tanz-de-ca

(First for some background. At one point, the National Ballet of Canada was to get two principal dancers from Stuttgart Ballett. Toronto native Jason Reilly was supposed to come last September, and Jiri Jelinek in January, 2010. Reilly had second thoughts and remains a Stuttgart principal dancer, but not Jelinek. When we sat down to talk, Jelinek had been in Canada barely a week. What follows is a profile on the dancer – little known on this side of the Atlantic, but a huge star in Europe.)

Jiri Jelinek is tall (188 cm) and ruggedly handsome. A gifted dancer, he has been praised all over the world for his powerful stage presence and strong partnering skills. A choreographer’s favourite, he brings strength of technique and personality to every role he masters. Jelinek also happens to be the National Ballet of Canada’s newest principal dancer.

As artistic director Karen Kain carefully builds the company of her dreams, clearly Jelinek has a role to play. At 32, he is a mature dancer with charisma who can play the prince and the heavy with equal aplomb. For example, at Stuttgart Ballett, Jelinek performed both the sensitive Siegfried and the evil Rotbart in John Cranko’s version of “Swan Lake”. More to the point, he can partner the tall ballerinas.

Says Kain: "I first saw Jiri dance in a gala in Stuttgart in 2007 where Reid Anderson expressed to me that he felt Jiri was the best Onegin in the world at this time. I was delighted when Jiri contacted me and asked if I would consider having him join our company as a principal dancer. He will be partnering our beautiful principal dancer Xiao Nan Yu in “Swan Lake” and I can wait for the public to discover him."

Jelinek was born in Prague, Czech Republic, in 1977. His parents divorced when he was 7, and his mother struggled with three jobs to raise Jelinek and his two older siblings. “I was a troubled boy,” says Jelinek, “always getting into fights with the neighbourhood gypsy kids. (DO WE SAY ROMA?) My mother put me in ballet to get rid of excess energy, but it didn’t work. She died when I was 17, so she never saw the dance artist that I became.”

In 1988, Jelinek was accepted into the Prague Conservatory of Dance where trouble was his boon companion. “If I felt someone wasn’t treating me well,” he says, “I opened my mouth. At every year end, there’d be an argument between teachers who wanted to kick me out, and those who fought to keep me in.”

In his graduating year, Jelinek came to the realization that he was trained to do nothing else but dance, so he better take it seriously. To beef up his technical skills, he won a scholarship to the prestigious Ballet Centre Hamburg John Neumeier in Germany where he studied with the legendary Anatoly Nisnevitch.

As to why he didn’t join Hamburg Ballett when he graduated, Jelinek quips: “I spent a lot of time on John Neumeier’s carpet being disciplined.” This story, however, has a happy ending. Over the years, Jelinek has become a favourite guest artist with Hamburg, particularly as Stanley Kowalski in Neumeier’s “A Streetcar Named Desire”.

Jelinek joined the National Theatre Prague as a soloist in 1997 and was promoted to principal dancer the following year, winning the 1999 award for Best Dancer of the Czech Republic. Uninspired by the artistic team in Prague, Jelinek move to Stuttgart Ballett where his rise through the ranks was meteoric – corps de ballet (2001), demi-soloist (2002), soloist (2003) and principal dancer (2004).

In his nine years at Stuttgart, as Jelinek says: “I’ve danced it all”. He was the first cast in six created ballets, earning acclaim as Jack the Ripper in Christian Spuck’s “Lulu. A Monstre Tragedy”, and Claudius in Kevin O’Day’s “Hamlet”. Jelinek also performed a wide array of classical and neoclassical works, including the Cranko repertoire.

The obvious question is, why the National? For starters, last October Jelinek married his Czech girlfriend Aneta, and the couple do not see their future in Germany. “We don’t feel comfortable with the lifestyle and mentality here,” says Jelinek.

He also points out, that at 32, the time to move is now while he has good dance years left. “We knew we wanted an English language culture,” he says, “and we felt that Canadians are more down to earth than Americans. We were also worried about the economic crisis in the States.”

Jelinek has his eye on acting in the future, and Kain has promised to help him find good drama and speech teachers in the city. Jelinek grew up in the theatre milieu because he mother’s family were all associated with the National Theatre. In fact, his grandfather was a revered National Artist, and Jelinek performed child roles with the company.

Jelinek is not a typical dancer whose life is consumed by ballet. “I’ve always had a life outside dance,” he says. “My friends all have different jobs.” His hobbies are also non-dancey, so to speak. For the last six years, he’s been DJing in clubs in Stuttgart and Prague. “Electronica mixing is really creative,” he says. “Maybe I can get the odd stint in Toronto.”

And then there’s Thai boxing. When he was 10, Jelinek started with karate and moved to kung fu before falling in love with this particular form of kick boxing. Says Jelinek: “I had to stop doing the sport because the physicality went against ballet and the injuries affected my dancing. I’ll take it up again when I finish my dance career.”

(Jelinek's first role with the National will be Prince Siegfried in James Kudelka’s “Swan Lake” which runs Mar. 11 to 21 at the Four Seasons Centre.)

"The Three Man Project: Full Bloom" is a show about ageing male dancers inspired by the famous Bette Davis quote: "Getting old is not for sissies." "We chose the title "Full Bloom" to be sarcastic," says co-creator Kevin O'Day. "The performance career for most men in dance is over by their forties, yet here we are, three old guys putting ourselves on stage for an hour and ten minutes."

The three men in question are American-born O'Day, 48, artistic director of Kevin O'Day-Ballett Mannheim, fellow American Luches Huddleston, Jr., 40, director of movement for the Mannheim Opera Chorus, and Polish-born Canadian Robert Glumbek, 45, artistic associate of Toronto's ProArteDanza. Collectively their dancing years include a starry array of companies such as Twyla Tharp, American Ballet Theatre, Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Project (O'Day), Bill T. Jones-Arnie Zane, Elisa Monte, Joyce Trisler (Huddleston), and Warsaw Ballet and Robert Desrosiers (Glumbek). All are seasoned choreographers.

As proof of the frailty of a dancer's body, Glumbek will not be performing when "Full Bloom" plays Toronto's Young Centre Jan. 12 to 16. He suffered a devastating hamstring injury on the opening night of his show "Displacement" at Harbourfront Centre in November that will keep him out of action for six months. Ironically, of the three "Full Bloom" creators, Glumbek is the only one who still has an active dance career. Glumbek's role is being performed by his good friend Italian-Canadian Roberto Campanella, 41, artistic director of ProArteDanza, formerly of Danza Aterballetto and the National Ballet of Canada.

The point of intersection for the creators is Ballett Mannheim. Huddleston is a former company dancer under O'Day, while Glumbek spent two years there (2002-04) as a dancer/ballet master. It was Glumbek who suggested that he and O'Day work on something together which meant bringing O'Day out of a 9-year retirement.

What is fascinating is that O'Day, Glumbek and Campanella share similar personal lives. They are straight men with two daughters each who have all suffered through a marriage breakdown. O'Day invited Huddleston into the project because as a gay black American living in Germany, he would bring a different experience to the mix. "We also needed his energy," laughs O'Day. "Call it survival. A third person means less dancing for the other two."

I spoke on the phone with O'Day and Huddleston in Germany, and met with Glumbek and Campanella at a Toronto coffee house. Campanella was recuperating from his rehearsal of Glumbek's role in the gruelling 7-minute trio finale of "Full Bloom" which he describes as non-stop running and lifting. Says Glumbek: "We deliberately planned the ending to push ourselves to the limit. The audience is going to be wondering if we can finish the show. They'll be able to see the struggle in our eyes, but that struggle is what life is all about."

And that is what "Full Bloom" is all about. In a series of solos, duets and trios, three ageing men open their souls to the audience. O'Day describes the piece as a cosmic experience. "It comes from the heart and not from the intellect," he says. For Huddleston: "It expresses our feelings about what it means to be older men, both emotionally and physically." For Glumbek: "It shows the real us ñ who we are today." And from Campanella, the outsider looking in: "The piece has humour, poignancy, sophistication and artistry. It is all about communication on a very human level."

The creation of "Full Bloom" began with pieces of music that meant something to each of the men. O'Day brought in Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" to address men's softer side, particularly their love and affection towards each other. Glumbek's choice was Henryk Gorecki's "Sonata for Two Violins", which anchored him to his Polish homeland and led to reflections on living in a new country. Huddleston's choice was "Sex" by the Bucovina Club, a fusion of German hip hop and Balkan gypsy music. "I wanted us to explore if we are still sexy men at our age," he says.

The dance built itself through discussions and improvisations. "Full Bloom" begins with the performers in suits and ties being the grown ups they are supposed to be. The dance then touches on topics such as virility, fatherhood, rejection and resignation, not to mention the mundane such as shaving and peeing. In all, 13 pieces of classical and popular music underlie the emotional centre of each themed segment.

By creating and performing "The Three Man Project: Full Bloom" about dance and ageing, what conclusions have the men come to on the general subject of manhood?

"Your mojo is gone," says Roberto Campanella. "The level of testosterone is winding down and you find a softer side of yourself emerging. There is also the realization that we never left our teens and we have to keep the child inside us in check. Society expects us to behave as men of responsibility."

For Robert Glumbek, manhood in maturity means confronting the problems you put off when you were younger. "We know we're attached to our balls, but we're supposed to be wise, so we have to start using that wisdom. We have to put on our long pants and deal with things."

Luches Huddleston Jr. thinks the zeitgeist of men over 40 is finding respect for self and others. "Life is now about give and take," he says. "You have to analyze and process the outside world with more care. I'm into anger management rather than flying off the handle."

And from Kevin O'Day: "I've come to believe that the moment you are in, is the best year of your life. That's who you are and that's the self you should enjoy. It should never be about who you were or who you want to be. I also think that age gives you a certain kind of fearlessness to attempt new things."

Perhaps the most poignant thought is impending mortality. Says Huddleston: "When I was 20, I felt a had 100 years ahead of me. When you hit middle age, you fervently hope that it won't be down hill, and that you will keep finding the motivation to make life worth living."

"Full Bloom" has taken on a life of its own. It's two studio showings in Mannheim in October were sold out as are the upcoming shows in the larger Tanzhaus in Jan./Feb. The German press went gaga over the show, praising its honesty and wisdom. Baryshnikov is interested in presenting "Full Bloom: at his centre in New York, as is Eric Gauthier for his Theaterhaus Stuttgart. The Toronto run follows a performance at the Banff Centre.

Says O'Day: "To do this show I've had to put myself on a strict regime of diet and exercise. I jog 5 kilometres a day, and have given up cow, pig and pasta. While it's a gift to perform "Full Bloom", it's also going to be a relief to drink beer again when it's over.

Toronto-based Ballet Jörgen Canada calls itself "Canada's local ballet company", and for good reason. The mandate is to bring high quality works to cities and towns large and small across the country, and to that end, the ever in motion BJC reaches over 50,000 Canadians annually coast to coast.

BJC artistic director Bengt Jörgen was born and trained in Sweden, but as a young man, joined the National Ballet of Canada where he had a distinguished career. Jörgen is married to former National ballerina Susan Bodie, and the couple founded BJC in 1987 with the twin goals of creating original works and broadening the horizon of ballet through education and outreach.

Several years ago, Jörgen seriously began thinking about creating a Canadian "Nutcracker" that would anchor the beloved ballet in his adopted country. It was BJC dancer Clea Iveson who suggested using Group of Seven paintings to frame the story. With this idea in mind, Jörgen worked with theatre director Heinar Piller and designer Sue LePage to bring the ballet to the stage. What was particularly special for Jörgen was tying the "Nutcracker" to one of his favourite pastimes, canoeing the lakes of Ontario's legendary Algonquin Provincial Park. The ballet premiered to great acclaim in 2008 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. It is an absolute delight.

First for a bit of Canadian art history. Influenced by the French impressionists, the Toronto-based Group of Seven landscape artists literally founded Canadian modern art in the early 20th century. I certainly remember almost every school room I sat in, whether grade school or high school, having a Group of Seven painting on the wall. The seven original iconic artists spent most of their time in Northern Ontario, particularly in Algonquin Park or along the north shore of Lake Superior, rendering the spectacular lakes and unspoiled forests in their distinctive impressionistic, textured style.

The original seven were Franklin Carmichael, Lawren S. Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald and Frederick Varley. Their final joint exhibit was in 1931. Closely aligned with the group's aesthetic, although never official members, were Torontonian Tom Thompson, who drowned in Algonquin's Canoe Lake in 1917 under mysterious circumstances, and British Columbia's Emily Carr. The Group of Seven became a pan-Canadian movement by admitting artists of like mind such as L.L. FitzGerald from Winnipeg.

A rich mother lode of Group of Seven paintings is found at the prestigious McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinberg, Ontario, a picturesque town north west of Toronto. Three of those paintings are used as backdrops for the ballet. In fact, Jörgen placed his Canadian "Nutcracker" in the small town of Bisset in 1912, inspired by Carmichael's "Church and Houses at Bisset". This painting, which shows the town nestled in the snow, is the backdrop as locals arrive for the Christmas Eve party at the local school house. Among them are two virtuoso lumberjacks, and a young girl on snowshoes.

As part of its outreach program and augmenting its own 16 dancers, BJC has a "Nutcracker" touring youth cast of six who play several roles throughout including young Klara and the local Bisset boy who becomes her Nutcracker Prince. As well, in every town the company visits, ten local children and teenagers are selected and rehearsed in advance for a variety of character roles. Jörgen's premise is that young Klara is an immigrant from Europe, sent to join her older sister who is a maid to a rich family in Bisset. The only non-indigenous artefact in this very Canadian production is Klara's Nutcracker doll which she has brought from home.

What makes this ballet so charming is how Jörgen has been faithful to Tchaikovsky's original music and Petipa's storyline while converting his attractive dances into Canadian icons. LePage's gorgeous costumes capture the vivid colours and textures of the Group of Seven in splendid fashion. The backdrop for the school house scene is Thomson's "Snow in the Woods" which one can glimpse through the windows. Central to the first act are the school teacher and her swain, a painter who work echoes the Group of Seven. LePage has clothed the painter as a voyageur after those intrepid fur trappers from New France who lived with the native people and explored Canada by canoe. With his buskin leggings and tunic, and colourful voyageur sash around his waist, the painter is every inch a woodsman. It is the painter who brings the Christmas toys for the children in his sack, all of them carvings of Canadian animals who later come to life in Klara's dream.

Klara falls asleep hidden behind a table, and in her dream, the boy she met at the Christmas Eve social becomes her Nutcracker Prince. The Mouse King in Jörgen's ballet is transformed into King Bat, who along with his fellow villains, Red Fox, Skunk and Wolf, battle against the Mounties. (The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were miniature dolls in a bowling game the children played at the schoolhouse social.) Two white-tailed deer pull Klara and the Nutcracker Prince in a sleigh to the Land of Snow. This is Canada, after all, and Jörgen could keep Tchaikovsky/Petipa's Land of Snow intact. The Snowflake Queen and her swain, leading a mixed corps de ballet perform the lovely ensemble that ends the first act.

The Land of Sweets becomes a beautiful summer day deep in Algonquin Park set against FitzGerald's "Trees and Wildflowers". The Sugar Plum Fairy and her swain, performed by the school teacher and the voyageur painter, are now Lord and Lady Birch. Klara and her Nutcracker Prince arrive in a canoe pulled by beavers. Delightful creatures like frogs and squirrels populate the park. The Spanish dance is performed by two lively female racoons, the exotic Arabian pas de deux by loons, the Chinese by a graceful dragonfly, and the Russian by, what else, bears. Mother Goose and her children are Canadianized into Mother Spruce and her chipmunks. The Waltz of the Flowers is performed by a lead ballerina and a female corps de ballets of trilliums, the trillium being Ontario's provincial flower. Jörgen's triumph is how he has managed to cleverly fuse Tchaikovsky's divertissement music with Canadian imagery.

Catching this ballet for the second time reinforced what a wonderful piece of Canadiana Jörgen and his collaborators have created. Everywhere BJC tours this ballet in Canada will find an audience that will connect to the familiar. I had a smile on my face the entire time.

Nico Archambault shot to stardom after winning the very first "So You Think You Can Dance Canada". But is he Rudolf Nureyev?

Producer/director/writer Moze Mossanen seems to think so. He cast Archambault as the legendary dancer in his made for TV film "Nureyev" which currently airs on Bravo! and will begin airing on ARTV in Quebec in February. Says Mossanen: "Nureyev was a mythological figure, a rock star of ballet. I needed a dancer with charisma. I had heard about this guy from Quebec who had won big, so I hunted him up on YouTube. I thought he looked great on camera, but what sold me was his partnering. He's strong and he could lift. That's important for a film that is mostly a series of duets."

Archambault's legions of fans used to his spiky hair, beard, body piercing and baggy clothes will find that the dancer is almost unrecognizable as Nureyev. Clean-shaven, sporting a wig and garbed in Nureyev's "Le Corsaire" pantaloons, Archambault is a man transformed. "I was scared at first to play Nureyev," he says. "I'm not a ballet dancer and yet I'd be impersonating one of the greatest ones who ever lived."

What sold Archambault on the project is Mossanen's unique take on Nureyev. For starters, it is not a biopic or docudrama, but a dance drama with original choreography that is more contemporary than ballet. Says Mossanen: "The film is a tribute to the mythology of Nureyev. I was not so much interested in capturing his dancing as exploring the psychology of his personality and the dramatic forces that were around him. My intention was to tell the story of his life through dance. Who better than Nico to capture the charm, sensuality and star power that made Rudi so captivating?"

And now for some Nico myth-busting. When one looks back at Archambault's audition tape for SYTYCDC, it was not a slam dunk that he was heading for greatness. The judges were singularly underwhelmed by his contemporary solo so did not award Archambault a pass to the audition finals. He had to show up for the afternoon session where the second chancers could show their stuff in a piece of choreography that they learned on mass.

Contrary to opinion, Archambault is not a hip-hop kid off the street who stumbled into stardom. He has been dancing since he was seven. Now 25, he was born on the south shore of Montreal to a non-artistic family – his father works for the fire department and his mother works in banking – who, nonetheless, supported him in his passion. He studied dance privately at the Louise Lapierre School for eight years, and attended a special high school that had academics in the morning and arts and elite sports in the afternoon. At 13, Archambault was already appearing in music videos. At 16 he enrolled in a CEJEP dance program but quit after a year.

Very few of the SYTYCDC contestants earn their living as dancers, but Archambault never had to be a waiter. At 17, he moved to France as part of the boy-band 4U which was the opening act for the French megastar singer/dancer Lorie. It was in Paris that he picked up hip-hop. After two years and tours throughout Europe, Archambault came back to Montreal and a life as a full-time dancer in TV shows, music videos, commercials, casino revues and musicals. Archambault's dance skills cover contemporary, jazz, tap and hip-hop. He uses a ballet base for his warm-up. Wherever his is, he always takes classes. "I'm at my best when I'm in the field and learning on the job," he says.

Archambault almost didn't audition for SYTYCDC because he's not into competition. His last minute decision was generated by the fact that the show focused the spotlight on dancers themselves, bringing them out of the chorus and back-up lines. He was also interested in working with accomplished choreographers because making dances is another of his passions. Has his life changed post SYTYCDC? "I'm still training and creating," he says. "The major difference is people know who I am and interesting projects come my way."

Like dancing in the opera version of the mega-hit musical "Starmania". Or performing with a starry line-up on Parliament Hill for the 2009 Canada Day celebrations for which he also did the choreography. Or being asked to dance for Janet Jackson's "Make Me" music video, and backing her appearance at the American Music Awards. Or playing Ashley Leggat's love interest in the TV film "Vacation with Derek". Archambault's face even appears on a TXT Carbon t-Shirt to raise money for PREVNet, a charity that fights bullying. Apparently, he was a victim of bullying himself.

Archambault and his fiancée, Vancouver-born Wynn Holmes, have their own company Street Parade that offers casting, choreography and performance skills. The two created a number for the second season of SYTYCDC. Archambault continues to be artistic director/ performer for the electro-pop group Pinup Saints which he co-founded in 2005. In 2010, he will be choreographing a new musical "Le blues d'la métropole" based on the songs of the seminal Quebec rock group Beau Dommage.

"Nureyev" was certainly the biggest stretch for Archambault and prior to the shoot, he immersed himself in ballet classes. Everyone connected with "Nureyev" was impressed with Archambault's work ethic and what a quick a study he was. In fact he is universally described as sweet, generous and humble.

"The guy is a sponge for learning," says "Nureyev" choreographer Matjash Mrozewski. "I had to really work with him on port de bras, breath and relaxed wrists, but he really got off on the fact that he was doing double tours and attitude pirouettes. He may not equal Nureyev as a technician, but he echoed his animal quality and sex appeal."

The National Ballet's Greta Hodgkinson plays Margot Fonteyn and Archambault was at first very intimidated by her formidable reputation. "She's such an great dancer she can partner herself," he quips. And from Hodgkinson: "From the start Nico said he was there to learn. His biggest challenge was stylistic – learning the more classical and refined way of moving. He turned out to be a strong partner. I could tell him I needed to be back here or forward there, and he never had to be told twice about placement."

It turned out that the National's Etienne Lavigne, who plays Erik Bruhn, comes from the same part of Montreal as Archambault and the two hit it off, particularly when Lavigne gave him special coaching in ballet technique. "NICO's gift is his energy and charisma," he says. "Nureyev was described as a puma on stage, and Moze saw that energy in Nico."

And where does Archambault see his future? "Wynn and I have our cell phones and suitcases. We live like gypsies going between Montreal, Toronto, New York and Los Angeles. I think that having specific goals limit your perspective. I leave the future open. I take on a project because it inspires me, and so that I can grow as an artist."

And what about that Mercedes he won on SYTYCDC? It's sitting in a neighbour's driveway because Archambault still doesn't have his driving licence.

New York-based choreographer Aszure Barton’s “Watch Her”, a new creation for the National Ballet of Canada, will forever be twinned with her appendix. One hour after she had ultrasound, Barton was in an operating room at Sunnybrook Hospital. The creation process continued through the magic of technology. Barton’s choreographic assistant, Charlaine Katsuyoshi, brought the recuperating patient the daily DVDs of the rehearsals so she could send back notes to the dancers.

Appendix aside, “Watch Her” is also a homecoming. Barton left Edmonton at 14 to study at Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto, creating her first piece a year later at an NBS choreographic workshop. “Since I was 5 or 6,” she says, “I wanted to make dances. I’m in my element when I develop characters through movement.”

After graduation, Barton joined the National Ballet as an apprentice, but left after only one year to go to Europe on a Canada Council study grant. Says Barton: “Making dances was my first love and I needed to be outside the box of an institution.” Barton spent time drifting between Montreal and New York, finally settling in the Big Apple when she was 25. “I needed to figure out my choreographic voice,” she says, “and I felt that could best happen in a place where I didn’t really know anyone.”

Now 34, Barton is one of contemporary ballet’s rising stars whose choreography has been presented on five continents. She has received commissions from American Ballet Theatre, Martha Graham Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Sydney Dance Company among others. She also choreographed the 2006 Broadway production of “The Threepenny Opera”.

Despite her years out of the country, Barton considers herself a Canadian. Her company, Aszure Barton & Artists, does yearly residencies at the Banff Centre in Alberta where she is a Paul D. Fleck Fellow. Barton is particularly proud that her native Edmonton recently gave her the keys to the city and proclaimed her Ambassador of Contemporary Choreography.

Barton’s most important mentor has been the great dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. Says Barton: “His dancers told him that he should see my work, and he’s been at every show since 2004. It’s great to have his eye because he’s very honest about what he sees.”

And from Baryshnikov: “When I first came across Aszure Barton, I saw great promise in the originality of her movement, theatricality, and flair for engaging an audience. Since that time, she’s had three residencies at my arts centre, as well as numerous successes elsewhere. She has delivered on that early promise and shown remarkable strength as an artist.”

What makes Barton a particularly exciting choreographer is the mix of wit, humour, sophistication, unpredictability, complexity, and most importantly, humanity, that infuses her quirky depictions of the foibles of life. She is also known for the detailed nuance of her pieces, where even one small finger movement can make a giant statement. Her works are alive, fresh, energetic, intelligent and truthful.

“Watch Her” is a large ensemble piece for 39 dancers, but several roles, as Barton points out, are pulled forward from the group. Kevin Bowles, Sonia Rodriguez and Xiao Nan Yu perform these roles and they describe the fascinating procedure of how “Watch Her” came into being. Says Rodriguez: “Aszure doesn’t impose choreography. Rather, she builds a movement vocabulary out of the dancers.” And Barton adds: “Ballet dancers are usually told what to do. My challenge to the company was to be collaborative, to trust themselves to make choices, to be part of the development.”

The choreographic process began with Bowles alone. Barton asked him to sit on a chair and then enact ten different ways of observing someone. He then taught Rodriguez what he had done. More movement came out of a session with Bowles and Rodriguez with the latter being asked to perform tasks such as manipulating Bowles if he were a lover, a child and so forth. These pedestrian actions became the seeds of the choreography.

More and more dancers were layered in until the whole company was involved in the creation/teaching model. When the ensemble was split into smaller groups, a pas de trois, for example, that trio had to teach that sequence to everyone. In short, every dancer learned the entire ballet. Says Yu: “The piece is not about technique, although there are many virtuoso demands. It’s about placing responsibility on the dancers to work as a group.”

With each evolutionary step, Barton would ask the dancers to put a head in a certain way, or add in a gesture, and through this repetitive sculpting, moulding, adding and reshaping, the layers within layers of “Watch Her” were developed. As an odd twist, movement is not necessarily performed by the dancer who created it, yet all the material appears somewhere in the piece. Says Rodriguez: “The process was a conversation between a perceptive choreographer and her dancers. She tapped into who we were as people. The movement collectively shows off our individuality.”

As with all Barton’s pieces, “Watch Her” is open to many interpretations.

The dancers see a commentary on the comedy and tragedy of love. Rodriguez is being watched, and Bowles’ character is the watcher. Says Bowles: “A man is looking inside his own mind, perhaps at a remembrance or a fantasy. Events are happening outside his control. It’s a painful journey for the observer.” Yannick Larivée’s set is a large enclosed box with narrow entrances and exits, which clearly, for Bowles, is a metaphor for the man’s mind.

For the National’s music director and conductor David Briskin, “Watch Her” is an extremely theatrical work. Barton set her dance to the lush and rhapsodic “Dialogues on Stabat Mater” which is Russian-born composer Lera Auerbach’s 2005 arrangement of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s 1736 “Stabat Mater” for violin, viola and vibraphone. “At moments in the dance, you feel like a Peeping Tom, stumbling over something you shouldn’t be seeing,” he says. “Tension is created when our discomfort and the unpredictability of the dance is contrasted with the comfort and predictability of the music.”

Barton sees “Watch Her” on a more elevated plane with Rodriguez and the female characters as angelic threads, and the concerto grosso orchestration representing the power both of the individual and the group. “I was inspired by the spirituality of the music,” she says. “The choice seemed to foreshadow my appendix crisis, which certainly put things in perspective. “Watch Her” is my desire to connect to something bigger.”

"Watch Her". PaulaCitron's Review (PDF, 100KB)