Lecavalier Dossier AN-2

4528, rue de Bullion Montréal (Québec) Canada H2T 1Y6 F ou gl orieu x PHOTO: ANGELO BARSETTI www.louiselecavalier.com AGENT : URIEL LUFT, ATMO PRODUCTIONS \ [email protected] \ T. : 1 819-842-1919 \ F. : 1 819-842-1818 \ ADMINISTRATION : SUZANNE BENOIT \ [email protected] \ T. : 1 450-258-3061 \ COORDINATION DE TOURNÉE ET COMMUNICATIONS_ TOUR COORDINATION AND COMMUNICATIONS: ANNE VIAU \ [email protected] \ T. : 1 514-273-5478 \ louise LECAVALIER LONE EPIC (2006) Solo Choreography: Crystal Pite Dancer: Louise Lecavalier Music: excerpts from Bernard Herrmann’s music for Citizen Kane Lighting Design: Lucie Bazzo Rehearsal Mistress: France Bruyère Costume designed and built by: Anne-Marie Veevaete Sound engineering: Owen Belton, Diane Labrosse Length: 16 minutes LULA AND THE SAILOR (2005) Duet from Cobalt rouge Choreography:Tedd Robinson Dancers: Louise Lecavalier, Éric Beauchesne* Original Music: Yannick Rieu Lighting Design: Jean-Philippe Trépanier Rehearsal Mistress: France Bruyère Costumes: Yso, Dubuc Length: 12 minutes * with alternate performances by Elijah Brown Production: Louise Lecavalier/Fou glorieux,Ten Gates Dancing In co-production with Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, the Venice Biennale, and the National Arts Centre, Ottawa “I” IS MEMORY (2006) Solo Choreography: Benoît Lachambre Dancer: Louise Lecavalier Original Music: Laurent Maslé Lighting: Jean-Philippe Trépanier Props: Louis-Philippe Saint-Arnault Rehearsal Mistress: France Bruyère Length: 45 minutes Production of “I” Is Memory and Lone Epic: Louise Lecavalier/Fou glorieux, in co-production with STEPS # 10, Switzerland; Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Tanz im August – Internationales Tanzfest, Berlin; Aarhus Festuge, Aarhus; National Arts Centre, Ottawa; Usine C, Montreal; in partnership with Quebec presenters. Louise Lecavalier is supported by : the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts and Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. PRESENTATION “The beginning point is my fascination for the impulse of movement, which precedes all forms of human communication and which allows us to read the soul. I identify with choreographers whose sense of movement captures this kind of subtlety. I want to feel the evocative force of their gestural language to the point of being able to “read” their intu- ition. Minimal dance fascinates me as much as extreme dance, and I like to find one within the other. By working with three choreographers with whom I have an affinity, each of whom has masterfully elaborated a distinctive approach to movement, I hope to achieve a new form of creative osmosis and open up new directions. I chose to work with Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, who collaborated for a long period with William Forsythe at Ballett Frankfurt. She has a distinct, complex gestural vocabulary and a keen sense of wit and invention that I appreciate very much. In Lone Epic, movement, in close relation with the music, is at the service of human emotions. These 16 minutes of a condensed lifetime, alternatively joyous, delicate, sad, and grandiose, are sufficient to reveal the totality of the character imagined by Crystal Pite, one which is prey to a range of feelings that we have all experienced at one point or another. “Immodestly chaste,” the dance creations of Tedd Robinson, poet of the absurd, juxtapose strange states and very short choreographic phrases that seem to come from nowhere, as if the body were moving as fast as thought, or were taking the mind by surprise. Lula and the Sailor has no story; the two performers cross each other’s path or meet, sometimes close and sometimes distant. They reveal themselves by the way they move and communicate in duet. The dance brings out the fragility of the connection between mind and body, a connection which is also the mirror of our relations with ourselves and with others. While Tedd Robinson’s work refers to the edginess of thought, in Benoît Lachambre’s solo “I” Is Memory, the mind no longer directs the body’s movements: movement springs from an inner explosion that radiates throughout the body—in its bones, muscles, organs, and articulations. Disjointed and undulating, the body becomes thought. “I” Is Memory evokes abandonment, the collapse of the mind, the loss of identity when a being is stripped of its habitual references.This quasi meditative dance, performed with extreme slowness in a drastically minimalist mode, is the dance of a creature of the shadows, a being in the process of metamorphosis, a mutant.” — Louise Lecavalier LONE EPIC Lone Epic is a 16-minute solo set to selections from Bernard Herrmann’s majestic score for Citizen Kane. “The work is decidedly brief and low-tech in contrast to the large-scale big-budget features that influence it.The conventions of epic cinema serve as an unconventional backdrop for a small story that is personal, intimate and true. Lone Epic looks for the possibility of real human emotion within the facade of presentation, while recognizing that the emotions of love and loss, while intensely personal, are of epic importance. When a performer waves good-bye to the unmistakeable chords of a cinematic ending, framed by proscenium and perfectly-angled light, do we witness the retreat of a genuinely broken heart? Or does convention eclipse the heart and leave us unmoved? Lone Epic is both humble and grand, real and artificial. A spectacle made of the real-life drama of desire.” — Crystal Pite LULA AND THE SAILOR This duet is an excerpt from the piece Cobalt rouge, first performed in February 2005 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and at the Théâtre Outremont in Montreal. ”The quirky movement vocabulary of this particular duet was never revealed as fully as I thought it could be and now it will stand alone simply and without distraction. The performers are hardly ever physically together and they rarely look at one another. Lula and the Sailor considers the dynamics of a straight line, the clearcut relationship between in and out, and the grey areas of hello and goodbye. A portrait of abundance in an austere frame. A meditation on the activity of simplicity.” — Tedd Robinson “I” IS MEMORY “The coming together of one body with the sinuous twistings of its own movements, “I” Is Memory reveals the mutations of a moving image whose references are turned upside down—-the lyrical disintegration of a being in motion, like the dance of the rays of a phoenix becoming a mermaid. “I” Is Memory presents kinetic images shared between Louise and I, creating an aesthetic whose trajectory can take unpredictable turns. The dance leads us directly to the self, dissociated from its references, in the process of developing an empathetic relationship with its surroundings.” — Benoît Lachambre BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES \ LOUISE LECAVALIER AND COLLABORATORS LOUISE LECAVALIER, dancer Born in Montreal, Louise Lecavalier has been a professional dancer since 1977. She joined La La La Human Steps in 1981 in Oranges and went on to perform in every one of the company’s productions until 1999. In 1985, she became the first Canadian to win a Bessie Award in New York for her performance in Businessman in the Process of Becoming an Angel (1983). She starred in Human Sex (1985), New Demons (1987), Infante (1991), and finally, in 2 (1995) and Salt (1998), works in which she achieved remarkable maturity as a performer. She also partic- ipated in all the major collaborations of La La La Human Steps, including the David Bowie Sound and Vision tour in 1990, The Yellow Shark concert by Frank Zappa and the Ensemble Modern of Germany in autumn, 1992, and Michael Apted’s film, Inspirations, in 1996. As the company’s symbol and luminary for nearly two decades, Louise gave her heart and soul to her art, embodying dance on the outer edge with passion and unrestrained generosity, dazzling audiences everywhere. In May 1999, when Louise Lecavalier received the Jean A. Chalmers National Award, Canada’s most distinguished dance prize, it was the first time this award had been given to a performer. In February 2003, she received a Career Grant from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. She regularly gives training sessions and master classes at dance festivals in Europe. In 2003, Louise Lecavalier worked with choreographer Tedd Robinson, who created Cobalt rouge for her and three male dancers. Co-produced by the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), the Venice Biennale, and the Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), this work premiered at the National Arts Centre and was performed at the Théâtre Outremont as part of the Montreal HighLights Festival in February, 2005.Following the creation of the solo piece, “I” Is Memory, choreographed by Benoît Lachambre, at Festival Steps # 10 in Switzerland in May 2006, she collaborated with Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite to create the solo, Lone Epic, presented at the 2006 Festival Tanz im August in Berlin. Lone Epic, “I” Is Memory, and Lula and the Sailor—a duet from Cobalt Rouge—are the three components of a programme touring Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Japan during the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 seasons. The duet Is You Me?, a collaboration between Louise Lecavalier and Benoît Lachambre, was created last spring at Festival Transamériques in Montreal. Louise will dedicate the coming months to the preparation of Children, a duet created for her and dancer Patrick Lamothe by British choreographer Nigel Charnock.The work will have its premiere performance at Festival Oriente Occidente in Rovereto, Italy, in September, 2009. ÉRIC BEAUCHESNE, dancer, Lula and the Sailor Born in Bécancour,Quebec, Éric Beauchesne discovered dance at the age of 16 when he performed in a student musical comedy show. After graduating from l’École supérieure de danse du Québec, he danced in several productions of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Le Jeune Ballet du Québec, and the Banff Festival Ballet.

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