Compagnie de la Citadelle
Jean-Pierre Perreault
In the shadows
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.
The late choreographer Jean-Pierre Perreault (1947–2002) said, “Human beings are sensitive to two things: other people, and the space they occupy and that contains them.” The same impulse inspired Perreault to create the design, choreography, lighting and sound of all his works himself. His pictorial explorations led him to imagine large-scale “dance spaces”. In the half-light, eight “Perreauesque” figures pound the floor to the point of intoxication, to the point of exhaustion. Struggling with the vagaries of everyday life, they dance their loneliness, confrontation and fragility. Various tensions arise between materials, masses, volumes and configurations. Remounted in its original form on the initiative of Laurence Lemieux (who danced it in 2002) and her Compagnie de la Citadelle, Nuit conveys a vulnerability that is as disturbing as it is subterranean. A rare work of overwhelming beauty.
Artists
It was his encounter during the late 1960s with Jeanne Renaud, just as she was about to establish Le Groupe de la Place Royale, that led Jean-Pierre Perreault to dance. From there, things moved quickly as he acquired basic technical training at the school of Le Groupe de la Place Royale, joining the company in 1967 at the age of twenty. In 1971, he became co-artistic director of the company with Peter Boneham, and began what would prove to be a prolific career as a choreographer.
Company
Credits
NUIT
Choreography Jean-Pierre Perreault.
Dancers Morgyn Aronyk-Schell, Valerie Calam, Tyler Gledhill, Sully Malaeb Proulx, Connor Mitton, Natasha Poon Woo, Heidi Strauss, Brodie Stevenson.
Original Lighting Design Jean Gervais.
Original Set, Costumes, Music Jean-Pierre Perreault.
Rehearsal Director Ginelle Chagnon, with the permission of Espace Perreault Transmissions chorégraphiques.
Lighting and Set Design Adaptation Simon Rossiter.
Sound Engineer John Gzowski.
Costume Coordination Valerie Calam.
Stage Manager Marianna Rosato.
Rehearsal Assistant Johanna Bergfelt.
Head Carpenter Sandy Middleton, The National Ballet of Canada.
Assistant Head Carpenter James Fulton, The National Ballet of Canada.
Second Assistant Carpenter Chuck Thiel, The National Ballet of Canada.
Head Scenic Kelly Palmer, The National Ballet of Canada.
Assistant Scenic Will Leskevich, The National Ballet of Canada.
Scenery constructed at The Gretchen Ross Production Centre, The National Ballet of Canada by members of I.A.T.S.E Local 822, 828 and 58.
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