Story by Leila De Vito
When Ottawa’s cherished institution Le Groupe Dance Lab was suddenly and unceremoniously shut down last summer amidst funding crisis and leadership power struggles, a mighty whooshing sound could be heard. It was the air being sucked out of our contemporary dance scene.
For more than two decades, Le Groupe’s founder Peter Boneham and his innovative process for concentrated choreographic experimentation had put Ottawa on the map, attracting avant-garde choreographers from across Canada and around the world.
“Le Groupe Dance Lab was an important centre for choreographic development, fostering and furthering artistic excellence,” said Anik Bouvrette, one of a handful of local dance professionals now trying to fill the void. “We have lost an important player, not only in Ottawa but throughout Canada.”
“We have to turn the page,” Bouvrette continued. “We do not have a choice but I’m sure we will feel the effects of the loss for years.”
You might muse that for Bouvrette and others, turning that page will be like rebuilding in the rubble after a natural disaster, like fashioning an infrastructure where virtually none has existed.
Even at Le Groupe’s zenith, contemporary dance here was never a powerhouse (when the Canada Dance Festival graced Ottawa stages from June 4 to 12, the only local representation was from the hip-hop outfit BBOYZM) and has long required injections of new blood. The phrase itself contemporary dance implies an art form that is avant-garde, contextual, and subjective. It must evolve to survive.
Marc Boivin dancing in Lana Morton's Series Dance 10
If Ottawa ever develops a vibrant local scene, it will be through the efforts of grassroots dance developers such as Bouvrette, Lana Morton, Erika Mills and Sacha Gabriel—passionate women who are personally investing in contemporary dance in Ottawa.
The recent reoccupation of Le Groupe’s old Arts Court stomping ground by Morton and her new Series Dance 10 is, for example, a needed instance of tradition renewed through progression.
“The closure of Le Groupe meant less creation and performing opportunities for our community,” Morton told Guerilla. “Series Dance 10 was put together to allow our community to keep on performing and sharing its work with the Ottawa public in a space that was designed for dance.”
Morton and her Production Gestuelle company launched the series to blow some of the cobwebs out of Studio A, the black box theatre that Le Groupe had constructed.
“When I walked into the vacant spaces I teared up, realizing what a loss this was for contemporary dance,” said Morton. “Knowing that there was a great need for a performance space for dance, my colleague at The School of Dance—Sylvie Desrosiers—and I started thinking about choreographers who would be perfect in this space. Then we wrote a grant application and Studio A’s lights were turned on for three weeks of programming.”
Morton’s experience with Le Groupe was extensive, first as a student and later as a featured guest choreographer. She was greatly influenced by her time with the likes of Boneham and Yvonne Coutts and knows that the only way is forward.
“We have to move forward by looking and understanding what this new era means for dance in Ottawa. We are presently looking at all potential avenues to keep the current contemporary dance scene active, to keep it prospering and possible for the next generation.”
NO LACK OF TALENT
Bouvrette, winner of the 2007 Mid-Career Artist Award from the Council for the Arts in Ottawa, is artistic director of Tara Luz Danse, the resident company at the one-year-old Shenkman Arts Centre in Orleans. The Shenkman residency has led to a plethora of opportunities for Tar Luz, in everything from rehearsal space to audience development to creative collaboration. Shenkman has five partner organizations including MIFO (Mouvement D’Implication Francophone D’Orleans), which co-presented the latest Tara Luz production in May, croisée … EPILOGUE.
“We’re not lacking artistic talent here,” said Bouvrette. “We are lacking general managers and administrators who have worked in dance. For years here in Ottawa, dance artists have had to wear all the hats. This has been a challenge for our growth.”
The ever-present need to innovate using only the modest resources within reach is what challenges local choreographers such as Erika Mills.
“The purist might say that a dance is supposed to be performed in a theatre,” said Mills, “but if you don’t have that, what are you going to do? Not express yourself? If we’re waiting for the infrastructure to be perfect to express ourselves then somehow we’ve been suppressed. You have to invest.”
Mills is an accomplished teacher and choreographer who studied in Montreal at Concordia before earning an MA at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London, England. She was later selected as a dance assessor for the London Arts Board.
These days Mills sees the importance of contributing in her birthplace. She is teaching classes and recruiting a small group of contemporary dancers for summer performances in the west-end art gallery that she runs with her husband, Patrick John Mills.
The precise shape of these performances remains unknown to Mills, who is keen to let her choreography be guided by dancers enjoying a degree of artistic autonomy. The group is venturing into an almost philosophical exploration of movement where all involved are free to express something about themselves in a unique somatic vocabulary.
“Am I moving because I’m telling my mind to move my wrist, my elbow, or a shoulder section,” mused Mills, “or am I reacting to something so that I don’t know what I’m going to do? Is it visceral, is it mental, or is it emotional? The dancers have to be engaged otherwise how can I be engaged?”
Erika Mills (photo by Patrick John Mills)
Such freedom of expression inherent in most contemporary dance also lies at the root of Sacha Gabriel’s budding dance studio. On July 3 she will officially open the doors at 346 Richmond Road, offering an environment completely devoid of pressure and competitiveness.
“It doesn’t matter your size, your shape, your age,” said Gabriel. “Everybody can move their body, feel good and enjoy the process of movement.”
Gabriel’s philosophy with the new studio stems from her personal experience in dance training.
“For me, dance started out as a very disciplined syllabus,” explained Gabriel. “I was classically trained in ballet and jazz. I did a lot of rigorous training with various ballet companies and I remember there was a lot of pressure on the teenage girls at the time to be a certain way, and it was really depressing. That’s not why I love dance.”
Gabriel intends to offer a wide range of contemporary and other classes, including sessions where mothers and their toddlers can enjoy experimenting to music and Journey Dance, which Gabriel describes as a kind of moving meditation.
“A lot of times people will have a strong emotional reaction while journey dancing, they’ll discover things about themselves,” said Gabriel.
Sacha Gabriel in her studio (photo by Joël Côté-Cright)
Naturally all these dance professionals acknowledge the importance of introducing the youth in Ottawa to contemporary dance. Mills teaches children and teens on a regular basis, offering them a different take from what’s seen in the mainstream.
Working with youth can also inspire a choreographer’s personal projects. Bouvrette’s last work was greatly influenced by workshops she conducted with students at Beatrice-Desloges High School.
“I find the youth to be highly creative and inspiring,” said Bouvrette, “and of course they are the next generation of artists and audience members.”
DISCOVERING MIND AND BODY
Strip away all the outer layers and the richness of contemporary dance—aside from the obvious aesthetic value—lies in what it can reveal about the mind and body.
Mills speaks of finding ‘”truth in the body” by describing a recent moment in rehearsal when her self-awareness was completely located in the movement in her wrist. In this way, contemporary dance is akin to Eastern spiritual practices that attempt to fuse body and mind.
With a different kind of duality, Bouvrette likens contemporary dance to a journey that dancer and spectator embark upon together, even though both parties don’t always end up at the same destination, The invitation is, “Follow me in this 30 minutes and let’s see where it brings you,” said Bouvrette.
Dance as a contemporary form is accessible perhaps because of its versatility, but also because accessibility is exactly what the people creating it are aiming for.
“I want to have workshops with different people coming in, whatever their specialty,” Gabriel said. “Let’s introduce it to the people, introduce it to Ottawa, give it a chance. It’s all about building a dance community.”
“For me, it’s about what can I contribute,” added Mills. “What am I drawn to? I’m not ever going to be dancing Swan Lake, someone else will do it beautifully.”
Ce souffle qui m’habite : Les billes, Tara Luz Danse, 2010, choreographer Anik Bouvrette,
dancer Catherine Therrien, photographer Michel Dozois.
