BIG HITTERS OF DANCE RETURN
Reprises by Chouinard, Lecavalier
Two Montreal legends figure in the fall dance season, with revivals of works by Marie Chouinard and Louise Lecavalier. There’s also a wealth of up-and-coming and established local talent, plus work from artists as far afield as South Africa, Germany and England. So let’s step lively and see what’s happening up to and during the first snowfalls.
First out of the gate is the 16th edition of the Festival Quartiers Danses, which again takes place in and around Place des Arts as of Wednesday and launches in earnest Thursday with a performance by Roderick George. George, who danced for William Forsythe, will also take part in a free outdoor event Thursday (one of many taking place on Ste-Catherine St. in Quartier des spectacles) featuring the work of that internationally renowned choreographer. The festival, which features more than 20 companies and artists, continues to Sept. 15, with indoor shows playing at Cinquième Salle. Call 514-751-2207 or visit quartiersdanses.com. While next April will see Les Grands Ballets presenting a more or less conventional version of the 19th-century ballet favourite Giselle, South Africa’s Dada Masilo will bring her own unique version to Théâtre Maisonneuve of Place des Arts from Sept. 25 to 29 as the opening show of Danse Danse’s 2018-19 season. Masilo’s Swan Lake played to great acclaim in Danse Danse’s 2015-16 season, and her Giselle promises to be an equally vibrant fusion of classical ballet and traditional African dance.
The rest of Danse Danse’s fall season is taken up with Montreal talent, though choreographer and dancer Eric Gauthier is now based in Stuttgart with his company Gauthier Dance. Their latest show, Grandes Dames (Théâtre Maisonneuve, Oct. 31 to Nov. 3), is inspired by remarkable women in contemporary dance, including Lecavalier and Pina Bausch.
Before that, duet practitioner and teacher Sylvain Lafortune will join Esther Rousseau-Morin for a starkly evocative presentation of the form in L’un L’autre (Cinquième Salle, Oct. 16 to 20). Street-dance duo Emmanuelle Lê Phan and Elon Höglund — who make up the acclaimed company Tentacle Tribe — bring their latest show, Ghost, to Cinquième Salle from Nov. 13 to 17. Danse Danse takes us to the edge of the Christmas period with Groupe Rubberbandance’s Vraiment doucement (Théâtre Maisonneuve, Dec. 5 to 8), a fusion of hip hop, classical ballet and contemporary dance. Call 514-848-0623 or visit dansedanse.ca. Christmas wouldn’t be complete without Les Grands Ballets’ annual presentation of The Nutcracker (Salle WilfridPelletier of Place des Arts, Dec. 13 to 30), always a firm family favourite. That can’t quite be said of the company’s preceding show at the same venue, an adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s much-banned erotic masterpiece Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Oct. 4 to 13). British choreographer Cathy Marston continues her engagement with literary classics, which has previously included Wuthering Heights and A Tale of Two Cities. Call 514-849-0269 or visit grandsballets.com.
The contemporary dance organization Agora, now based in the Wilder Building (1435 Bleury St.), reaches 25 years with a packed program of avant-garde experimentation, encounters with new technologies and, to kick things off, a couple of interactive events.
Catalan choreographer Roger Bernat invites you to take part in a performance of Le Sacre du Printemps from Sept. 12 to 15. Participants put on a pair of headphones through which they’re fed instructions based on Pina Bausch’s 1975 version of the groundbreaking masterpiece. Those who prefer to just watch are welcome, too.
Eve 2050 is Van Grimde Corps Secrets’ latest multimedia piece, an interactive installation that uses digital technology to explore humans of the future. Part of a triptych that includes a stage production (slated for 2019) and a web series, it plays from Sept. 19 to 22.
Next up for Agora is: L’affadissement du merveilleux (Sept. 26 to 29), an “epic, cruel” take on the story of humanity from Catherine Gaudet; SuperSuper (Oct. 17 to 20), Line Nault’s playful, numerical deciphering of the universe; Ground (Oct. 24 to 27), which sees Caroline Laurin- Beaucage and Montréal Danse using cinematic esthetics to explore time, space and gravity; Territoires (Nov. 7 to 10), based on the continuing globe-trotting explorations of Lucie Grégoire and her search for cross-cultural ties; The Mountain, the Truth and the Paradise (Nov. 21 to 24), a tragicomic solo piece from celebrated Catalan dancer Pep Ramis; De la glorieuse fragilité (Nov. 28 to Dec. 1), Karine Ledoyen’s bittersweet salute to older dancers as they fade out from public performances; and Attabler (Dec. 5 to 8), La 2e Porte à Gauche’s roundtable performance based on two years of research and exchanges of ideas between dance pros and visual artists. Call 514-525-1500 or visit agoradanse.com.
There’s a unique opportunity to catch the work of two of Montreal’s brightest female dance luminaries at Usine C (1345 Lalonde Ave.). Louise Lecavalier, whose visceral physicality powered the legendary Montreal company La La La Human Steps, went on to become a major force in her own right. At 60, she’ll be onstage demonstrating her undying dynamism in two of her most celebrated duets, Mille batailles (Oct. 9 and 10) and So Blue (Oct. 12 and 13).
The multi-award-winning Compagnie Marie Chouinard will also reprise two pieces from its repertoire, Les 24 préludes de Chopin (Dec. 4 and 5) and Henri Michaux: Movements (Dec. 7 and 8). Anybody who caught the company’s bizarre, magnificent, funny and disquieting take on Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights in last fall’s Danse Danse season will need no further urging.
Usine C’s double whammy of dance legends is augmented by a visit from Belgian company Voetvolk with its solo piece Lisbeth Gruwez Dances Bob Dylan (Nov. 7 and 8), the title of which is commendably self-explanatory. Call 514-521-4198 or visit usine-c.com.
Over at the MAI centre (3680 Jeanne-Mance St.), Franco-Congolese dancer, choreographer and philosopher Zab Maboungou performs Wamunzo (Nov. 23 and 24), a percussion-driven solo piece drawing on African music and dance. Brothers Arash and Aryo Khakpour, who together make up the Biting School, draw on the ultimate story of sibling rivalry in Cain et Abel, playing Dec. 7 and 8. Call 514-982-3386 or see m-a-i.qc.ca.
Conversely, there’s sibling harmony over at Théâtre Prospero (1371 Ontario St. E.) from Oct. 4 to 13 as the identical twins who call themselves Les Soeurs Schmutt perform the autobiographical L’entité du double. It’s part of Danse-Cité’s 2018-19 season, which also includes Normal Desires, Emile Pineault’s blend of dance and contemporary circus playing at La Chapelle (3700 St-Dominique St.) from Nov. 22 to Dec. 1. Call 514-525-3595 or visit danse-cite.org.
Finally, La Chapelle also plays host to Manuel Roque’s Bang Bang (Nov. 15 to 17), a “kamikaze no-holds-barred” solo show that won last year’s CALQ award for best choreographic work as well as the Prix de la danse de Montréal. Call 843-7738 or visit lachapelle.org.