Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal – a dance company which has evolved beyond its humble beginnings of jazz ballet – has been coming to Banff since its inception 40 years ago.
“Not only do we visit Banff on a regular basis, we have an attachment to Banff,” explained Louis Robitaille, the company’s artistic director. “We did two pre-productions in Banff.
“And at the beginning of BJM, we were going to Banff in the summertime, so it’s a long history.”
Currently playing shows in British Columbia, BJM comes to The Banff Centre for a performance, Saturday (Nov. 24) on the Eric Harvie Theatre stage.
“It was rocky at the beginning of the tour,” said Robitaille. “We were in France, then we went back to Montreal to transit to New York, and then the Sandy storm. Seven performances at the Joyce Theatre were cancelled.
“After a week in New York waiting, we went to California and are now in Victoria.”
With the tour focused on celebrating the company’s 40th anniversary, BJM will present three ballets with The Banff Centre performance, including two totally new productions.
“The first is A Night Box by Canadian choreographer Wen Wei Wang, and the second is Harry by Barak Marshall,” said Robitaille. “They’re very different from each other, creations done exclusively for us.
“They highlight the quality and reputation of BJM. Very different, very actual, very physical, a lot of energy that highlights the artists of the company, and something that works well with the audience – when we chat with people after the show, the responses are always very excellent.
“(Harry) is a dance theatre creation, a story about a man who struggles to find love and is a very human ballet. The dancers not only have to dance, but also express themselves on stage.”
The subject is something that touches everybody, he stressed.
“Young, older, people that don’t know dance, those that do – BJM has this nice quality to bring emotion on stage and make it accessible – for somebody who’s never seen dance before, I think it’s a great introduction, people find substance.”
Twelve dancers currently form the company’s roster.
“Six-six, a balanced number, very special people, a lot of talent, very strong formation and technique and ability to do a bit of everything,” said Robitaille. “BJM is a repertoire dance company, so it needs a capacity of adaptation.
“These dancers are very versatile, and each has great personality – I had a comment two days ago, after a performance, that not only do dancers have strong personality and character and talent, but also there’s a harmony in the company – a very strong community sensitivity.”
Robitaille began dancing himself at the age of 15, the same year BJM was founded. But he never danced with the company until he became its artistic director in 1998.
Over the years, he’s seen ballet go through incredible changes.
“In the beginning, it was a jazz dance company and now, 40 years later, it is more a contemporary ballet company, but also a fusion dance company, mixing all different styles,” he said. “When I started to dance, companies were all classical, all modern, all folkloric; now the dance world has changed tremendously.
“All dance companies are mixing now, languages and proposition and gesture, there’s no specific style any more. If you want to be a mirror of what’s going on in dance, this is a new reality. In our creations sometimes we use theatre, we use athletic movement, so it’s a mixture of everything.”
This change, however, is a good thing, he explained.
“You cannot live in the past forever,” he said. “Even what’s going on in the circus world, it’s tremendous, they also bring all those influences, everything’s changing.
“With Banff, people will see great influences of different dance disciplines and art forms.”
