Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal (GBCM) is a ballet company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A creative and repertory company, it performs works that reflect the diverse trends of

contemporary ballet Contemporary ballet is a genre of dance that incorporates elements of classical ballet and modern dance. It employs classical ballet technique and in many cases classical pointe technique as well, but allows greater range of movement of the uppe ...

History

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal was founded in 1957 by

Ludmilla Chiriaeff Ludmilla Chiriaeff (January 10, 1924 – September 22, 1996) was a Latvian-Canadian ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, and company director. Biography Ludmilla Alexandrovna Otsup was born in Riga to a Russian-Jewish father Alexandr Otsup ...

. Conductor and composer Michel Perrault served as the organization's first music director. Since its creation, Les Grands Ballets has performed a broad range of dance, ranging from classics to major contemporary work. Under the direction of Chiriaeff and

Fernand Nault Fernand Nault, OC, CQ (27 December 1920 – 26 December 2006) was a Canadian dancer and choreographer. Early life and career He was born Fernand-Noël Boissonneault in Montreal. After he abandoned his original career intent of becoming a p ...

(1965–1973), Brian Macdonald (1974–1977) and Lawrence Rhodes (1990–1999), the institution fostered the development of such notable artists as James Kudelka,

Édouard Lock Édouard Lock (born March 3, 1954 in Morocco) is a Canadian dance choreographer and the founder of the Canadian dance group, La La La Human Steps. Career La La La Human Steps Founder, Artistic Director and Choreographer Édouard Lock began h ...

and

Ginette Laurin Ginette Laurin C.M. (born in Montreal 3 January 1955) is a Canadian dancer, choreographer and artistic director. In 1984, she founded the dance group named O Vertigo, based in Montreal. O Vertigo is dedicated to creation in new dance and to bro ...

. In 1981 the company participated alongside the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, le Groupe de la Place Royale, the Danny Grossman Dance Company, the Toronto Dance Theatre, Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers and the Anna Wyman Dance Theatre in the Canadian Dance Spectacular, a dance show at Ottawa's National Arts Centre which was filmed by the National Film Board of Canada for the 1982 documentary film '' Gala''. In 2000, Gradimir Pankov became Artistic Director. A native of Macedonia, Pankov previously served as Artistic Director of Nederlands Dans Theater II (Netherlands), the National Ballet of Finland (Helsinki), the

Cullberg Ballet Cullberg Ballet ( sv, Cullbergbaletten) is a Swedish contemporary dance company. It was founded by the modern dancer and pioneer choreographer Birgit Cullberg in 1967, who brought it to fame. After Cullberg's retirement in 1985 the company was unt ...

(Sweden), and Ballet du

Grand Théâtre de Genève Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland. As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, official ...

(Switzerland). In 2017, Ivan Cavallari became the artistic director of les Grands Ballets. Born in Italy, he trained at Teatro alla Scala Ballet School in Milan. Before becoming artistic director of les Grands Ballets, he was artistic director of the West Australian Ballet and then the

Ballet de l'Opéra national du Rhin Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

. The ballet masters are Hervé Courtain, appointed in 2017, and Marina Villanueva Arias, appointed in 2020. The company has commissioned work from some of the world's most prominent choreographers: ''The Queen of Spades'' by Kim Brandstrup; ''The Butterfly Effect'' by Shawn Hounsell; ''Between Ashes and Angels'' by Adam Hougland; Noces, Cinderella and The Rite of Spring by

Stijn Celis Stijn Celis is a Belgian choreographer and set designer. He danced in companies such as the Royal Ballet of Flanders, the Zürich Ballet, Contemporary Dance Zurich, Le Ballet du Grand Théâtre in Geneva and the Cullberg Ballet. In a survey of ...

; The Little Prince, Possibly Six and TooT by Didy Veldman; The Beast and the Beauty by Kader Belarbi; Four Seasons by Mauro Bigonzetti; Minus One and Danz by Ohad Naharin; Rodin/Claudel by

Peter Quanz Peter Quanz (born August 22, 1979) is a Canadian choreographer based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Early life and education Quanz was born in Baden, Ontario.Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Peter Quanz fonds. He became interested in choreography as a child ...

; and Re–II by Shen Wei. Its repertoire also includes major acquisitions by such artists as Mats Ek, Jiří Kylián,

Jean-Christophe Maillot Jean-Christophe Maillot (born 1960) is a French dancer and choreographer born in Tours. Early life and education He studied at the dance conservatory in Tours before enrolling at the École supérieure de danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower, w ...

and

Christopher Wheeldon Christopher Peter Wheeldon OBE (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Life and career Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dan ...

, along with works by young creators like Stephan Thoss, Didy Veldman and Peter Quanz. In 2008 Gradimir Pankov established the national choreographic contest, won by Jean-Sébastien Couture, which has allowed Les Grands Ballets to showcase work by emerging Canadian choreographers. Each season, Les Grands Ballets invited international companies to perform as part of its program; the list includes Houston Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Alvin Ailey® American Dance Theater, Cullberg Ballet (Sweden), Compañía Nacional de Danza (Spain), Warsaw Ballet (Poland), Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (Taiwan), Shen Wei Dance Arts (New York City), Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon (France), Dutch National Ballet and Eifman Ballet Theatre of St-Petersburg (Russia). Since Ivan Cavallari took artistic leadership, the company focuses on extending its repertoire to both showcase the great ballet classics and acquire new works by emerging contemporary creators.

Dancers

Dancers for the 2022-2023 season:

Principal Dancers

* Raphaël Bouchard * Rachele Buriassi * Roddy Doble * Vanesa Garcia-Ribala Montoya * Maude Sabourin * Myriam Simon * Yui Sugawara

First Soloists

* Célestin Boutin * Emma Garau Cima * Anna Ishii * Anya Nesvitaylo * Esnel Ramos

Soloists

* Mai Kono * Sahra Maira * Stephen Satterfield * Andre Santos

Demi-soloists

* Kiara DeNae Felder * Graeme Fuhrman * Jose Carlos Losada Morales * Hamilton Nieh * Éline Malègue

Corps de ballet

* Antoine Benjamin Bertran * Bernardo Betancor * Giuseppe Canale * Bernard Dubois II * Alexandra Eccles * Kiara Flavin * Maude Fleury * François Gagné * Étienne Gagnon-Delorme * Sofía González * Enno Kleinehanding * Tatiana Lerebours * James Lyttle * Carrigan MacDonald * Tetyana Martyanova * Felixovich Morante * Stefano Russiello * Théodore Poubeau * Catherine Toupin * Angel Vizcaíno

Apprentice

* Oscar Lambert * Christian Scifo * Calista Shepheard * Rose Trahan

Former principal dancer

* Rachel Rufer (2000-2010) *

Geneviève Guérard Geneviève Guérard (born April 19, 1973) is a Canadian dancer and television presenter living in Quebec. She was born in La Prairie. She studied at the École supérieure de ballet du Québec. Guérard joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in 1992 ...

(1999-2006)

Former soloists

* Edi Blloshmi * Hervé Courtain * Émilie Durville * Lénaïg Guégan (2007-2010) * Marcin Kaczorowski * Isabelle Paquette (2001-2010) * Guillaume Pruneau (2002-2010) * Jeremy Raia * André Silva

Notable people

Iro Tembeck Iro Tembeck (1946–2004) was a Canadian dancer, choreographer, and dance historian. After emigrating to Montreal in 1967, she taught at the academy of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and danced with Le Groupe Nouvelle Aire in the early 1970s. She fo ...

, faculty

References

External links

Les Grands Ballets website

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati {{DEFAULTSORT:Grands Ballets Canadiens, Les Ballet companies in Canada Performing arts in Montreal Performing groups established in 1957 1957 establishments in Quebec