January 21, 2003 -

OTTAWA - Montreal's extraordinary La La La Human Steps brings Amelia, a provocative new work (an NAC co-production) to Southam Hall of the National Arts Centre (NAC) on Friday, February 7 and Saturday February 8 at 20:00. Guided by the bold and idiosyncratic vision of Artistic Director-choreographer Édouard Lock, this North American premiere is a landmark in Canadian dance.

This performance by La La La Human Steps is part of the NAC's Dance Series B, which is sponsored by The New RO Cable 6.

In his own words, Édouard Lock "is continuing his exploration of human gesture through a powerful interplay of speed and extremes. Reinforcement, and also modification of the primary form of the body, perceptual disorientation, exploration of the cinematic image, as well as partial isolation of moment through lighting are the key elements of Amelia. Like Salt, his previous production, this piece for nine dancers will use pointe technique in creating a highly vivid and complex world." Amelia also features three musicians (cello, violin, and piano) performing a new score commissioned from renowned New Yorker David Lang, as well as vocalist Alexandra Sweeton performing Songs From Lou Reed. Costumes are by Vandal, set design is by Stéphane Roy and lighting design is by John Munro.

This is the first North American performance of Amelia - and the sixth co-production between La La La Human Steps and the NAC. The world premiere was held in Prague in October 20, 2002 -- to a jubilant audience, wild applause and shouting long after the end of the performance, and rave reviews. Amelia has been touring Europe and will open the the 4th edition of the Montréal Highlights Festival and appear in Québec City shortly after appearing in Ottawa. Amelia will eventually reach more than 60 cities in China, Europe, Canada, the United States, Japan, and South America by the end of 2004.

"… without any doubt, Prague saw an event of world importance."
MF Dnes, Prague, October 25, 2002

"Lock more than ever shows the public his vision of the human yearning for companionship and love."
Het Parool, Amsterdam, November 2, 2002

"The most accomplished and most seducing piece among his recent work."
La Presse, Montréal, December 12, 2002

"Dazzling and frenetic"
Le Figaro, Paris, December 12, 2002

"Canadian Édouard Lock is the artist of this end of the year."
Le Monde, Paris, December 10, 2002

Amelia is a co-production of the National Arts Centre, the LG Arts Center (Seoul), the Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), the Het Musiektheater (Amsterdam), deSingel (Antwerp), the Association Léonard de Vinci-Opéra de Rouen, and the Montréal Highlights Festival, with the special support of ImPulsTanz (Vienna).

Amelia
CHOREOGRAPHY Édouard Lock
MUSICAL COMPOSITION David Lang
VOCAL MUSIC Songs from Lou Reed LYRICS Lou Reed
VOCALIST Alexandra Sweeton
COMPUTER SOUNDS Michael Lowerstern
ADDITIONAL MUSIC Normand-Pierre Bilodeau
SET DESIGN Stéphane Roy
LIGHTING DESIGN John Munro
COSTUME DESIGN Vandal

La La La Human Steps performs Amelia in Southam Hall of the National Arts Centre on Friday, February 7 and Saturday February 8 at 20:00. Tickets are $46, $42, $32, and $27, and $23.75, $21.75, $16.75 and $14.25 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 website at www.nac-cna.ca. Last-minute tickets (subject to availability) for full-time students are $9.50 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.

For additional information, visit the NAC website at www.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 Department
(613) 947-7000, ext. 249
[e-mail] gmorris@nac-cna.ca

La La La Human Steps and Édouard Lock
The presence of La La La Human Steps on the world stage is due to the efforts and talent of Édouard Lock. The choreographer has earned an international reputation, developing his own unique dance language since 1980, when the company was formed under the name of Lock-Danseurs. Édouard Lock's creations include Lily Marlene in the Jungle (1980), Oranges (1981, winner of the Jean A. Chalmers Award), Businessman in the Process of Becoming an Angel (1983, New York's Bessie Award for dancer Louise Lecavalier) and the groundbreaking Human Sex (1985, Bessie Award for choreography). New Demons premiered in 1987, launching a two-year world tour, and in 1990, Lock was the artistic director of David Bowie's Sound and Vision tour. Infante, c'est destroy (1991) was presented in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and Asia, drawing rave reviews and over 120,000 people in 102 performances. In 1992, La La La took part in The Yellow Shark concerts, conceived and composed by Frank Zappa for Germany's Ensemble Modern and presented in Germany and Austria. Lock's next work, 2, premiered in Paris in 1995 and toured the world until 1997; over 130,000 people in 58 cities and 14 countries attended performances of 2. The 1998 world premiere of Salt in Japan launched another two-year world tour. In 1999, Louise Lecavalier received the Jean A. Chalmers National Award, which was given to a dancer for the first time.

The productions of La La La Human Steps have been presented in the principal cities of North and South America, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and Asia, and at such major festivals and theatres as the Internationale Tanzwochen Wien in Vienna, the Jerusalem Festival, the Internationales Tanzfest in Berlin, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Sadler's Wells in London, the Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam, the Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana, the Centro cultural de Belém in Lisbon, the Saitama Arts Theater in Japan and the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. La La La Human Steps also performs regularly at Montreal's Place des Arts, the National Arts Centre, and Toronto's Hummingbird Centre. The National Arts Centre has been co-producing work with La La La Human Steps since Human Sex in 1985. Since 1987, other co-producing institutions and festivals have included the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Centre Nationale de Danse Contemporaine in Angers, the Theater Am Turm in Frankfurt, the Festival international de nouvelle danse in Montreal, Octobre en Normandie in Rouen, the Saitama Arts Theater in Japan, the Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam, deSingel in Antwerp, and the Theater der Stadt in Remscheid, Germany.

In addition to the numerous television segments on La La La Human Steps, special programs have been broadcast in France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Great Britain, and Japan, as well as on MTV, Musique Plus, Radio-Canada and CBC. In November 1987, Louise Lecavalier and Donald Weikert appeared in Mondo Beyondo, a Home Box Office production hosted by Bette Midler. In 1988, Lock created Look Back in Anger for David Bowie and Louise Lecavalier in a benefit concert for the Institute of Contemporary Arts of London; the performance was also simulcast in several countries as part of Nam June Paik's Wrap around the World. In 1994, Quebec filmmaker Bernar Hébert directed Velasquez's Little Museum, based on eight of Lock's choreographies. It was Hébert's second film devoted to the company, after his short film Human Sex duo no 1 (1987), which won awards at several world festivals. In addition, a one-hour television special on Infante aired in 1996 on Radio-Canada's Les Beaux Dimanches, reaching an audience of over 360,000. Also in 1996, Édouard Lock and Louise Lecavalier appeared in the documentary Inspirations by British director Michael Apted, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September of 1997. This feature film explored the creative processes of artists from various disciplines, including painter Roy Lichtenstein, singer-composer David Bowie, and architect Tadao Ando.

Édouard Lock
Founder, Artistic Director, and acclaimed choreographer Édouard Lock has earned an international reputation. Through the wild and impassioned bodies of his dancers, often pushed to the limits of abstraction, Lock focuses less on theme or history than on movement in its purest sense. The notion of surpassing physical limits, of genuine effort and risk-taking, permeates his artistic approach. Information overload, extreme rapidity of movement, gestural complexity, the intertwining of choreographic, musical and cinematic strands are among the elements that create a sense of illusion, of perceptual distortion. With bodies that are sexualized but equal, with an intricate and rigorous gestural vocabulary and cascades of dizzying movements, Édouard Lock attempts to bring out the poetry in the body, while presenting a unique sensory experience for the viewer