BO Montréal 2024: Nutcracker

Ballet Ouest de Montréal

BO Montréal Brings the Holiday Spirit to Life with The Nutcracker

November 29 - December 21, 2024

BO (Ballet Ouest de Montréal), one of Montreal’s most esteemed ballet companies, announces its enchanting annual performances of The Nutcracker. A beloved holiday tradition, this year’s production captivate audiences from November 29th to December 21st with performances in Montreal, Victoriaville, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and L’Assomption. With a rich history dating back to its founding in 1984, BO Montréal promises an unforgettable experience filled with wonder and artistic excellence.

Led by a cast of 35 talented professional dancers from the company and more than 80 children from each region visited, this production will bring Tchaikovsky’s timeless score to life. Audiences will be transported into a magical world where dreams come alive, snowflakes twirl, and the valiant Nutcracker embarks on his heroic journey. From the iconic Waltz of the Flowers to the mesmerizing Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, every moment will celebrate the beauty and elegance of classical ballet.

Special Family Performance

For families looking to introduce their young children to the world of performing arts, BO Montréal will offer a special performance on Sunday, December 8 at 10:00 AM in Montreal. This morning performance is designed to provide a child-friendly experience, featuring a slightly shortened performance, adjusted lighting, and a meet-and-greet with the dancers after the show. Families are encouraged to participate in this experience that promises to create lasting memories.

Claude Caron, Artistic Director of BO Montréa, stated:

“The Nutcracker is a cherished tradition for us at BO Montréal, and every year we are thrilled to introduce new dancers and innovative elements to make it even more magical for our audiences....This production not only showcases the extraordinary talent within our company, but also highlights the dedication and passion of young dancers in our community.”

This year’s performances will feature stunning costumes and elaborate sets designed to immerse attendees in the magical realms of Clara’s dream. From the dazzling Land of Snow to the opulent Kingdom of Sweets, BO Montréal’s production of The Nutcracker is a visual and auditory feast that will leave audiences spellbound.

About BO Montréal

BO Montréal (Ballet Ouest de Montréal) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1984 that is dedicated to the creation and interpretation of innovative works based on a classical dance language. Over its 40 years of existence, the company has presented original ballets and repertoire works, and has welcomed countless dancers, choreographers, creators, and collaborators to its stage.

Nutcracker Performances

Montreal - Centre Pierre-Péladeau

Public Performances

Saturday December 7, 2pm and 7:30pm

Sunday December 8, 10am and 2pm

Performances for Schools

Thursday December 5, 10am and 12:30 pm

Friday December 6, 9:30am and 12pm

Victoriaville – Le Carré 150

Public Performances

Friday November 29, 7pm

Saturday November 30, 1:30 pm

Performances for Schools

Friday November 29, 9:30am

Saint-Jean sur richelieu – Théâtre des Deux Rives

Public Performances

Saturday December 14, 2pm and 7pm

Performances for Schools

Thursday December 12, 9:30am

Friday December 13, 10am

L’Assomption – Théâtre Hector-Charland

Public Performances

Friday December 20, 7:30pm

Saturday December 21, 2pm and 7:30pm

Performances for Schools

Thursday December 19, 10:15am and 1:30pm

Photos Credit: Ballet Ouest de Montréal

For more information visit Ballet Ouest de Montréal website.

Swan Lake

The Perm Opera Ballet
in collaboration with
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens

February 22 - 26, 2017

The Montreal was presented with a unique opportunity to host the most iconic classical ballet Swan Lake, produced by Russia's The Perm Opera Ballet company. Only 5 days are allotted to this event, staged to sold out audiences at the Place des Arts' largest hall Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier.

One can truly refer to the Swan Lake's visit to Montreal as "From Russia with Love". It is a romantic and enchanting love story, unfortunately, with tragic consequences. Yet the very final scene of this version choreographed by Natalia Makarova, the great Russian prima-ballerina and choreographer, offers a true understanding that regardless of circumstances, Love is always a winner at the end.

This ballet is a candy to the eye. Those of you who will have a chance to see it, should consider yourselves lucky. It is very seldom that one gets a chance to see a traditional, classical ballet. In the present dance world, the modern and mixed dance styles are in vogue. Yet the precisely executed ballet steps and figurations offer the images of grace and elegance that no other dance types could offer. The classical ballet is the superb vehicle to express the most tender and highest aspirations of the human soul, and to contrast them to the dark forces in our collective reality and imagination. 

The Russian ballet school produces dancers that surprise with their excellence of technique, physical performance and stamina, and most of all, with the overall artistic effect they deliver. They not only create visual, sculptural shapes and forms with their bodies, gestures, and the fluidity of their movements, but also conjure an emotional impact. They are outstanding masters in projecting greatest emotions that far surpass their physical presence and their dance movements on the stage.

The choreography of this ballet is superb, the stage design enchanting, the rhythms and the flow of the dance and of the story line are precisely timed, and the gamut of colour combinations very expressive. The swan's white skirts are so brightly white that they stand out as if floating through the space all on their own, as if no effort at all was exerted by the ballerinas. It is in these type of details that the mastery of the performance reveals itself, and one becomes grateful for having had a chance of seeing it.

The classical ballet is never only a visual construct or a physical dance performance, the music is equally of crucial importance. The Swan Lake is most loved also as the timeless musical masterpiece of Russian great composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. His musical score in Montreal is performed by the Les Grands Ballets Orchestra, conducted by Valery Platonov, a winner of the Golden Mask national prize of Russia.

The Swan Lake, the time-defying story of romance and tragedy, should be seen by everybody at least once in the lifetime. It offers a unique peek into the creative artistic heritage we all collectively posses, and illuminates the aspirations and desires the humanity has for the artistic and emotional truth, beauty, grace, and the free expression of love and individual's choices.

The Swan Lake ballet was created in 1876. The version presented in Montreal premièred in Perm in 2005.

Video clip of Swan Lake, The Perm Opera Ballet

A Man of Dance - Vincent Warren

 A MAN OF DANCE / Un Homme de Danse 

by Marie Brodeur

Canada, Quebec /  2016 / 83 minutes

Selected for the Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec (FCVQ)

Premièred at the International Festival of Films on Art - FIFA 2016

FIFA 2016 winner of the Best Canadian Film Award

A MAN OF DANCE (Un Homme de Danse) is a documentary feature about the life and times of dancer, curator and historian Vincent Warren. He was the bright shining star of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, the male principle dancer who contributed to this ballet's company to succeeded in acquiring, in a rather short time, the worldwide recognition and great reputation.

The film documents "la belle epoque" of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and its beginnings with the founder Madame Ludmilla Chiriaeff. It shows extracts from its major performances and focuses on the public's interest they steered. But most importantly, the film highlights the life and the creative, artistic career, as well as the major contribution of the company's lead dancer Vincent Warren. That period of Les Grandes Ballets' youth and blossoming is revealed through Vincent Warren's on screen recollections and reminiscences, as well as the vast documentation and a number of video clips, many of which came from Vincent Warren's memorabilia collection and his personal, very unique, and the largest dance related library.

The film presents a remarkable man and his achievements, and also focuses on his vast interactions with the artistic milieu of his days, as well as his great love of the dance and his respect and consideration for his dancing partners and colleagues. It is an inspiring film that also helps to reconnect Montrealers to their recent cultural past.

Official Synopsis:

"From Igor Stravinsky to Norman McLaren to Frank O’Hara, Vincent Warren has touched hands with history. This American-born star dancer of Montreal’s Les Grands Ballets Canadiens has always been inhabited by the importance of dance, art and culture in society and has worked his whole life as the bearer of beauty. From his début at the Old Metropolitan Opera and throughout his career, he established a reputation as a formidable dancer, historian and curator. The recipient of several awards including the Order of Canada, Vincent Warren has, to a certain extent, incarnated great social and artistic trends both in Canada and in the United States. A MAN OF DANCE is the story of this living legend and his historical era." 

About the filmmaker

Marie Brodeur comes from the visual arts, dance and theater. She studied with a number of renowned visual and theatrical artists such as Irene Whittome, Gilles Maheu, Linda Rabbin, Martine Epoque, Jean Asselin, Merce Cunningham and Jean-Pierre Perrault. Following a brilliant 10-year dance career in modern ballet in Canada, the United States and Europe, Marie Brodeur took on a new career in 1986 as a documentary filmmaker, specializing mostly in art and dance. She was honored with two UNESCO prizes, recognizing her films (Danse du guerrier, La danse en Asie : la magie en mouvement) for their “exceptional contribution to the conservation of our world cultural heritage.” Many of her films are now part of the permanent collections of esteemed institutions such as the Lincoln Centre Performing Arts Library in New York, the Cinémathèque de Paris and the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art.

A MAN OF DANCE

Director: Marie Brodeur

With: Vincent Warren and the participation of Annette av Paul, Arnab Bandyopadhyay, Anik Bissonnette, Peter Boneham, Jean-Sébastien Couture, Paul-André Fortier, Linde Howe-Beck, Chris Huizinga, Véronique Landory, Marie-Josée Lecours, Brian Macdonald, Mamata Niyogi-Nakra, Gaétan Patenaude, Aileen Passloff and Jeanne Renaud.

Cinematography: Sylvestre Guidi, Marie Brodeur

Editing: Michel Giroux

Online editing: Denis Pilon (ACIC)

Original Music Score: Thomas Alain Thériault

Sound: Louis Léger, Alain Thériault, Jean Laurence Thériault

Sound Design: Catherine Van Der Donckt 

Sound Mix: Bruno Bélanger (PRIM)

Producers: Alain Thériault, Marie Brodeur

Executive Producer: TAP Film Inc.

Production: La Compagnie de la Marie

Distribution: SPIRA

Official Site: comarie.ca/fr/un-homme-de- danse

Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/ Unhommededanse

Trailer: vimeo.com/180075436

In Theatres on September 30

A MAN OF DANCE will then open in Quebec theatres on September 30, in French at Cinémathèque québécoise (Montreal) and Cinéma Le Clap (Quebec), and in English at Cinéma du Parc (Montreal). The film will also be screened in theatres throughout the province this autumn.

Wilder Space Dance Project

Wilder Space Dance Project

An official unveiling of the Wilder Space Dance Project took place today in Montreal. L'Edifice Wilder Espace Danse, as it is called in French, is expected to open its door in September of 2016.  Meanwhile, in addition some generous donations and the government grunts, both federal and Quebec, a major fund raising campaign will take place to complete the project successfully. The picture above shows how the final building will look like. Today, it is still very much under a construction, as seen on the photo below.

The building is located in the Quartier des spectacles, right in the Montreal's downturn's core.  In September 2016, four major Montreal's dance companies will move into the completed building and will occupy the largest space. They are Les Grand Balletes Canadienes, Tengent, L'Ecole de dance contemporaine de Montreal, and L'Agora de danse.

Five other Quebec dance and culture related organizations are also expected to take the occupancy in the building. Among them will be Le centre National de danse-therapie, with the special emphases on physical, emotional and creative health.

For more information about the fundraising, visit the Espace Danse Quebec website

http://www.edcmtl.com/en/school/espace-danse-quebec

Romeo and Juliet

The most romantic, and yet the most tragic love story that William Shakespeare ever wrote is indisputably that of Romeo and Juliet. Most of us have seen this masterpiece interpreted either on stage or on screen. And some of us have seen it several times. And yet we are always drawn to this piece and are ready to see it one more time.

Right now, you have an opportunity to see once again another interpretation of this ageless love story, this time on stage right here in Montreal. This ballet, set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, is presented by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens at the Théâtre Maisonneuve at the Place-des-Arts.

If you are in a mood for romanticism, you might not find it in this staging of the famous love story. Some of the elements used to create a heightened romantic mood – luscious colours, elaborate period costumes and seductive lightening are not present in this piece. Neither is present the precise, traditional choreography with a set of effective means of expressing emotions which communicate to the public with ease and immediacy.

Let us momentarily contemplate the subject of ballet.

Until recently, the ballet of the past had gone unchanged for a very long time, trying to preserve the purity of its traditional forms of expression which had the power to communicate emotions with easily understood clarity. In addition, the traditional ballet was concerned with the gracefulness of movements which effectively created an overall poetic, dignified, splendid, and even noble effect.

Let us be honest, can we call our present times noble, poetic and dignified? In the world where in order to be noticed you have to be “chic”, “with it” and “cool”, the old ballet values are no longer understood or appreciated.

It has been a couple of decades now that the traditional ballet has found itself at odds with the present reality, and has even been perceived as outmoded. New artistic forms from modern and jazz dance have been steadily seeping into ballet. Yet let’s hope that the purely traditional ballet would not die completely, and that it will be preserved and staged periodically as an alternative to the mixed style that is currently in vogue and is taking over the ballet.

So how is current interpretation of the famous love story Romeo and Juliet by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens different?

This Romeo and Juliet is not a period mis-en-scène. There are no lush stage sets, nor colourful costumes or lights. As a matter of fact, the decor by Ernest Pignon-Ernest can be referred to as minimalist. He achieves the definition of the space with several movable white screens, which, depending on the scene, change colour by means of spot lights. But do not expect any bright and vibrant colours such as reds or greens. The pallet ranges from white to black, passing though various degrees of grey and beige with a tinge of ochre. As for the costumes, designed by Jerome Kaplan, they match the minimalist colour palette of the mis-en-scène. The only exception is a luscious, shimmering gold dress of Juliet which she wears in a masquerade scene where she first meets Romeo.

What might be the reasons for the removal of colour and of blossoming elements from this interpretation of Romeo and Juliet? (As a matter of fact, you will not even see the traditional balcony from which Juliet calls dreamily to her lover.) Is the stern decor chosen in order to zoom the spectator’s attention to the sculptural quality of the dance? If that is the case, could this explain the color scheme of this production - that of metals, plaster and clay, which are the traditional sculpture materials?

The choreographed movements in this ballet are purely sculptural. Each grouping of characters, each pas-de-deux, creates a sculpture in space. The movements own the space. The space is constantly restructured with bodies and limbs, and is permeated with visceral energy.

What you see on stage is sculpture in motion. Each dance is choreographed in such a way as to restructure with every movement the three-dimensional space.

By all means, go and see this ballet. You might find yourself enchanted with the Prokofiev’s music, and with the kaleidoscopic movements on stage. And above all, you will be once again reminded of the great Shakespeare’s genius, which has fascinated us through many centuries.


Photo above
by Sergei Endinian
Romeo and Juliet
Dancers of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens