based on archival material from Dance Collection Danse. Several files of newspaper clippings, programmes, photos and design elements provided an entry point into the work. Informal discussions with Miriam Adams, co-founder of Dance Collection Danse and his wife, added to my understanding of the choreography.516
Grant Strate plays a central role in this dissertation. His keynote address on the dance boom era at the Society for Canadian Dance Studies joint conference of July 2006 inspired much of this research. His keynote address on the cult of the choreographer at the Estivale conference in Montreal in 2000 also informs this work. Therefore his writings provide the insider's point of view. My brief reference to his National
516 Lawrence Adams passed away in 2003. His memorial included bricks at every table and a tribute film by Laura Taler. My understanding of this work is informed by my personal acquaintance with Lawrence Adams (and my friendship with his protegee, Amy Bowring).
216 Choreographic Seminar initiative is based on his writing and a Dance in Canada article by critic Elizabeth Zimmer.517 Strate's work is referred to through this dissertation.
Chapter 6: Distinctly Canadian Dance in Quebec, 1977-1982
This chapter on Quebec relies on a balance of primary and secondary sources.
Principally, the secondary sources supplemented my understanding of Quebec politics and culture during this complex time. Francoise Sullivan's article, "La Danse et
L'Espoir" ("Dance and Hope"), in Refus Global, represented a landmark in the evolution of contemporary dance in Canada (not just Quebec). This primary source coupled with two essential secondary sources, by Tembeck and Lindgren, provided a strong foundation of understanding of dance in Quebec.
To fully understand the legacy Trudeau inherited with Quebec, it was important to consult the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. Although begun before his tenure, the observations and recommendations that resulted from the six volume final report influenced Trudeau's relationship with Quebec. From the publication of this Royal Commission onwards, federal cultural policy is more balanced in terms of support for Anglophone and Francophone artists.
To first understand dance in Quebec, I had to examine Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.
Madame Chiriaeff was never afraid to speak to the media and use them to her advantage.
5171 was surprised to discover that there is little left in terms of documentation on the National Choreographic Seminars or secondary sources about it.
217 The article written by John Fraser provided a public snapshot of Les Grands Ballets
Canadiens' financial situation in 1973. The Canada Council Annual Reports from this era also spoke volumes (in the numbers) about Les Grands Ballets Canadiens' changing relationship with Ottawa. The school for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, L'Ecole
Superieure, has a phenomenal library/archives, Bibliotheque de la danse, that includes many primary sources available online. My understanding of the 1976 Olympics is based on archival programmes from L'Ecole and Fortier and Schafer's summative account. Iro
Tembeck's secondary source, Dancing in Montreal, places Les Grands Ballets
Canadiens' work in context.
My summary of PQ cultural policy was based on two secondary sources. Diane St.
Pierre's article offered a concise history of the cultural affairs portfolio; Elaine F.
Nardocchio's book examined the relationship of theatre to politics over several decades.
St. Pierre's article considers culture in light of globalization, whereas Nardocchio's bias towards the PQ is much more evident. Sociologist Richard Handler's research included some interesting observations on the impact of the Quiet Revolution on traditional
Quebec (with particular attention to folk dance). Although his methodology was quite different from my own, I felt that his account of Quebec after the PQ came to power was an informative source.
My analysis of Marie Chouinard's work, Marie Chien Noir, was based on viewing a
SIS video. Chouinard's complex visceral choreography offers numerous ways to look at the body. In addition, I relied on three sources to scrutinize Chouinard's choreography.
Her work has received a limited amount of academic treatment. (Ann Cooper Albright
518 Many thanks to Ann Cooper Albright for lending me her video copy. 218 and Tamar Tembeck have considered Chouinard's work using feminist theory.)
Therefore, I decided to use Christopher Innes' writing on Avant-Garde Theatre and apply it to Chouinard's work. The primitive physicality and radical commitment to novelty of the avant-garde clearly appear in Chouinard's choreographic language. Analyzing
Chouinard, like Quebec, required a greater number of secondary sources than any other chapter because of the depth of the subject matter. I depended on several secondary sources in Chapter six to a comprehensive understanding of dance in Quebec during this tumultuous time.
Chapter 7: Constitutional Reform and the Applebaum-Hebert Report,
Tough Times Ahead for Dance Artists, 1982-1983
I used Trudeau's writing as base to understand the motivation for the repatriation of the
Constitution and the creation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The anthology,
Against the Current, provides some of Trudeau's seminal articles on a bill of rights and
Quebec. I consulted some secondary sources on Trudeau to supplement my understanding of his actions in 1982. In addition, there is a large body of writing on the
Charter and challenges to it. After an extensive search, I found one article by James B.
Kelly that analyzed the scholarly writing on the Charter and one article by Andrew Potter that encapsulated the specific question of copyright in relation to contemporary artistic works. These two articles helped me connect the Charter to artists.
The three publications of the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee (Applebaum-
Hebert) provide the foundation for this chapter. These primary documents offered a picture of the sense of desperation felt by artists and the necessity for consistency on the
219 part of the federal government. Although often considered a footnote to the Massey
Commission, upon closer examination the Applebaum-Hebert Report makes some keen observations about the development of Canadian dance and foreshadows the demise of arts organizations that mismanage their funds in the difficult years of the eighties and nineties. Two briefs from the dance community make specific and at times extreme arguments regarding the development of dance. In addition, I examined and used the initial reviews of the Applebaum-Hebert Report from 1983 to document the immediate scholarly and artistic reaction to the recommendations. Many of the reviews focused on the recommendations relating to film, so I searched through several sources on film of this period. James Leach's article "Second Images," considered the different themes in
English-Canadian and French-Canadian film with an attention to narrative works. This article offered interesting points of comparison between dance and film.
The work of choreographer Jean-Pierre Perreault has been chronicled in a few secondary sources. The anthologies, Jean-Pierre Perreault and Alternate Visions, both offer several perspectives on his work including entries by other artists as well as critics and scholars.
My analysis of the work is based on several video screenings of the work, as well as one live performance.519 The numerous reviews of Joe over the years were a rich source that presented a dynamic picture of the work. Again, Iro Tembeck's Dancing in Montreal was valuable because it compared Joe to other works of the same era. In comparison to the other four pieces of choreography examined in this dissertation, Joe, has been written about extensively.
I saw Joe at the National Arts Centre in May 2004 on the final tour.
220 Appendix Three:
Centennial Commission Organizational Structure
Centennial Commission (Crown Corporation)
Historical Ceremonial Cultural
For example, For example, For example, Canadian Centennial the Queen's visit Performing Arts Publications Division (Goldschmidt)
Festival Canada
221 Appendix Four:
Levels of Subsidy by Section at the Canada Council 1968/69 to 1972/73
Numbers in the $,000
1968-69 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 Music 2,093 2.367 2.511 2.975 3,439 Opera 515 572 580 712 804 Dance 1,060 1,106 1,265 1,315 1.617 Theatre 2.605 2,815 3,282 4,008 3,903 Visual Arts 1.872 2,032 1,994 2,240 2,059 Film/Video* - - - - 644 Writing 544 520 637 819 1,793
Included under Visual Arts in years up to 1971-72
From Canada Council, Annual Report 1972-73 (Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1973) 17.
222 Appendix Five:
Funding for Professional Dance Schools from 1974 to 1978
Niiiioiial MMIL-I School ol ik ' Ro\;il School ot" 1 oionro School \\ mnipcL:1 k illct Dunce Ihcalrc 1973-1974 $240,000 - 1974-1975 $320,000 - - 1975-1976* $600,000 $10,000 - 1976-1977 $660,000 $11,000 $10,000 1977-1978 $725,000 $25,000 $15,000
*L'Ecole Superieure in Montreal refused $10,000 in funding in 1975/76. In the following fiscal year, the School of Toronto Dance Theatre was invited to apply.
Statistics gathered from Canada Council, Annual Reports 1973-74 to 1977-78.
800,000 1 700,000 .* 600,000 • s 500,000 .• 400,000 .' 300,000 .• 200,000 100,000 E*3 RSBV> *-• 0 1 —S j 73/74 74/75 75/76 76/77 77/78
223 Appendix Six:
Rose Latulippe, Royal Winnipeg Ballet Souvenir programme Courtesy of Dance Collection Danse
224 *r /•%
Baroque Suite Courtesy of Dance Collection Danse
225 1 • •
Floating Brick Courtesy of Dance Collection Danse
Joe, flyer Courtesy of Dance Collection Danse
226 Bibliography
Chapter One
Armour, Leslie. The Idea of Canada and the Crisis of Community. Ottawa: Steel Rail Educational Publishing, 1981.
Cooper Albright, Ann. "Incalculable Choreographies: The Dance Practice of Marie Chouinard." Bodies of the Text: Dance as Theory, Literature as Dance. Eds. Goellner, Ellen and Shea Murphy, Jacqueline. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995. 157-181.
Cornell, Katherine. "The Ballet Problem." Proceedings ofEstivale 2000: Canadian Choreography Then and Now. Ed. Tembeck, Iro. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2002.97-110.
Druick, Zoe. "Framing the Local: Canadian Film Policy and the Problem of Place." Canadian Cultural Poesis: Essays on Canadian Culture. Eds. Sherbert, Garry, Gerin, Annie, Petty, Shelia Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2006. 85-98.
Elder, Bruce. Image and Identity: Reflections on Canadian Film and Culture. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 1989.
Filewod, Alan. Performing Canada: the Nation, Enacted in the Imagined Theatre. Kamloops, BC: Faculty of Arts, University College of the Cariboo, 2002.
Fortier, Andre and Schafer, Paul. Review of Federal Policies for the Arts in Canada (1944-1988). (Prepared for the Department of Communications.) Ottawa: Canadian Conference of the Arts, 1989.
Frye, Northrop. The Bush Garden. Toronto: Anansi Press, 1971.
Globerman, Steven. Cultural Regulation in Canada. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1983.
Hall, Stuart. "Culture, Community, Nation." Cultural Studies 7 (1993): 349-363.
Henighan, Tom. The Presumption of Culture. Vancouver: Raincoast Press, 1996.
Herder, Johann. Philosophical Writings. Ed. Michael N. Forster. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
227 Lussier, Charles. "The Canada Council: The Principle of Excellence and Its Implications in a Democratic Society." Speech to Annual Managers Development Program of Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. July 6, 1977, Speech 7702. DICA Newsletter (supplemental) (Sept./Oct 1977): 1-17. (Found at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Ontario.)
Macdonald, Brian. "The Chance to Dream." Visions: Ballet and its Future. Ed. Michael Crabb. Toronto: Simon and Pierre Publishing, 1978. 153-162.
Pelletier, Gerard. "Federal Support of the Arts in Canada," Cultural Affairs 6 (1968): 6- 10.
Pontbriand, Chantal. "Expanded Dance, Extreme Dance." The responsive body: a language of contemporary dance. Ed. Webb, Brian. Banff: Banff Centre Press, 2002. 96-108.
Powe, B. W. A Canada of Light. Toronto: Somerville House, 1997.
Report on the Royal Commission on National Development in the arts, letters and sciences. Ottawa: Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1951. (Available online http://www.collectionscanada.ca/massey/h5-406-e.html)
Sherbert, Garry, Gerin, Annie, Petty, Shelia. eds. Canadian Cultural Poesis: Essays on Canadian Culture. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2006.
Stein, Janice Gross. "Searching for Equality." Stein, Janice Gross et al. Uneasy Partners: Multiculturalism and Rights in Canada. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2007. 1-22.
Taylor, Charles. "Why Do Nations Have to Become States?" Reconciling the Solitudes: Essays on Canadian Federalism and Nationalism. Eds. Taylor, Charles. Laforest, Guy. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993. 40-58.
Thomas, Helen. "Do You Want to Join the Dance? Postmodernism/Poststructuralism, the Body and Dance." Moving Words: Re-writing Dance. Ed. Gay Morris. New York: Routledge, 1996. 63-87.
Trudeau, Pierre Elliot. Against the Current: Selected Writings 1939-1996. Ed. Pelletier, Gerard. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1996.
Trudeau, Pierre Elliot. Federalism and the French Canadians. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1968.
Verney, Douglas V. Three Civilizations, Two Cultures, One State: Canada's Political Traditions. Durham: Duke University Press, 1986.
228 Williams, Raymond. "Culture Is Ordinary," (1958) Resources of Hope: Culture, Democracy, Socialism. London: Verso, 1989. 3-18.
Woodcock, George. Strange Bedfellows: The State and the Arts in Canada. Toronto: Douglas and Mclntyre, 1985.
Zemans, Joyce. Where is Here? Canadian Cultural Policy in a Globalized World. Toronto: Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, 1996.
Chapter Two- Literature Review (Please note the bibliography for this chapter only includes sources not listed in other chapters.)
Adams, Lawrence and Adams Miriam, eds. "Canadian Choreographic Masterworks" Dance Collection Danse Magazine. 55 (2003).
Anderson, Carol. Chasing the tale of contemporary dance. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse Press/es, 1999.
Anderson, Carol. Chasing the tale of contemporary dance, part 2. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse Press/es, 2002.
Anderson, Carol. Rachel Browne: Dancing Toward the Light. Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing Inc., 1999.
Anderson, Carol, ed. This passion: for the love of dance. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse Press/es, 1998.
Armour, Leslie and Trott, Elizabeth. The Faces of Reason: An essay on Philosophy and Culture in English Canada, 1850-1950. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 1981.
Bruner, Jody. "The History of a Devolving Nationalism: Three Dance Films of the National Film Board of Canada." Canadian Dance Visions and Stories. Eds. Odom, Selma Landen and Warner, Mary Jane. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2004. 239- 254.
Canada Council. From Annual Report 1966-67. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1967. To Annual Report for 1981/82. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1982.
Canada Council. "The Crunch Cometh: Canada Council assesses the gloomy financial prospects for our three big ballet companies." Dance in Canada 19 (Summer 1979): 14- 15.
229 Cohen Bull, Cynthia Jean. "Sense, meaning and Perception in Three Dance Cultures." Meaning in Motion: New Cultural Studies of Dance. Ed. Desmond, Jane. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997. 269-288.
Cooper-Albright, Ann. "Embodying History: Epic Narrative and Cultural Identity in African American Dance," moving history/dancing cultures: a Dance History Reader. Eds. Dils, Ann and Cooper Albright, Ann. Durham, North Carolina: Wesleyan Press, 2001.439-454.
Crabb, Michael. "A Decisive Decade: Monique Michaud and the Canada Council's Dance Section." Dance in Canada 32 (Summer 1982) 6-9.
Crabb, Michael. "Reflections on the Professional of Dance in Canada," Canadian Dance Assembly website (Toronto: Canadian Dance Assembly, http://www.dancecanada.net/cda/dancecanada_frame.htm, accessed Sept. 28, 2004).
Crabb, Michael, ed. Visions: Ballet and its Future. Essays from the International Dance conference to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the National Ballet of Canada. Toronto: Simon and Pierre, 1978.
Davies, Robertson, "A Dialogue on the State of the Theatre in Canada." Canadian Theatre History: Selected Readings. Ed. Don Rubin. Toronto: Copp Clark, 1996. 155- 175.
Desmond, Jane. "Embodying difference: issues in dance and cultural studies," Meaning in Motion: New Cultural Studies of Dance. Ed. Desmond, Jane. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997. 29-54.
Doolittle, Lisa and Ann Flynn. "Dancing in the Canadian Wasteland: A Post-Colonial Reading of Regionalism in the 1960's and 1970's," found in Doolittle, Lisa and Ann Flynn (eds.). dancing bodies, living histories. Banff: Banff Centre Press, 2000.
Finlay, J.L., Sprague, D.N. The Structure of Canadian History, 4 ed. Scarborough: Prentice Hall Canada, 1993.
Foster, Susan Leigh. "Dancing Bodies," Meaning in Motion: New Cultural Studies of Dance. Ed. Desmond, Jane. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997. 235- 258.
Foster, Susan Leigh. Reading Dancing. Berkley: University of California Press, 1986.
Fraleigh, Sondra. Dance and Lived Body. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987.
Grace, Sherrill. Canada and the Idea of North. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002.
230 Granatstein, J.L. "Culture and Scholarship: The First Ten Years of the Canada Council." Canadian Historical Review 65 (December 1984): 441-474.
Grant, George. Lament for a Nation: the Defeat of Canadian Nationalism. 40 Anniversary Edition. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005.
Hansen, Anders et al. Mass Communication Research Methods. New York: New York University Press, 1998.
Kaschl, Elke. "Aesthetics of Identification: Performing the Nation in Israeli Folk Dancing Under the Impact of Globalization." Proceedings of the Meeting of Cultures in Dance History Conference. Ed. Daniel Tercio. Lisbon: Technical University of Lisbon, 1999. 245-262.
Manning, Susan. Ecstasy and the Demon: Feminism and Nationalism in the Dances of Mary Wigman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
Moore, Mavor. "Has Canadian Theatre a Future?" Canadian Theatre Review. (Summer/Fall 1994): 64.
Morris, Geraldine. "The Making of a National Style: the Emergence of an English Dancing Style in the Early 20th Century." Society of Dance History Scholars Proceedings, 26th annual conference, Limerick, Ireland. Stoughton, Wisconsin: Society of Dance History Scholars, 2003. 86-90.
Neufeld, James. Power to Rise. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.
Novack, Cynthia. Sharing the Dance: Contact Improvisation and American Culture. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990.
Odom, Selma Landen and Warner, Mary Jane, eds. Canadian Dance Visions and Stories. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2004.
Officer, Jillian. "The Growth of Dance in Canada." Contemporary Canadian Theatre: New World Visions. Ed. Wagner, Anton. Toronto: Simon and Pierre, 1985. 262-273.
Perreault, Jean-Pierre. Personal Interview (with Kate Cornell). Sept. 2001. Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, Montreal Quebec.
Prevots, Naima. Dance for Export: Cultural Diplomacy and the Cold War. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1998.
Rubin, Don, ed. Canadian Theatre History: Selected Readings. Toronto: Copp Clark, 1996.
231 Smith, Cheryl. "Stepping Out: A New Look at Canada's Early Ballet Companies, 1939 to 1960." Canadian Dance Visions and Stories. Eds. Odom, Selma Landen and Warner, Mary Jane. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2004. 197-223.
Sparshott, Francis. Off the Ground: first steps to a philosophical consideration of the dance. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1988.
Taylor, Charles. Reconciling the Solitudes: Essays on Canadian Federalism and Nationalism. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993.
Tembeck, Iro. " Politics and Dance in Montreal, 1940's to 1980's: the Imaginary Maginot Line between Anglophone and Francophone Dancers." Odom, Selma and Warner, Mary Jane, eds. Canadian Dance Studies Journal 1(1994): 129-143.
Trudeau, Pierre Elliot. The Essential Trudeau. Ed. Graham, Ron. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1998.
Wallace, Robert. Theatre and Transformation in Contemporary Canada. Toronto: Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies (York University), 1999.
Woodcock, George. Strange Bedfellows: The State and the Arts in Canada. Toronto: Douglas and Mclntyre, 1985.
Wyman, Max. Dance Canada. Vancouver: Douglas and Mclntyre, 1989.
Wyman, Max. The Royal Winnipeg Ballet: The First 40 Years. Toronto: Doubleday, 1978.
Wyman, Max. Revealing Dance. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2001.
Chapter Three
"Acts and Facts." Stage in Canada volume 2, issue 1, (January 1967): 14.
Bowring, Amy. "Les Feux-Follets: A Canadian Dance Enigma." Dance Collection DanseNo. 60, (Fall 2005): 16-19.
Canada Council. Annual Report 1966-67. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1967.
Canada Council. Annual Report 1967-68. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1968.
Campbell, Francean. "The diverse directions of the dance." Theatre Yearbook 1965/66. The Stage in Canada. Volume 3, No. 8A (Special Annual Issue, 1967): 30-32.
232 Centennial Commission, Performing Arts Division. Festival Canada: The Performing Arts Program in the Centennial of Canadian Confederation. Ottawa: Centennial Commission, 1966.
Centennial Commission. The Architectural requirements for the performing arts in Canada: Report. Ottawa, Parliament, June 1-2, 1964. Ottawa: Centennial Commission, 1964.
Cornell, Katherine. "The Ballet Problem." Proceedings ofEstivale 2000: Canadian Choreography Then and Now. Ed. Tembeck, Iro. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2002.97-110.
Curriculum Division, "Curriculum and the Centennial." Toronto: The Ontario Department of Education, 1967. (available from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education)
Davies, Helen. "The Politics of Celebration: A Study of Canada's Centennial Celebrations." Dissertation. University of Manitoba, 1999.
Davies, Robertson. The Centennial Play. Ottawa: Centennial Commission, 1966, Toronto Reference Library, Performing Arts Division, Toronto, Ontario.
Les Feux-Folletsprogramme. Canada, 1968. Dance Collection Danse, Toronto.
Hendry, Tom. "Colloquium '67: the design of theatres." Stage in Canada volume 3 issue 3, (May 1967): 4.
Hicklin, Ralph. "Busy Brian Macdonald lingers over a Rose." Globe and Mail Sat. Aug. 13, 1966, 16.
Hicklin, Ralph. "Rose Latulippe Needs Judicious Pruning." Globe and Mail Wed. Aug. 17,1966,11.
Kivima, Arvi. "Postscript to Colloquium '67." Stage in Canada Volume 3, issue 5, (July 1967): 4.
McLay, Catherine. "W.O. Mitchell Papers Biocritical essay." University of Calgary, Library [website] (Calgary: University of Calgary, accessed 10 November 2006) http://www.ucalgary.ca/lib-old/SpecColl/mitchell/biocrit.htm
Olver, Michael. "Rose Latulippe makes city debut." Winnipeg Tribune April 1, 1967, 11.
Records of the Centennial Commission of Canada, RG69, Compiled by Joanne Frodsham. Ottawa, Public Records Division, 1979.
233 Report on the Royal Commission on National Development in the arts, letters and sciences. Ottawa: Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1951. (Available online http://www.collectionscanada.ca/massey/h5-406-e.html)
Rose Latulippe. Choreographer: Brian Macdonald. Composer: Harry Freedman. DVD. Music Canada, January 1967. (DVD copy made by CBC)
Rose Latulippe programme. Stratford, Ontario, August 16-September 3, 1966. Dance Collection Danse, Toronto.
Siegel, Marcia. "Les Feux-Follets." Dance Magazine. (Sept. 1969): 64-67.
Stinson, Arthur. Centennial programs after '67: a review of the programs of the Centennial Commission and their potential beyond 1967. Ottawa: Social Development Branch of the Secretary of State, December 1966.
Trudeau, Pierre Elliot. Federalism and the French Canadians. Toronto: Macmillan, 1968.
Zemans, Joyce. Where is Here? Canadian Cultural Policy in a Globalized World. Toronto: Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, 1996.
Chapter Four
"Arts and Facts." Stage in Canada Volume 3, No. 3 (May 1967): 23-29.
Andrews, Megan. "A Brief History of the Dance in Canada Association: Aggregation and Erosion." Canadian Dance Studies Quarterly [CD-ROM], Volume 1, Issue 3, (2002): 1- 5.
Atwood, Margaret. Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature. Toronto: Anansi Press, 1972.
Aupy, Monique. "Open Sesame to the Canada Council." Dance in Canada (jackdaw) Volume 1 (1973/74): 8-9. (Found at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Canada.)
Baroque Suite and others. Choreographer: David Earle. Videocassette. Toronto Dance Theatre, circa 1980. (Found at Toronto Dance Theatre, Toronto, Ontario.)
Baumol, W. J. and Bowen, W.G. Performing Arts-The Economic Dilemma. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1966.
Bladen, Vincent. The Financing of the Performing Arts in Canada: An Essay in Persuasion. Toronto: Massey College, 1971.
234 Canada Council. Annual Report 1968-69. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1969.
Canada Council. The Future of the Canada Council (A Report to the Canada Council from the Advisory Arts Panel). Ottawa: Canada Council, 1978.
Canada Council. Trends in Canadian Performing Arts 1972-1983. Ottawa: Canada Council Research and Evaluation, 1986.
Cornell, Katherine and Saxton Nadine. Toronto Dance Theatre 1968-1998: Stages in a Journey. Toronto: Captus Press, 1998.
Fortier, Andre and Schafer, Paul. Review of Federal Policies for the Arts in Canada (1944-1988). (Prepared for the Department of Communications.) Ottawa: Canadian Conference of the Arts, 1989.
Frye, Northrop, The Bush Garden. Toronto: Anansi Press, 1971.
Gardner, David, Kilbourn, William, Des Landes, Claude, Learning, Walter, Peacock, David and Roberts, Jean. "The Canada Council and the theatre: the past 25 years and tomorrow." Theatre Research in Canada Vol. 3, No. 2, (Fall 1982): 165-179.
Green, Michelle. David Earle: A Choreographic Biography. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2006.
Hendry, Tom. " Consequences of the Freeze." Stage in Canada Volume 4, Issue 7, (Sept. 1968): 4.
McKinsey and Company Inc., Management Consultants. Direction for the Dance in Canada. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1973.
Miller, Dianne. Editorial. Dance in Canada (jackdaw) Volume 1, (1973/74): 14-15. (Found at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Canada.)
Pelletier, Gerard. "Federal Support of the Arts in Canada." Cultural Affairs 6 (1968): 6- 10.
Smith, John N. and McKennirey, Michael, dir. and eds. Gala. Videocassette. National Film Board, 1982.
Strate, Grant. Memoir. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2002.
Trudeau, Pierre Elliot. "An Essential Grace." Cultural Affairs 6 (1968): 5.
235 Chapter Five
Adams, Lawrence Vaughan, chor. Brick Laying, a dance with notes, no date. (Dance Collection Danse archives, Toronto, Ontario.)
Adams, Lawrence. "Some Cheap Shots." Spill No. 5 (July 1977): 18.
Andrews, Megan. "A Brief History of the Dance in Canada Association: Aggregation and Erosion." Canadian Dance Studies Quarterly. Volume 1, Issue 3, CD-ROM. Toronto: Society for Canadian Dance Studies, 2001.
Brinson, Peter. "A Bigger Future." Visions: Ballet and its future. Ed. Crabb, Michael. Toronto: Simon and Pierre, 1978. 95-116.
Brinson, Peter. The Development of Professional Training for Classical Ballet in Canada: Studies of the National Ballet School, the Professional Student Programme of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, L 'Ecole Superieure des Grands Ballets Canadiens and related matters prepared at the request of the Canada Council (The Brinson Report). Library of the Canada Council for the Arts, 1974, Ottawa, Ontario.
Canada Council. Annual Report 1973-74. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1974.
Canada Council. "The Brinson Report: Introduction." Dance in Canada 7(Winter 76): 6.
Canada Council. Twenty plus five. Ottawa: Canada Council, 1977.
Chitty, Elizabeth. "Fifteen is an Amoeba." York Dance Review No. 4 (Spring 1974): 38- 42.
Cohen, Susan. "Editorial." Dance in Canada 7(Winter 76): i.
Cornell, Katherine. "The Dance Community Revolts: The Brinson Report of 1974," Canadian Dance Studies Quarterly. Volume 2, Issue 1, CD-ROM. Toronto: Society for Canadian Dance Studies, 2001.
Crabb, Michael, ed. Visions: Ballet and its Future. Toronto: Simon and Pierre, 1978.
DICA. Newsletter. May/June 1976. (Found at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Ontario.)
DICA. Newsletter. October/November 1977. (Found at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Ontario.)
236 DICA. Newsletter. "Lawrence and Miriam Adams recipients of the Dance Ontario Award, 1980." December 1980. 1-2. (Found at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Ontario.)
DICA. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Dance in Canada Association. Winnipeg, Manitoba, August 21, 1977. 1-4. (Found at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Ontario.)
Fortier, Andre. "Foreword." SSHRC Annual Report 1978-79. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1979. 5-6.
Fortier, Andre and Schafer, Paul. Review of Federal Policies for the Arts in Canada (1944-1988). (Prepared for the Department of Communications.) Ottawa: Canadian Conference of the Arts, 1989.
Fraser, John. "Dance Politics." York Dance Review No 3 (Winter, 1974): 18-21.
Hanson, Robert. "Allocation and evaluation: the approach at the social sciences and humanities research council of Canada." Higher Education 28 (1994): 109-117.
Howe-Beck, Linde. "Les Grands Ballets Canadiens at 50." Dance Collection Danse magazine No. 63 (Spring 2007): 6-13.
Littler, William. "Dancers prefer audience to get in on the action." Toronto Star (February 5, 1974): E7.
Littler, William. "Politics is threatening the development of dance." Toronto Star (May 15, 1976): H5.
Littler, William. "Swan Song for 15 Dance Lab." Toronto Star (May 31, 1980): H5.
Lussier, Charles. "The Canada Council: The Principle of Excellence and Its Implications in a Democratic Society." Speech to Annual Managers Development Program of Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. July 6, 1977, Speech 7702. DICA Newsletter (supplemental) (Sept./Oct 1977): 1-17. (Found at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Ontario.)
Oliphant, Betty. Miss O: My Life in Dance. Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1996.
Saxton, Nadine. "An Examination of the Perceived Difference Between the Cecchetti Society and the Royal Academy of Dancing." Unpublished undergraduate thesis. University of Waterloo, 1990.
SSHRC Annual Report 1978-79. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1979.
Strate, Grant. "The Future, Other views." Dance in Canada 7 (Winter 76): 12.
237 Strate, Grant. Memoir. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2002.
Turcotte, Eileen. "Dance of a Different colour great if you like bricks ..." Ottawa Journal. June 10, 1974, page number unavailable. (Found at Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, Ontario).
Wolfe, Morris. OCA Five Turbulent Years, 1967-1972. Toronto: Grub Street Books, 2001.
Zimmer, Elizabeth. "The Month of the Long Days: The First Canadian Choreographic Seminar, A Diary." Dance in Canada No 17 (Fall 1978): 4-7.
Chapter Six
Canada Council. Annual Report 1973-74. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1974.
Canada Council. Annual Report 1974-75. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1975.
Canada Council. Annual Report 1975-76. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1976.
Canada Council. Annual Report 1976-77. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1977.
Canada Council. The Art of Partnering Dance: A Federal Pas de Deux. Ottawa: Canada Council, 1980.
Canada Council. The Future of the Canada Council (A Report to the Canada Council from the Advisory Arts Panel). Ottawa: Canada Council, 1978.
Canada Council, Trends in Canadian Performing Arts 1972-1983. Ottawa: Canada Council Research and Evaluation, 1986.
Olympic Cultural Activities and Events, Montreal 1976. 2007. Canada's Culture Gateway, Government of Canada. 18 May 2007
Compagnie Marie Chouinard, Marie Chouinard - Biographical Notes. 2007. Compagnie Marie Chouinard. 20 July 2007
Cooper Albright, Ann. "Incalculable Choreographies: The Dance Practice of Marie Chouinard." Bodies of the Text: Dance as Theory, Literature as Dance. Eds. Goellner, Ellen and Shea Murphy, Jacqueline. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995. 157-181.
238 Fortier, Andre and Schafer, Paul. Review of Federal Policies for the Arts in Canada (1944-1988). (Prepared for the Department of Communications.) Ottawa: Canadian Conference of the Arts, 1989.
Foster, Susan Leigh. "Dancing Bodies," Meaning in Motion: New Cultural Studies of Dance. Ed. Desmond, Jane. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997. 235- 258.
Fraser, John. "Dance Politics." York Dance Review No. 3 (Winter 1974): 18-21.
Le Groupe de la Place Royale programme. Centaur II Theater, Montreal, July 2-4, 1976. Bibliotheque de la danse, Montreal.
Handler, Richard. Nationalism and the Politics of Culture in Quebec. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988.
Herder, Johann. Philosophical Writings. Ed. Michael N. Forster. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Innes, Christopher. Avant garde theatre, 1892-1992. London and New York: Routledge, 1993.
Innis, Hugh R. Bilingualism andBiculturalism: An abridged version of the Royal Commission Report. Ottawa: McClelland and Stewart in cooperation with the Secretary of State Department and Information Canada, 1973.
Jowitt, Deborah. "Eyes that Dance." Village Voice (May 23, 2000): 129.
Leach, James. "Second Images: Reflections on the Canadian Cinema(s) in the Seventies." Take Two. Ed. Feldman, Seth. Toronto: Irwin Publishing, 1984. 100-110.
Lindgren, Allana. From Automatism to Modern Dance: Francoise Sullivan with Franziska Boas in New York. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2003.
Marathon programme. Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. L'Expo-Theatre, Montreal, July 15-31 1976. Bibliotheque de la danse, Montreal.
Marie Chien Noir. Choreographer: Marie Chouinard. Videocassette. Unknown location and date, (from Tangente in Montreal)
Nardocchio, Elaine F. Theatre and Politics in Modern Quebec. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1986.
Neufeld, James. Power to Rise. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.
239 Pontbriand, Chantal. "Expanded Dance, Extreme Dance." The responsive body: a language of contemporary dance. Ed. Webb, Brian. Banff: Banff Centre Press, 2002. 96-108.
St. Pierre, Diane. "Quebec, its Cultural Policies, and the handing down of Culture in a time of Globalization," The Handing Down of Culture, Smaller Societies and Globalization. Ed. Baillargeon, Jean-Paul. Toronto: Grub Street books, 2001.
Sullivan, Francoise. "La Danse et L'Espoir." Refus Global. Ed. Brochu, Anatole. Swaninigan: A. Brochu, 1972. 97-99.
Tembeck, Iro. Dancing in Montreal: Seeds of a Choreographic History. Madison, WI: Society of Dance History Scholars, 1994.
Tembeck, Tamar. "The Staging of Desire: A Feminist Portrait of Marie Chouinard." Proceedings ofEstivale 2000: Canadian Choreography Then and Now. Ed. Tembeck, Iro. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 2002. 191-198.
Chapter Seven
Boneham, Peter. "The Quintessential artist." Jean-Pierre Perreault, Choreographer (a translation). Ed. Gelinas, Aline. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 1992. 22-25.
Canada Council. Annual Report for 1981/82. Ottawa: Canada Council Information Services, 1982.
Davies, loan. "Review Symposium." Canadian Journal of Sociology Volume 8, Number 4 (Autumn 1983): 460-464.
Druick, Zoe. "Framing the Local: Canadian Film Policy and the Problem of Place." Canadian Cultural Poesis: Essays on Canadian Culture. Eds. Sherbert, Garry, Gerin, Annie, Petty, Shelia. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2006. 85-98.
Elder, Bruce. Image and Identity: Reflections on Canadian Film and Culture. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier Press, 1989.
Febvre, Michele, Lacroix, Lauriere, Ouellet, Pierre, Saint-Gelais, Therese. Jean-Pierre Perreault: Alternate Visions. Montreal: Blue Dawn Press, 2004.
Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee. Speaking of our Culture: Discussion Guide. Ottawa: Information Services, Department of Communications, 1981.
Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee. Summary of Briefs and Hearings. Ottawa: Information Services, Department of Communications, 1982.
240 Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee. Report of the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee, Ottawa: Information Services, Department of Communications, 1982.
Fortier, Andre and Schafer, Paul. Review of Federal Policies for the Arts in Canada (1944-1988). (Prepared for the Department of Communications.) Ottawa: Canadian Conference of the Arts, 1989.
Globerman, Steven. Cultural Regulation in Canada. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1983.
Joe. Choreographer: Jean-Pierre Perreault. Videocassette. Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, circa 1990. (from the School of Toronto Dance Theatre library)
Kelly, James B. "Reconciling Rights and Federalism during Review of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms: The Supreme Court of Canada and the Centralization Thesis, 1982 to 1999." Canadian Journal of Political Science (June 2001): 321-355.
Leach, James. "Second Images: Reflections on the Canadian Cinema(s) in the Seventies." Take Two. Ed. Feldman, Seth. Toronto: Irwin Publishing, 1984. 100-110.
Mulhallen, Karen. "Of Wardrobe and Mask: Seven Takes on Stitching a Prime Minister." Trudeau 's Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Eds. Cohen, Andrew, Granatstein, J.L. Toronto: Random House, 1998. 95-110.
National Ballet of Canada. An Imminent Crisis: Canadian Cultural Policy and the National Ballet of Canada. Toronto: National Ballet of Canada, 1981.
Plumptre, Timothy. Simply Dance: Inside Canadian Professional Dance - A report commissioned by the Department of Communications in cooperation with the Canadian Association of Professional Dance Organizations. Ottawa: Department of Communications, Government of Canada, 1982.
Pontbriand, Chantal. "Expanded Dance, Extreme Dance." The responsive body: a language of contemporary dance. Ed. Webb, Brian. Banff: Banff Centre Press, 2002. 96-108.
Pontbriand, Chantal. "Jean-Pierre Perreault: Joe." Choreographic Masterworks-Dance Collection Danse magazine 55 (2003): 24-25.
Potter, Andrew. "Is copyright unconstitutional?" This Volume 37, Issue 2 (Sept./Oct. 2003): 22-25.
Renaud, Jeanne. "The essence of his secret." Jean-Pierre Perreault, Choreographer (a translation). Ed. Gelinas, Aline. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse, 1992. 14-17.
241 Saint-Gelais, Therese. "The Eclipse of the Body," Febvre, Michele, Lacroix, Lauriere, Ouellet, Pierre, Saint-Gelais, Therese. Jean-Pierre Perreault: Alternate Visions. Montreal: Blue Dawn Press, 2004. 75-91.
Tembeck, Iro. Dancing in Montreal: Seeds of a Choreographic History. Madison, WI: Society of Dance History Scholars, 1994.
Trudeau, Pierre Elliott. Against the Current: Selected Writings 1939-1996. Ed. Pelletier, Gerard. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1996.
Woodcock, George. Strange Bedfellows: the state and the arts in Canada. Vancouver: Douglas and Mclntyre, 1985.
Postscript
Cornell, Katherine. "Dance Defined: An examination of Canadian Cultural Policy on Multicultural Dance." Culture and Tradition 23 (Dec. 2002): 98-105.
Kymlicka, Will. "Disentangling the Debate." Stein, Janice Gross et al. Uneasy Partners: Multiculturalism and Rights in Canada. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2007. 137-156.
Sherbert, Garry. "A Poetics of Canadian Culture." Canadian Cultural Poesis: Essays on Canadian Culture. Eds. Sherbert, Garry, Gerin, Annie, Petty, Shelia. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2006. 1-23.
Stein, Janice Gross et al. Uneasy Partners: Multiculturalism and Rights in Canada. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2007.
Task Force on Program Review. Culture and Communications. Ottawa: Task Force on Program Review, 1986.
242