January 23, 2006 -

Diary / Journal intime is the third NAC-CGI Youth Commission for Dance, a partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts

OTTAWA -- Diary / Journal intime, a new dance work aimed at youth audiences, receives its world premiere in the Theatre of the National Arts Centre at 19:30 on Thursday, February 2, 2006. The third NAC-CGI Youth Commission for Dance, a partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts, Diary / Journal intimeis choreographed by Hélène Blackburn, Artistic Director of Montreal’s Cas Public. Internationally acclaimed, Hélène Blackburn is an audacious contemporary dance choreographer of rare daring and energy – she displays an absolute passion for the dancing body. Experienced in creating work for audiences of all ages, her fiery, physically demanding dance vocabulary is bold, innovative, and fresh.

Diary / Journal intime is co-produced by Cas Public and the National Arts Centre. Composed of a series of duets for ten dancers -- featuring the music of Johann Sebastian Bach played live onstage by pianist Laurier Rajotte -- Diary / Journal intime revolves around a theme important at any age: love. Intense, energetic, a whirl of movement, Blackburn and her dancers invite the audience to share in the intimacy and power of this most personal of emotions—revealed by this most expressive of art forms.

“Diary / Journal intimeis about young love, first love. I want to draw a parallel between romantic love and the passion for dance. I also want to ask some questions, such as, ‘Can the passion for dance be as powerful as romantic passion? Does being in love feel the same as being passionate about something?’ I see a clear link between love and the passion for dance: they can induce similar emotions—rejection and abandonment, but also affection, tenderness, intimacy.”

Hélène Blackburn

During the 2003-2004, 2004-2005, and 2005-2006 seasons, the NAC-CGI Youth Commission for Dance, a partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts, breaks new ground by commissioning a Canadian company or choreographer to create an original new work aimed specifically at a teenage audience. Toronto-based Matjash Mrozewski choreographed Break Open Play, the highly successful inaugural creation, and last season’s new work was monumental, choreographed by Noam Gagnon and Dana Gingras, Co-Artistic Directors of The Holy Body Tattoo in Vancouver. Both productions received their world premiere at the NAC, then went on to receive rave reviews while on tour across Canada.

Véronique Menard, who has created an NAC study guide for Diary / Journal intime, writes, “Spirited, precise, complex, theatrical, sometimes even funny, Hélène Blackburn’s choreographic language is as accessible as it is sophisticated. The piece is demanding: the dancers have to be extremely talented and agile in order to perform Hélène’s choreography. Diary / Journal intime consists of a series of magnificent duets full of intensity, energy and fire. The swiftness and repetition of the movements, the continuous spinning of the dancers on pointe bring the performers to the edge of exhaustion. Their agitation generates a sense of imbalance, almost a kind of madness. The physical beauty of the dancers’ bodies hard at work is disconcerting, and draws the viewer intimately into the performance. Each duet highlights the close interaction of the two dancers; it’s fascinating to see how each couple exudes a different kind of energy, each dancer bringing his or her unique personality and approach to the piece. Sensitive and intuitive, Hélène Blackburn’s work is stamped with a profoundly human touch. Beyond the beauty and fluidity of the physical movements, Hélène Blackburn’s work is charged with meaning: it literally speaks for itself.”

“Cas Public from Montreal... proved that theatricality need not obscure or overwhelm movement... A distinct vocabulary animated every encounter... explosive power of the hour-long work in a convincingly enduring tableau, replete with meanings and memorable movement. ”

Dance Theatre Journal, London, 1998

“Supreme physicality, verbal cues and semi-tender in the right measures, Blackburn’s partnering is highly unusual -- there is a lot of humanity in it. ”

Hour, Montreal, 2002

“The rediscovery of a dance capable of combining geometry with emotions. When it comes to guts and heart, she’s an expert. ”

Il Gazettino, Venice, 2002

Diary / Journal intime
CHOREOGRAPHY and SET DESIGN  Hélène Blackburn
MUSIC  Johann Sebastian Bach
PIANIST  Laurier Rajotte
LIGHTING DESIGN Andréanne Deschênes
COSTUME DESIGN Hélène Blackburn 
COSTUME CREATION Denis Lavoie for Carré vert
SOUND DESIGN  Jimmy Lapointe
VIDEOMAKER  Luigi Luzio  VIDEO EDITING Kamel Khalifa
CAMERA and LIGHTING  Henry Lemmetti
PRODUCER and STILL PHOTOGRAPHY  Antonella Pagano
DANCERS  Alejandro De Leon, Roxane Duchesne-Roy, Véronique Dupuis, Sébastien Forgues, Christophe Garcia, Raul Huaman, Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, Louise Michel Jackson Millette, Georges-Nicolas Tremblay, Chen Zielinski

EDUCATION AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
As the Cas Public creative team and dancers rehearse in Ottawa during the days prior to the performance, Hélène Blackburn has embraced the idea of education and outreach activities. Her dancers will be teaching workshops at École secondaire Mont-Bleu, South Carleton High School, and École secondaire De La Salle. There will also be two student matinees of Diary / Journal intime on February 1 at 9:30 and 12:30. A Study Guide for Diary / Journal intime, written by Véronique Menard and produced by the NAC, is available online at http://www.nac-cna.ca/en/allaboutthenac/publications/journal_guide_e.pdf (English) and http://www.nac-cna.ca/fr/allaboutthenac/publications/journal_guide_f.pdf (French). School groups can order tickets for matinee performances by contacting Andrée Larose in Youth Programming at (613) 947-7000 x332 or at alarose@nac-cna.ca.

THE NAC YOUTH FOCUS GROUP FOR DANCE
To engage youth in the creative process, the National Arts Centre convened a 5-member NAC Youth Focus Group for Dance in October 2002; a second group was created in spring 2004, and a third Youth Focus Group was created in spring 2005. Group members, aged 14-17, have widely differing experiences of dance. Having regularly attended NAC performances and chatted with dance professionals, their comments have helped to focus the project and reveal how dance reaches young people. Many discussions during the 2003-2004 season were filmed by videographers, resulting in a 20-minute documentary of the process.

The NAC Youth Commission for Dance aims to widen the existing Canadian dance repertoire for young audiences, to underscore the National Arts Centre’s commitment to national and community partnerships, and to reinforce dance for young audiences as part of an ongoing aesthetic education. As Canada’s leading dance producer/presenter, the NAC places a high value on fostering a relationship between teenagers and contemporary dance and the Youth Commission for Dance underscores the NAC’s commitment to youth and educational activities. This may encourage young people to consider a career in the performing arts, offer a vehicle for teenagers to maintain an interest in the arts, and create youth-oriented works which will help develop informed dance audiences for the future.

This project would not have come this far, this fast, without the enthusiasm and dedication of Anne Valois, Head of the Dance Section of the Canada Council for the Arts.

The NAC Youth Commission for Dance, as well as all NAC programmes for youth, is supported by the National Youth and Education Trust, with special thanks to TELUS (founding partner of the trust), CGI Group, Sun Life Financial, supporters and patrons of the National Arts Centre Gala, and the National Arts Centre Foundation Donors’ Circle.

Diary / Journal intime will be performed in the Theatre of the National Arts Centre on Thursday, February 2, 2006 at 19:30. Tickets are $20 and $10 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card). Tickets are available at the NAC Box Office (in person) and through Ticketmaster (with surcharges) at (613) 755-1111; Ticketmaster may also be accessed through the NAC’s web-site at www.nac-cna.ca. Last-minute tickets (subject to availability) for full-time students are $10 at the Live Rush Centre in the NAC Foyer after 18:00 on the day of performance only, upon presentation of a valid ‘Live Rush’ card. NEW for 2005-06! Groups of 10+ save 15% to 20% off regular ticket prices to all NAC Music, Theatre and Dance performances; to reserve your seats, call 947-7000 ext. 384 or e-mail grp@nac-cna.ca.

Photos for all dance events can be viewed and downloaded at www.nac-cna.ca/media/

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Information:
Gerald Morris
Marketing and Media Relations,
NAC Dance Programming
(613) 947-7000, ext. 249
gmorris@nac-cna.ca

By the time she founded CAS PUBLIC in 1989, Hélène Blackburn was already a leading figure in the new generation of contemporary dance choreographers. Thus, while Cas Public is the immediate result of sustained efforts on the part of its founder, the company is above all a nerve centre for artists gravitating around a common pursuit in contemporary dance. The company name itself is an expression of certain convictions held with regard to collective work and the artist’s role in society. The choice of a non-eponymous name for the company also reflects Hélène Blackburn’s desire to debunk the myth of the omniscient choreographer.

Cas Public is now in its 16th year of existence. Each of the creations that have marked its development attests to the pursuit of excellence in the renewal of gestural codes. Recognized for its fiery, physically demanding dance, Cas Public has built its reputation by way of a sustained presence on the national and international stage. Since the success of Cathédrale on a tour of Belgium and then at the Festival international de nouvelle danse de Montréal, Cas Public has captured the imagination of neophytes and seasoned critics alike. In such works as Les porteurs d’eau (1990), Dans la salle des pas perdus (1991), Les régions du nord (1993) and Bestiaire (1994), Hélène Blackburn fostered an interest in specifying emotion within an intense physical engagement; this resulted in strong choreographic scores imbued with a potent sense of theatricality.

With Suites Furieuses, Hélène Blackburn explored new choreographic avenues, producing the densest work in her repertoire. In placing the onus on the dancers to surpass themselves physically, she developed a complex vocabulary where gesture, hard-edged and energetic, eludes anticipation, existing in the very moment of its execution. This dance also gives one a glimpse of the powerful emotions that drive its author, and, more than ever, allow her to strike directly at the imagination of the viewer. “In our own bodies, we feel the sense of total liberation that results from the struggle the choreographer wages against spatial and temporal limitations.” (L’Adige, Italy, 1995). This work was presented in Canada and in several European countries over a four year period. The enormous success of Suites Furieuses was instrumental in allowing Cas Public to stand apart, marking a turning point in the company’s development.

Still distinguished by the same passion, Hélène Blackburn pursued a similar approach in creating Incarnation, “a difficult, rigorous choreography, executed at high speed with razor-sharp precision.”

(The Gazette, Montreal, 2000). In this major work, the Cas Public choreographer paid tribute to the dancers, who, day after day, give themselves body and soul to a work that could not exist without their total dedication. During an extended performance cycle, the company took part in various festivals, where Hélène Blackburn once again garnered the highest critical praise.
By opting for choreographic research based on a renewed approach to contemporary dance, Cas Public secured a spot among the companies that enjoy an international reputation. Yet the company remained firmly rooted in the cultural realities of its native Quebec, even stepping up its efforts to initiate the public to contemporary dance, to promote it and contribute to its development. In keeping with this commitment and to take on a new challenge, Cas Public ventured into uncharted terrain in 2001 with a show for younger audiences entitled If you go down to the woods today. A subtle blend of verbal language and body language gave this work the power to initiate the young and not-so-young to contemporary dance and at the same time familiarize them with the creative process leading up to the show. After an initial series of publicly applauded performances at La Maison Théâtre in Montréal, the piece went on to charm audiences throughout the province during a major tour of Quebec. In less than a year, the excitement generated by If you go down to the woods today (Nous n’irons plus au bois) enabled Cas Public to broaden its touring base in Europe and envisage a real breakthrough in the United States. Since the work was created, Cas Public has given over 150 performances of Nous n'irons plus au bois in 35 cities in Quebec, Canada, the United States, Europe, and Australia.

In early 2002, Hélène Blackburn was back in the studio to undertake the creation of Courage mon amour, a new work. The basic premise for her research: the overlapping of contemporary dance and classical dance and the use of the voice and sign language as another means of answering a simple yet daunting question: Why dance? After presenting the world premiere at the prestigious Biennale in Venice, Cas Public unveiled this new show at Montreal’s Agora de la danse in the fall of 2002 as part of the Danse Danse program.

Following the huge success of Nous n'irons plus au bois, Hélène Blackburn took on her second work for young audiences. Barbe Bleue by Charles Perrault that she has chosen to adapt, strikes a familiar chord even today. Once again, Blackburn has chosen to combine languages: invented sign language, spoken language, literature and danced movements.

HÉLÈNE BLACKBURN, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER
Since 1983, choreographic creation has been uppermost among Hélène Blackburn’s artistic concerns. Her dance is the culmination of 20 years of research into human behaviour; it gives free reign to a core of ideas first apprehended during her studies in ethnography and theatre, ideas that ultimately found expression in a passion for the dancing body.

After several years of ballet, followed by contemporary dance training at the Linda Rabin studios and in the dance program at UQAM, where her focus was already on creation, she entered the professional milieu as a dancer and independent choreographer. From 1983 to 1989, she worked with Jean-Pierre Perreault and at the same time produced her early works, which shared in the burgeoning contemporary dance movement in Quebec. From the outset, critics dubbed Hélène Blackburn one of the most gifted young artists on the new dance scene. The creation of Cathédrale in 1988 served to confirm her dynamism and boldly innovative style; it also launched her international career. The momentum thus generated allowed Hélène Blackburn to establish a home base for Cas Public and to fulfill her abiding desire to devote herself to choreographic research.

In 1996, she obtained her graduate diploma in dance from UQAM. The same year was marked by the strengthening of her creative resolve and the reevaluation of her aesthetic choices through the creation of a transitional work, Suites Furieuses. Soon to follow were the shows Incarnation (1998), a major work that enabled her to gain widespread recognition in Europe, and Nous n’irons plus au bois (2001), a first piece for younger audiences. The unqualified success of the latter piece testified to the sagacity of her approach.

As an engaged artist committed to the advancement of her art, a highly esteemed choreographer and recognized teacher, Hélène Blackburn has distinguished herself outside of Cas Public for more than ten years. In addition to working with renowned soloists and creating works for various companies, she has also collaborated with the main professional dance training centres in Canada and in Europe, among them the LADMMI, Concordia University, UQAM, the École Supérieure de danse du Québec, the Laban Centre in London and the Academia de Danza in Venice. With the creation of Courage mon amour (2002), Hélène Blackburn’s repertoire now features more than 30 works, several of which have been performed in Quebec, Canada and Europe.

In 1990, she captured the Canada Council’s Jaqueline Lemieux Prize in recognition of the originality and quality of her work. In 1999, she won the Bonnie Bird Choregraphy Award for North America, awarded by the prestigious Laban Centre of London. And in 2001, she received the prize awarded by the Office Franco-Québécois pour la jeunesse in the ‘creator’ category, for If you go down to the woods today, her first work for younger audiences.