Dancers get Royal treatment
Some local dance students are getting a chance to learn from an instructor from the prestigious Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. Philippe Jacques is a choreographer and co-ordinator for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. For the past four years, he has been part of a summer training camp at Joy’s Dance Factory on the northside.
There, he teaches young dancers ballet, ballet repertoire and improv classes. He is also choreographing for their upcoming festival season.
“My job is to create a piece of choreography for the upcoming festival season,” he said. “And then I also teach them.”
Jacques said he looks forward to coming to Lethbridge every year for the school.
“I just hope to be able to impart a little bit of what I know, so they can keep growing on their path — either just for the fun of dance, or in learning about how to be a good citizen.”
Jacques work was featured at WhoopUp Days in the Canada 150 Pavilion. He was part of a film called “Horizons” by a company called Sesqui, created and commissioned for the Canada 150 celebrations.
Horizons is a 360-degree virtual-reality movie depicting different parts of Canada which is experienced in VR.
Last summer, Jacques took a crew into the Winnipeg International Airport as a backdrop to film a choreographed dance scene which was meant to display the mobilization of Canadians. Jacques explored the idea through immigration and the large amount of personal freedom Canadians enjoy when it comes to living where they want in the country.
“I created a 360 dance,” he said. “It was interesting, because I had to stand in the middle of the roon, rather than at the front.
“I had to make the dancers move around me.”
The scene was filmed at 3 a.m. in order to cut down on the amount of people using the area. No areas of the airport could be shut down for filming.
“It was complicated,” he said. “We couldn’t even close off certain conveyor belts.
“It had to be filmed between (expected) arrivals.”
Follow @JWSchnarrHerald on Twitter