INSIDE FIVE OF ROBERT BINET’S MEMORABLE PROJECTS

Untitled: Binet created his first ballet at 11 years old, later realizing that he had scored the piece to Christmas music. It was just Binet and three other boys dancing. The first time they performed in front of their parents, the music skipped and they had to start over. “I was just mortified,” he recalls. “It was the biggest deal in the world to me.” Unearth: This 2013 Binet ballet was treated to the biggest production of his career, with a “massive set” that looked like a “monolithic iceberg.” Musician Owen Pallett scored the work after a fruitful back-and-forth with Binet, during which the young choreographer would swap creative notes with the reliably opinionated Pallett. “He does have incredibly firm opinions, but he can back them all up, all of them,” Binet said. “We got along really well.” Binet went on to choreograph Pallett’s video for “Song for Five & Six.” These Worlds in Us: This piece came and went quickly, receiving only one performance. The selfcritical Binet did not necessarily believe this was his best work. “I was convinced it was going to be terrible,” he confessed. “There was a party after and I thought, ‘I want to forget about it, I just want to enjoy the party.’ I got out and it was the best response to a piece of work I’d ever had. It was a big lesson that you can never know what people are going to respond to.” Belle and Sebastian, “The Party Line”: Binet choreographed the stylishly retro video for the Scottish indie-pop institution. The clip was directed by Canadian team LeBlanc + Cudmore and shot locally at the Great Hall. In a mere 10 months, it’s become the second most watched clip on the band’s YouTube page. Orpheus and Eurydice: This work, a collaboration with playwright Rosamund Small, will be performed and live-streamed Oct. 22 as part of TEDxToronto, where Binet will speak. Emma Hawes and Spencer Hack are two of the four dancers taking part, and Binet has a long history with both. “The two of them have probably danced my work more than anyone,” he said.