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Source: www.stephanelaforest.com

Stéphane Laforest: “This is not the time to ask artists to reinvent themselves”

By La Scena Musicale Team on 13 June 2020 Arts Industry, Dance, Film, Orchestral, Theatre

Recent announcements from Minister of Culture Nathalie Roy have received mixed reviews from professionals in the field, in particular those working in the performing arts. In an open letter, Stéphane Laforest, conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke and the Sinfonia de Lanaudière, argues that government assistance only benefits part of the industry and neglects those employed as performers. At first, like many of my colleagues – especially people from the performing arts – I felt critical of the minister of culture. We were all shaken after two press conferences which announced the opening of drive-in cinemas and the allocation…

Minister of Culture and Communications Nathalie Roy

Quebec announces $400 million for cultural relaunch plan

By Olivier Bergeron on 1 June 2020 Arts Industry, Circus, Classical Music, Dance, Film, Literature, Multimedia, Theatre, Visual Arts

Minister of Culture and Communications Nathalie Roy announced today a cultural relaunch plan with a budget of $400 million. Nearly $290 million will be invested in 2020-2021, including $110 million in additional investments for the current fiscal year. The purpose of the relaunch plan is to enable Quebec cultural organizations and artists who suffered during the Covid-19 crisis to resume their activities as quickly as possible, particularly with the help of digital platforms. The budget presented aims to: Support film and television production ($91.5 million) Support businesses and cultural organizations in resuming their activities ($71.9 million) Support innovation and creation…

Dance: DANCE HIGHLIGHTS

By Nathalie de Han on 6 February 2020 Dance, Scena Arts

FEBRUARY Montreal choreographer Louise Bédard celebrates 30 years of her eponymous company with Promesses, performed by six talented dancers alternating duos and counterpoints. Wilder Building, Feb. 5 to 8. www.agoradanse.com The productive duo Philippe Meunier and Ian Yaworski will teach four new dancers how to dance a jig in Suspendu au sol. The other piece of the evening is Pythagore mon corps, choreographed by Stacey Désilier. She answers the question: How to combine the individuality of performers, seriousness and musicality? By mingling martial arts, urban dance and boxing, of course! Wilder Building, Feb. 6 to 9. www.tangentedanse.ca London choreographer Jamila…

Dance: JEAN-SÉBASTIEN LOURDAIS, THE INTIMATE BODY

By Nathalie de Han on 6 February 2020 Dance, Scena Arts

After denouncing the dissonances of the human condition, Jean-Sébastien Lourdais has chosen to embrace the somatic approach. Les appuis imaginés, the newest creation by the performer-choreographer, is part of this quest for harmony and tenderness. In 2002, Lourdais founded his company Défaut de fabrication, a name that would later evolve into Fabrication Danse. Trained in his native France and UQAM, he has made his mark with dramatic and demanding works with strong social connotations (he collaborates with sociologist Marc Laplante), which have been successful from here to Europe. Later on, he put the foundation of his approach into question and…

Dance: José Navas AND Winterreise, Coming to terms with winter

By Nathalie de Han on 6 February 2020 Dance, Scena Arts

My works are the children of my knowledge of music and pain,” wrote Franz Schubert in his notebooks. Inspired by the Schubertiades, the musical and literary evenings during which the prolific Austrian composer played piano with the poets, singers, musicians and painters who made up his circle, Winterreise (Winter Journey) is a romantic cycle of 24 Lieder, small pieces for piano and voice, composed two years before his early death at the age of 31. The lyrics of Winterreise are taken from poems by Wilhelm Müller. Franz Schubert uses about one note per poetic foot, producing a melancholy work that…

Dance: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

By Nathalie de Han on 6 February 2020 Dance, Scena Arts

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, founded by aficionados in 1974, has become a veritable institution. Established in New York, the company is only Monegasque by name; the offbeat, comical version of the classical ballet it offers, in parody and in drag, quickly found an echo in the media and among the public. Imagine a troupe of young men dressed in tutus and moving en pointe, with an irreproachable technique. Marginal at their beginnings, the “Trocks,” as they call themselves, are today undoubtedly on the cutting edge. Why choose ballet when soccer and karate exist? In Italy, as in many…

Photo: NINA KONJINI / SVETLA ATANASOVA

José Navas and Winterreise: Coming to Terms with Winter

By Nathalie de Han on 31 January 2020 Dance

The Riot Ballet: An Ambitiously Creative Project

By Newswire on 13 August 2019 Dance, Newswire, Theatre

THE RIOT BALLET A devised, collectively created work by multi award-winning theatre artists from Canada, the US, Ireland, and Colombia: Noah Drew, Emer O’Toole, Catalina Medina and Martin Andrews, with major contributions from Shawn Ketchum Johnson, Shannon Holmes, and Squinky. Wednesday, August 21 – Sunday, August 25, 2019 Click to see promo video: The Riot Ballet Montreal, August 2019 – Amid ongoing cover-ups, conspiracies, spin doctors and fake news, how do you pick a side? What inspires people to make the leap from spectator to player or from clicktivist to activist? How much change can you really make (even if…

Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin; Lambert Orkis, piano

Concerts Reviews

By La Scena Musicale Team on 7 April 2019 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Dance, Opera, Violin

by Benjamin Goron, Robert Kilborn and Adrian Rodriguez Swan Lake, Polish National Ballet / Place des Arts, Montreal**** Conviction and savoir faire This Swan Lake changes everything while remaining the same. It unfolds at the imperial court of Russian Tsar Alexander III. Alexander’s son, the Tsarevich Nicholas, must choose between his first love, Princess Alix of Hesse, and his infatuation with the young Polish ballerina, Mathilde Kschessinska. Nicholas would of course become Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, shot and bayoneted to death in the Russian Revolution, along with his wife and five children. Vladimir Yaroshenko as the Tsarevich…

Polish National Ballet. Photo: E. Krasucka

The Poles Save Western Civilization. Again.

By Robert Kilborn on 22 February 2019 Concert Reviews, Dance

The Polish National Ballet sets Swan Lake in the imperial court of Tsar Alexander III, presented by Les Grands Ballets at Montreal’s Place des Arts. Despite their decorative association with delicacy and grace, swans are fierce and formidable creatures. You approach their nests at your peril. The ancient Greeks metamorphose Zeus into a predatory swan who rapes Leda, Queen of Sparta, who in turn begets Helen of Troy. In one of the great 20th century poems, “Leda and the Swan,” W.B. Yeats exploits this god-as-swan violation to evoke a tragic vision of history (something the Poles know about). The Ugly…

Browsing: Dance

Stéphane Laforest: “This is not the time to ask artists to reinvent themselves”

Quebec announces $400 million for cultural relaunch plan

Dance: DANCE HIGHLIGHTS

Dance: JEAN-SÉBASTIEN LOURDAIS, THE INTIMATE BODY

Dance: José Navas AND Winterreise, Coming to terms with winter

Dance: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

José Navas and Winterreise: Coming to Terms with Winter

The Riot Ballet: An Ambitiously Creative Project

Concerts Reviews

The Poles Save Western Civilization. Again.

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