Report: Ballet: Why and How?

A question of indebtedness
By Bridget Cauthery

Summary | Sommaire

What do we owe ballet? For three days in September, dancers, students, choreographers, teachers and artistic directors from around the world convened in Stockholm, Sweden, for a three-day event entitled Ballet: Why and How? to discuss ballet’s role in the future of conservatory dance training and performance.

De quoi sommes-nous redevables au ballet ? En septembre, danseurs, étudiants, chorégraphes, enseignants, professeurs et directeurs artistiques des quatre coins du monde se sont réunis à Stockhom, Suède, pour un colloque de trois jours intitulé « Ballet: Why and How? », pour discuter du rôle du ballet dans l’avenir de la formation et du spectacle en danse.

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The conference, co-presented by the ArtEZ School of Dance, Netherlands; The Juilliard School, United States; and the Ballettakademien, Sweden, featured keynote addresses from Lawrence Rhodes, Ohad Naharin, and Mavis Staines, artistic director of Canada’s National Ballet School. In addition, panel discussions on all aspects of training, pedagogy and professional practice brought together a diverse range of stakeholders from the international dance community.
The question of our collective indebtedness to ballet is contentious. While many would argue that ballet is the cornerstone of concert dance performance and the pinnacle of artistic expression, just as many would contend that this is an outdated and classicist position. Ballet: Why and How? drew from all sides of the ballet debate, endeavouring to create a forum where the nays were heard as loudly as the yays.

Présenté conjointement par la ArtEZ School of Dance, Pays-Bas, la Juilliard School, États-Unis et la Ballettakademien, Suède, le colloque présentait des discours-thème de Lawrence Rhodes, de Ohad Naharin et de Mavis Staines, directrice artistique de l’École nationale de ballet du Canada. De plus, des tables rondes sur toutes les facettes de l’entraînement, de la pédagogie et de la pratique professionnelle regroupaient un ensemble diversifié d’acteurs de la communauté internationale de danse.
La question de notre devoir collectif quant au ballet est contentieuse. Alors que de nombreuses personnes avancent que le ballet est la pierre angulaire de la danse de concert et le sommet de l’expression artistique, autant maintiennent que c’est une position datée et classiciste. Ballet: Why and How? débattait la question sous tous ses angles dans un effort de faire autant place aux détracteurs qu’aux partisans.



Read the full report in the November/December 2012 issue of The Dance Current print magazine. | Lisez l'article intégral dans l’édition imprimée de novembre/décembre 2012 du Dance Current.

Profile: Anne Plamondon

Rigour and Risk-taking
By Kate Stashko

Summary | Sommaire

Anne Plamondon in her own work Les mêmes yeux que toi / Photo by Michael Slobodian

Currently co-artistic director of Rubberbandance, Anne Plamondon is also an ongoing collaborator with Crystal Pite/Kidd Pivot. But a new phase in her brilliant career comes with the creation of her first full-length show, Les mêmes yeux que toi.

Actuellement codirectrice artistique de Rubberbandance, Anne Plamondon collabore aussi avec Crystal Pite/Kidd Pivot. Une nouvelle étape de son brillant parcours s’entame avec sa création d’une première pièce intégrale, Les mêmes yeux que toi.

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It’s a solo work produced in collaboration with theatre director Marie Brassard that tackles an issue that hits close to home: mental instability. Plamondon comes from a family with a history of mental illness and, as she reveals to writer Kate Stashko, “I witnessed [mental illness] from a very young age”. Her honesty and openness around this difficult issue are a testament to Plamondon’s maturity and strength of character, but they also provide a glimpse of the vulnerability underneath this powerhouse of an artist. “This is coming from the performer in me; it’s coming from the need to perform something intense … When I do this I can release my fears; it allows me to be in a zone where there’s danger but it’s okay.”

Réalisé en collaboration avec la femme de théâtre Marie Brassard, le solo se penche sur l’instabilité mentale, un sujet très proche de l’artiste. La maladie mentale fait partie de la famille de Plamondon, et elle en parle à la rédactrice Kate Stashko : « J’ai été témoin de maladie mentale très jeune ». Son honnêteté et sa transparence autour de la question sont révélatrices de sa maturité et de sa force de caractère, mais signalent aussi la vulnérabilité d’une artiste fougueuse. « Le solo vient de l’interprète en moi ; j’ai le besoin de danser quelque chose d’intense… Quand je le fais, je surmonte mes peurs. Cela me permet d’accéder à des zones dangereuses, mais c’est correct », explique-t-elle.



Read the full profile in the November/December 2012 issue of The Dance Current print magazine. | Lisez l'article intégral dans l’édition imprimée de novembre/décembre 2012 du Dance Current.

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Vienna Diary

By Julie McLachlan


I planned my trip to Vienna not really knowing what to expect at ImpulsTanz. All I knew was that this was an incredible chance to push myself outside of my very comfy comfort zone and be thrown into a foreign culture and a new dance community.

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Since graduating from York University I have collaborated with other dance artists to present work in the Toronto Fringe Festival and Fresh Blood. I currently work as a dance teacher specializing in teaching young dancers gymnastics and acrobatic skills. And I continue to train and work as an emerging dance performer and choreographer in Toronto. Being out of school for almost three years now, I have found it hard to maintain the balance between my working life and my dance life. Too many times I have put my dance life on the back burner while my work life becomes the main priority. I knew I needed a break to immerse myself full time into a dance environment where I could be challenged technically and stimulated creatively and artistically. I could have done an intensive workshop closer to home to achieve this but I wanted to get myself as far away from familiar territory as possible.

Many Canadian dancers flock to ImpulsTanz every summer because there is no festival in North America that has the number of internationally renowned teachers, dance companies and dance artists congregating for five intensive weeks. In that time, there are multiple performances daily, ImpulsTanz parties every night, discussions, seminars and unique workshops covering all areas of dance. ImpulsTanz offers something unique for every single dancer regardless of level, age and ability. The festival gives Canadian dancers a chance to network with other artists from all over the world, be introduced to amazing dance companies and choreographers and gain knowledge of dance outside North America. In my short stay in Vienna, I made life-long friends and refreshed my vision of who I am as an artist, performer and teacher. Even so, I only got a taste of what ImpulsTanz has to offer.

Julie with Hannah Simmons from Boston and Becky Sawdon from Winnipeg

Since I had planned this trip so far in advance, it felt almost like a dream when I first arrived in Vienna. My host made me feel right at home when he greeted me at the arrival gate holding a sign with my name in large bold letters. He then took me on a very comprehensive car tour of the city followed by a classic Viennese dinner. Living with locals is by far the best way to truly experience a new city and grasp the culture. The generosity of my Viennese hosts and their friends was incredible. I didn’t come empty handed. I brought them a gift of good old Canadian maple syrup along with a Canadian mug! A bit clichéd I know, but they actually seemed excited about the maple syrup. During my first three days in Vienna, I settled into my new room (a couch in the living room), got to know my two Austrian roommates, and was a tourist in Vienna before the craziness of ImpulsTanz began.

On the Sunday before the workshops, there were opening speeches where all the teachers of the first week gave a brief description of their courses. As soon as I arrived at the Arsenal (ImpulsTanz headquarters), I could feel a buzz in the air and a ball of excitement/nerves in the pit of my stomach. It felt like first-day-of-school nerves. I arrived early to pick up my workshop package and explore the venue. There are ten studios in total, each immensely spacious with angled floor-to-ceiling windows where the sunlight pours in. Walking from studio to studio I was just itching to get started! The opening speeches were very interesting, informative and a great introduction to ImpulsTanz. It was very inspiring to see a room full of artists all there for the same reason – to celebrate the joy of movement. Young/old, professional/beginner, able/disabled - ImpulsTanz offers workshops for everyone with absolutely no barriers. With 100 performances from over fifty artists and companies showcasing their newest works, 214 workshops from more than 100 teachers excited to share their knowledge, and more than 3000 students coming from all over the world, ImpulsTanz is one of the largest dance festivals in Europe. Just sitting in the studio listening to the speeches, I was overwhelmed by the thought of how much there is to see and do in this festival. I did not want to miss anything during my short stay in Vienna.


My first week of workshops was a complete whirlwind! I found out quickly how overly ambitious I was signing up for three two-hour workshops back to back, leaving little to no breaks in-between. That week I literally ate, slept and danced! But that was what I came all the way to ImpulsTanz for so I had to pull my big girl socks up and attack each workshop as best I could. My morning class was called “Rock ’n’ Roll Ballet” and was taught by Elizabeth Ward. It was a fun twist on classical ballet as we did barre to unconventional music, improvised using ballet vocabulary, and touched on some human anatomy and tension release exercises. This class wasn’t too intense but was the perfect way to get my body moving and ready for my other two workshops. My second workshop was by far the most intense, the most challenging physically and mentally, and yet the most rewarding. Taught by Laura Aris, this workshop covered partnering tools related to dance vocabulary used by Wim Vendekeybus’ Ultima Vez. Aris always began the class with basic partnering exercises and games that encouraged us to trust, communicate with, and eventually take more risks with our partners. We then quickly moved on to learn long combinations. These made the class feel more like a repertory than a technique class. These long combinations were very intricate and physically demanding yet full of underlining meanings and supported by passionate music such as “Hearts a Mess” by Gotye. In every class we spent at least forty-five minutes truly dancing and performing these beautiful phrases of movement. While the movement was a lot of fun to dance, it didn’t come without its price. This class was the main cause of all my bumps, bruises and extremely sore muscles! I repeatedly walked into my partnering class not sure how I was going to survive it but always left with such a sense of accomplishment. After quickly re-nourishing my body with the delicious food offered at the ImpulsTanz Arsenal, I was off to my third and last workshop of the day, “Get Down!” taught by New Zealand–born dancer, teacher and choreographer Susanne Bentley. In this workshop we learned how to move at ground level by being able to absorb the floor with every aspect of our bodies. Moving on the floor felt very unnatural to me and, like my second workshop, it was sometimes a challenge to push through the class as new bruises and floor burns appeared every day. I had many “ah ha” moments though. Bentley was so wonderful at breaking down every movement that eventually, as the week progressed, moving on the floor became just a little easier. My first week was an overload of so many new ideas and concepts that, by the end of each day, I was tired not only physically but mentally as well.

A place to lounge between classes at ImpulsTanz

I quickly realized that just one week at ImpulsTanz was not enough time for me. So I arranged to come back to Vienna after two weeks in Spain in order to attend the last week of the festival. Luckily, my hosts weren’t completely sick of me and once again allowed me to take over their living room. In such a short time, Vienna had become like my European home base so when I arrived back from Spain, it felt like coming home from a vacation. When picking my workshops for the last week, I decided to have a calmer week and only chose two workshops, “Release Technique” taught by Brussels-based Angelique Wilkie and Limón technique taught by Juilliard faculty member Risa Steinberg, a former Limón company dancer herself. This choice allowed me more time to observe the other workshops at the Arsenal, attend some of the ImpulsTanz performances, and be able to connect with other dancers at the ImpulsTanz café while sipping on a Mélange (a proper Viennese coffee with milk). In my “Release Technique” class, we worked on moving through space as organically as possible, by using our weight and our relationship with the floor and by executing each movement with minimal muscular effort. Each exercise was the combination of freedom of movement and focussing on shaping the space with our bodies to execute each movement with power and intention. Similar to “Release Technique”, Limón technique is all about weight and suspension. I was very comfortable and familiar with it (having studied Limón at York) so could dive even deeper into each exercise. Risa Steinberg made an effort to memorize every single student’s name and to connect personally with each and every student. Obsessed with proper technique, Steinberg stressed the importance of dancing in a healthy, safe way in order to dance more efficiently while preventing injury.

Photo by Pascal Clavette

My experience at ImpulsTanz was amazing, inspiring, and exceeded my imagination. It felt so good to return to a lifestyle of living and breathing dance all day every day. I did my best to soak up every experience on offer at ImpulsTanz, from the beautiful venue to the wonderful friends I’ve made to the passionate teachers who wanted to share their tools and secrets. I’m already brainstorming a way to attend ImpulsTanz next summer, this time for the entire five weeks. I’m returning to Toronto a more open-minded dancer with a love and passion for dance that will never stop growing and deepening.

Learn more >> impulstanz.de

Julie McLachlan is a Toronto-based dance performer, choreographer and dance instructor with a BFA in dance from York University. She has had the privilege of performing for Stand Up Dance, Le Groupe Apogee and Pastel Supernova in such festivals as Nuit Blanche and Dance Ontario Weekend. Julie has presented choreography in The Chimema Project’s Fresh Blood and The Toronto Fringe Festival. As a retired competitive gymnast, Julie is also a certified gymnastics coach and specializes in teaching young dancers acrobatic skills.

Photo by Fran Band

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Feature: The Great Video Game Dance Off

Could video dance games change the way we move?
By Lys Stevens

Summary | Sommaire


Dance video (known as “rhythm”) games have experienced an exponential growth ever since Dance Dance Revolution hit video arcades at the end of the last century.

Le jeu vidéo de danse (ou de rythme) connaît une croissance exponentielle depuis que Dance Dance Revolution est introduit dans les arcades à la fin du dernier siècle.

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Dance video (known as “rhythm”) games have experienced an exponential growth ever since Dance Dance Revolution hit video arcades at the end of the last century. Here game-controls shifted from the hands to the feet, thereby lifting gamers off their butts and into movement. The rhythm game market continues to expand, thanks in a large part to danced-based games such as Just Dance and Dance Central, more recently incorporating the use of camera-based controls such as Kinect. Kinect has potentially powerful repercussions on the world of dance even beyond the gaming community. The system captures, processes and digitally reproduces movement in real time, making it possible for the computer to evaluate how accurately the body meets its spatial and rhythmic goal. No more need for a touch-responsive controller: the player is the joystick. Writer Lys Stevens explores the ramifications of this popular new virtual technology on the real world of dance.


Le jeu vidéo de danse (ou de rythme) connaît une croissance exponentielle depuis que Dance Dance Revolution est introduit dans les arcades à la fin du dernier siècle. Ici, les contrôles du jeu passent des mains aux pieds ; le joueur sort de son fauteuil et commence à bouger. Le marché du jeu de rythme continue à prendre de l’ampleur, en grande partie grâce aux jeux de danse tels que Just Dance et Dance Central et, dernièrement, aux contrôles caméras comme Kinect. Il est possible que Kinect ait des répercussions sérieuses dans le milieu de la danse au-delà de la communauté du jeu vidéo. Le système capte, lit et reproduit le mouvement en temps réel. L’ordinateur peut évaluer avec quel succès le corps vivant exécute des objectifs spatiaux et rythmiques. Nul besoin d’une manette sensible au toucher : le joueur devient la manette. La rédactrice Lys Stevens explore les ramifications de cette nouvelle technologie populaire virtuelle dans le monde réel de la danse.



Read the full article in the September/October 2012 issue of The Dance Current print magazine. | Lisez l'article intégral dans l’édition imprimée de septembre/octobre 2012 du Dance Current.