Ballets Jazz Montréal
Past, present and future collide to mark the half-century of Ballets Jazz Montréal. Choreographers Ausia Jones, Crystal Pite and Aszure Barton are the creators of this sparkling program, entitled ESSENCE.
Ausia Jones : We Can’t Forget About What’s His Name
Crystal Pite : Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue
Aszure Barton: Les Chambres des Jacques
Ballets Jazz Montréal has a long and rich history of excellence, innovation and above all, passion. Crossing eras and boundaries, these tireless globetrotters project themselves into the future, convinced that dance can speak to audiences of all backgrounds. To mark the company’s 50th anniversary, its new artistic director, Alexandra Damiani, has put together an all-female triple bill that expresses the quintessence of her vision. Two iconic works, Aszure Barton’s Les Chambres des Jacques and Crystal Pite’s Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue, share the program with a new piece, We Can’t Forget About What’s His Name, by Ausia Jones, a young Ballets Jazz Montréal performer whose movement language is rooted in groove and counterpoint. Hats off!
Works
We Can't Forget About What's His Name
Ausia Jones
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Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue
Crystal Pite
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Les Chambres des Jacques
Aszure Barton
As part of its 50th Anniversary season, Ballet Jazz Montréal has curated a triple bill that includes We Can’t Forget About What’s His Name, a new creation by company member, Ausia Jones, Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue by Crystal Pite, and Les Chambres des Jacques by Aszure Barton. This landmark anniversary program pays homage to the company’s roots but also serves as a springboard for a new artistic vision – a balance between the company’s DNA and the evolution of its mission into the next half-century.
Throughout its history, the company hasn’t been afraid to explore new ideas and ways of moving. Moreover, the company’s high-calibre dancers have used their distinct personalities to bring life to the movement and stories evolving on stage. This fearless vulnerability and humanity are what have allowed the company to connect to their audiences and how audiences have been able to see themselves in the artists. Standing in this truth, this program is symbolic and contains voices that are capable of driving Ballets Jazz Montréal forward.
Ms. Damiani’s kinetic response to the work of Aszure Barton and Crystal Pite was an indicator that these artists – whose talent was cultivated by Ballets Jazz Montréal at the beginning of their choreographic careers – are the perfect ambassadors for the company. Innovative, sensual, human, complex – the work by these prolific choreographers, who constantly use their voices and platforms to explore and push against their limits, also moves the milieu forward. They challenge. They go beyond. They refused to settle for safe.
In order to complement these two established artistic voices, Damiani had a strong desire to cultivate emerging talent similar to Ballets Jazz Montréal founder, Geneviève Salbaing. Having been mentored by William Forsythe, company member Ausia Jones has a choreographic voice that reflects her generation – confident, witty, spontaneous, and informed. Her movement language offers the audience another perspective during this evening – one that is inspired by diverse movement languages, groove, and counterpoint.
The company will step onto the stage for the next 50 years taking these distinct voices with them – ones that are alive, adapting, listening, reacting, innovating, and evolving. This is the DNA of Ballets Jazz Montréal and the ESSENCE of this program.
We can't forget about what's his name
This work touches on the idea of uncertainty and how it influences moments of connection. Exploring the concepts of time, community, togetherness and isolation, this work reflects the extreme emotions that uncertainty creates in our lives as well as the space it allows for freedom and joy. Inspired by the artistry of the dancers around her, the
community that social dance and family traditions have created in her life, Jones plays with this idea of connection. With an original score by Earth Boring, the energy of the music drives this piece and forces us to move – to persevere, to continue to explore – despite questions and uncertainty.
Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue
This work offers a highly personal take on the theme of rescue between two people. In these duets, each of which highlights a particular aspect of “rescue,” Crystal Pite approaches the human body with theatricality, humour, and quick-witted movement language.
The critically acclaimed work, made for five dancers, rotates each performer through ten duo combinations, examining iconic storylines that connect individuals. Through a series of intimate duets, the audience can decide for themselves who rescues whom and from what.
“I love the word “rescue”. It captures a whole story in a single word. Similarly, the body can convey narrative through the simplest of actions. For me, this work for Cedar Lake was an act of excavation. After creating the choreography, I searched within it for images that specifically evoked rescue. There are many of them. They exist inside the dancing like fragments of an untold narrative. I suppose the presence of rescue in this work is twofold, as I tried to liberate and expose these images for brief contemplation before releasing them back into the dance: saving and holding one picture of rescue in each of the ten duets.” — Crystal Pite
Les Chambres des Jacques
Aszure Barton’s Les Chambres des Jacques was originally created and performed in 2005 and was pointedly described in The New York Times as “a rare instance of a dance that feels as if it were plucked straight from the choreographer’s extremely specific imagination and set, full-grown, onstage...full of surprise and humour, emotion and pain, expressed through a dance vocabulary that takes ballet technique and dismantles it to near-invisibility.” Les Chambres des Jacques is at once physical, wild, and beautifully human. Barton is interested in deep connection and in creating a process-driven space where trust is front and center – where dancers are seen and encouraged to make choices and to show up as they are. The piece is an example of that process and Les Chambres, more than anything, establishes a dialogue between the choreographer and dancers where that connection is visible.
During the process of creating the work, Barton became very inspired by her conversations with the individual dancers. In fact, verbal language and communication became the vehicle through which the distinct physical language was able to come through. It was through dialogue that the piece’s language was born.
A Word from Danse Danse
Good evening to all,
We're delighted to welcome you tonight to Ballets Jazz Montréal, the opening performance of our 26th season!
In addition to being deeply rooted in its native city, this company is an exceptional ambassador for dance around the world, carrying with it the effervescence and passion of Montreal. A must-see!
Ballets Jazz Montréal's dancers are true virtuosos of movement. They have mastered a vast repertoire of works created by local and internationally renowned choreographers, and have brilliantly showcased legendary artists such as Leonard Cohen and Patrick Watson. Their versatility on stage allows them to express a fascinating range of emotions, creating magic before our very eyes.
Tonight you'll discover ESSENCE, a symbolic show that proudly pays homage to Ballets Jazz Montréal's roots, while bringing a new artistic voice to the stage. With this all-female program, created by Alexandra Damiani, the inspiring vision of the company's new artistic direction takes flight.
Pierre Des Marais — Directeur artistique et général Danse Danse
Territorial Acknowledgement
Danse Danse acknowledges that we are gathered on the traditional and unceded territory of the Kanien’keha:ka Nation. We honour the continued presence of Indigenous peoples on the Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal) territory, which has long served as a meeting place for exchanges between nations. With respect for the links to the past, present and future, we thank the Indigenous peoples for reminding us of the importance of living in harmony with ourselves, with each other and with nature, and we are grateful for the opportunity to present works of living art at Tiohtiá:ke.
A Word From the Artistic Director
It's an honor to open Danse Danse's 26th anniversary season. Dancing for the Montreal public is always a privilege. Thank you.
Since my arrival as Artistic Director of the company at the end of 2021, I had been immediately inspired by a new program that, while paying tribute to the company's roots, introduces a new chapter - a balance between Ballets Jazz Montréal's DNA and the evolution of its mission over the next half-century. In 2021, the world was collectively going through a period of reflection. This calm revealed a desire to get back to basics. Who are we, as Ballets Jazz Montréal? This is where the essence of the company in its purest form, to me, emerged.
My first love is dance and dance artists, a passion that the two women who founded the company instilled from the very beginning of Ballets Jazz Montréal in 1972. So, through this evening, I wanted to highlight the versatility of the company’s dancers, their ardor, sensuality, technique, and personality. The intrepid yet disarming humanity of the company's artists has always brought us closer to our audiences and helped them recognize themselves in us.
My visceral reaction to the work of Aszure Barton and Crystal Pite was an indicator that these women - whose talent was nurtured by Ballets Jazz Montréal early in their choreographic careers - would be able to convey the dynamism of Ballets Jazz Montréal. Innovative, sensual, human, complex, the work of these prolific choreographers also moves the milieu forward. Their work challenges us. They go beyond and embody values that inspire me.
To complete this triptych, I was keen to cultivate talent within Ballets Jazz Montréal. Company dancer Ausia Jones brings with her a different perspective that I feel complements these more established artistic voices. Her work explores concepts of time, community, unity, and isolation, and above all, captures the gaze of a new generation.
I hope you will enjoy the evening's moments of beauty and emotion, and that you too will be inspired by our ever-renewed joy in dance.
Alexandra Damiani - Artistic Director of Ballets Jazz Montréal
BIOGRAPHIE
Alexandra Damiani
Named Ballet Jazz Montréal’s Artistic Director in the spring of 2021, Alexandra Damiani has been a major player in the dance community for over two decades. During her 10 years with New York’s Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (2005-2015) – first as Ballet Mistress and then as Artistic Director – Damiani had the opportunity to work with and present a wide selection of contemporary dance choreographic languages by such internationally renowned choreographers as Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Crystal Pite and Hofesh Schecter. Damiani also presented the company in major cities and international festivals, including at the Lyon Biennale in France and Sadler’s Wells in London.
Damiani is a multidisciplinary artist who has been lending her expertise to the world of film, television and advertising for many years. Her credits include participating in Darren Aronofsky’s cult film Black Swan in the role of ballet mistress, and working alongside Tanisha Scott on Cardi B’s performance for the 2019 BET Awards. Damiani is passionate about training the young dancers of tomorrow and has excellent connections with highly regarded institutions like Jacob’s Pillow and The Juilliard School.
Originally from France, Damiani trained in classical dance at the Geneva Dance Center, and later in the French capital with teachers from the Paris Opera Ballet. After winning the Bayonne competition in France, she received a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in the U.S. She began her career as a dancer-performer in New York where she danced as a soloist with Donald Byrd/The Group and with the company Complexions, directed by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson. Her career continued in Montreal with the company RUBBERBAND and later with Ballets Jazz Montréal under the direction of Louis Robitaille (2002-2005).
Artists
Ausia is a young professional dancer who has worked with some of the top names in dance. Recognized for her creative talents, she is also developing her choreographic voice as an African-American woman.
Company
Founded in 1972 by Geneviève Salbaing, Eva Von Genscy, and Eddy Toussaint, Ballets Jazz Montréal is a contemporary dance repertory company which, under the artistic direction of Alexandra Damiani, creates, produces, and presents on local, national, and international stages. The company collaborates with internationally renowned choreographers who develop their own research to generate a repertoire that reflects BJM's identity and is accessible to all audiences.
Credits
We Can't Forget About What's His Name
Choreography Ausia Jones.
Music Jasper Gahunia, Stephen Krecklo & William Lamoureux aka Earth Boring.
Lighting Design Claude Plante.
Costume Design Anne-Marie Veevaete.
World Premiere 6 août 2022, Saint-Sauveur, Canada.
Ten Duets On A Theme Of Rescue
Choreography Crystal Pite.
Stager Cindy Salgado.
Music Solaris par Cliff Martinez.
Lighting Design Jim French.
Costume Design Linda Chow.
World, Premiere 10 janvier 2008, New York, USA.
Les Chambres Des Jacques
Choreography Aszure Barton.
Assistant to the choreographer Andrew Murdock.
Music Gilles Vigneault, Antonio Vivaldi, Les Yeux Noirs, The Cracow Klezmer Band & Alberto Iglesias.
Lighting Daniel Ranger.
Costume Design Rémi Van Bochove.
World Premiere Octobre 27, 2006, Albany, United States.
Dancers : Alyssa Allen, Gustavo Barros, Yosmell Calderon Mejias, John Canfield, Diana Cedeno, Astrid Dangeard, Hannah Kate Galbraith, Shanna Irwin, Ausia Jones, Austin Lichty, Jordan Lang, Marcel Mejia, Andrew Mikhaiel, Eden Solomon.
Ballets Jazz Montréal thanks the Marjorie and Gerald Bronfman Foundation for supporting this creation.
Performers
An artistic summit inspired by Hamlet, between choreographer and principal dancer Guillaume Côté and theatre maker and director Robert Lepage. An exceptional evening!
An immersive experience, NIEBO HOTEL takes the audience on an extraordinary journey into the heart of a hotel, a microcosm where touching scenes of life distil the poetry of the everyday.
Investigating transmission and affiliation, French choreographer Maud Le Pladec stages an intense encounter between krump and contemporary dance in this mirror portrait of two dazzling dancers, a surprise hit at the Avignon Festival.
Created two years after his famous Joe, Nuit is one of Jean-Pierre Perreault’s landmark works. Admirably danced by an outstanding cast, this impetuous piece opens a window on the choreographer’s immense legacy.
This workshop will focus on movement research and choreographic sequences. Participants will be invited to experiment with floor and standing movements, playing with the possibilities of their bodies, gravity, momentum and balance.
Alan Lake delves into the heart of the human experience with his latest work, a poignant foray into the myth of Orpheus that testifies to the redemptive power of art.
