Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal performs Minus One at the Royal Theatre
Ohad Naharin’s piece Minus One ‘very direct, very unpretentious’
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal brings a full crew of 30 dancers to the Royal Theatre stage on Friday and Saturday night for a performance of one of its most popular productions, Ohad Naharin’s Minus One.
PREVIEW
What: Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal Where: Royal Theatre When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday Tickets: Starting at $29 (Royal Theatre box office 250-386-6121) They call him Mr. Gaga.
It’s nothing to do with Lady Gaga. Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin is known as Mr. Gaga because “Gaga” is what he calls the unique vocabulary he invented for dance.
This weekend, Victorians get the chance to sample Gaga in the flesh when Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal performs Naharin’s Minus One (2002) at the Royal Theatre. Described by one critic as a “hot property” for Les Grands (the company has performed it internationally with great success), this 85-minute ballet for 30 dancers samples seven of Naharin’s older works. It is, in a sense, a greatest-hits package.
Les Grands artistic director Gradimir Pankov describes Minus One is an accessible crowd-pleaser.
“The piece is very direct. A very comic piece. There’s no point where you have to think, what have I seen there? What is that, what do they mean by that? It’s very clear to the public — the piece is very unpretentious,” he said this week.
Among Minus One’s more unusual elements is a series of confessions delivered via voiceovers. For instance, one dancer says: “I don’t like my body but I like the way it feels when I move.” Another admits to taking valium for stage fright so severe “I almost feel like I’m going to die.”
Minus One is an energetic, theatrical dance set to pop, baroque and world music. There’s mambo and cha-cha. There’s music by surf guitarist Dick Dale and Estonian minimalist composer Arvo Part. There’s Greensleeves, Hava Nagila and Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Naharin, who is artistic director of Tel Aviv’s Batsheva Dance Company, is among the world’s most acclaimed contemporary choreographers. His life story was chronicled in the 2015 documentary Mr. Gaga. Essentially, Gaga is Naharan’s private language for dance — a series of invented words that describe specific aspects of movement.
For instance, there is the word “mika” which is defined as “pulling bones out of soft flesh.” And there’s “lena” which refers to the area between one’s navel and groin, a source of power for the dancer.
A native Macedonian, Pankov became Les Grands artistic director in 1999 at the age of 61. He’s been a keen supporter of Naharin’s work for years. He has also championed other international choreographers, including Denmark’s Kim Brandstrup, Italy’s Mauro Bigonzetti and Spain’s Nacho Duato.
Many ballet companies embrace a star system, promoting their top dancers as box-office draws. Pankov is known for a more inclusive approach, encouraging his dancers to express themselves as distinct personalities within a collective vision.
Now in his eighth decade, Pankov will retire from Les Grands in June, with Italian-born Ivan Cavallari taking his place. A dancer until an injury sidelined him at the age of 40, Pankov was previously artistic director of such companies as the National Ballet of Finland, Sweden’s Cullberg Ballet and the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève in Switzerland.
Pankov said he has mixed feelings about retiring from Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal. “But the company is in fantastic shape and is appreciated everywhere.”
Pankov, who will fly out to Victoria with Les Grands, remains in good health. And he said he’s still brimming with artistic ideas. That said, he wants take his final curtain call on a high note.
“Maybe some people think it’s not time. But I know I’m of this age, now 78 years old. So why not try — not something else — but just enjoy your life without any demands on yourself?”