Louise Lecavalier OC (born October 3, 1958) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

known as one of the icons of Canadian

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...

Biography

Lecavalier was born and raised in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

, Canada. She began her professional dance career at the age of eighteen when she joined Le Groupe Nouvelle Aire. It was there that she met

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 hi ...

. Lecavalier became Lock's main character and inspiration in his company

La La La Human Steps La La La Human Steps was a Québécois contemporary dance group in Canada, active between 1980 and 2015, known for its energetic, acrobatic style involving fast-paced and athletic physical contact. Its signature move was the barrel jump – a grav ...

. With her mane of platinum dreadlocks, her physical power and her mastery of the full-body barrel jump – a gravity-defying, fully horizontal, mid-air

barrel roll A barrel roll is an aerial maneuver in which an airplane makes a complete rotation on both its longitudinal and lateral axes, causing it to follow a helical path, approximately maintaining its original direction. It is sometimes described as a ...

– her image was a signature for the company. She was the embodiment of Lock's frenetic and technically challenging androgynous aesthetic in works such as ''Human Sex'' (1985) and ''Infante, c'est destroy'' (1991). She joined La La La Human Steps in 1981 for its production of ''Oranges'' and went on to perform in each of the company's productions up until ''Salt'' in 1998. In 1985, Lecavalier became the first Canadian to win a

Bessie Award The New York Dance and Performance Awards, also known as the Bessie Awards, are awarded annually for exceptional achievement by independent dance artists presenting their work in New York City. The broad categories of the awards are: choreography, ...

in New York for her performance in ''Businessman in the Process of Becoming an Angel'' (1983). The London

Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specific ...

critic found Lock's "extravagant" play poor but stated that there were :"...two women who seemed quite skilled at performing various odd dance steps; the fair-haired one ouise Lecavalierhad a pleasing bravado whenever the production gave her half a chance." She danced in ''Human Sex'' (1985), ''New Demons'' (1987), ''Infante, c'est destroy'' (1991) and finally, ''2'' (1995) and ''Salt'' (1998). Lecavalier also participated in each of La La La's major collaborations, including

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

’s

Sound+Vision Tour In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

in 1990 and

Fame '90 "Fame" is a song recorded by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released on his 1975 album ''Young Americans'' and was later issued as the album's second single by RCA Records in July 1975. Written by Bowie, Carlos Alomar and John Le ...

music video,

The Yellow Shark ''The Yellow Shark'' is an album of orchestral music by American musician Frank Zappa. Released in November 1993, it was the last Zappa album released in his lifetime, almost exactly a month before he died of the cancer from which he had suffered ...

concerts, performed by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

and Germany's

Ensemble Modern Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries. Hi ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1992, and the film '' Inspirations'' from director

Michael Apted Michael David Apted, (10 February 1941 – 7 January 2021) was a British television and film director and producer. Apted began working in television and directed the '' Up'' documentary series (1964–2019). He later directed '' Coal Miner's ...

in 1996.

In May 1999, Lecavalier received the Jean A. Chalmers National Award, Canada’s most distinguished dance prize. In 2003, she appeared with Tedd Robinson in ''Lula and the Sailor'' as part of a concert of duets choreographed by Robinson. In the winter of 2005, she co-produced ''Cobalt Rouge'' with the

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) (french: Centre national des Arts) is a Arts centre, performing arts organisation in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre build ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, the

Biennale di Venezia The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

and

Théâtre de la Ville (meaning the City Theatre) is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris, the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet. It is located at 2, place du Châtelet in the 4th arrondissement. Inc ...

in Paris. The work features Lecavalier with dancers Marc Boivin, Masaharu Imazu, and Tedd Robinson, and musician/composer Yannick Rieu. Lecavalier has been a guest teacher at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

on several occasions and continues to perform as an independent artist. In 2008, she was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. On April 7, 2010, she was awarded the Order of Canada. On December 7, 2012, her piece "So Blue" premiered in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

. It was her first dance choreography. In May 2014, Lecavalier received the

Governor General's Performing Arts Award A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in dance. The award is Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.

Notable performances

* ''Oranges'' (1981) * ''Businessman in the Process of Becoming an Angel'' (1983) * ''Human Sex'' (1985) * ''New Demons'' (1987) * ''Infante, C'est destroy'' (1991) * ''2'' (1995) * ''Salt'' (1998) * ''Lula and the Sailor'' * ''Cobalt Rouge'' (2005) * ''Children'' (2010) L.L. / Fou Glorieux * ''So Blue'' (2012) L.L. / Fou Glorieux

Movies and videos

* 1982 ''The Mondo Beyondo Show'' (TV) * 1989

Carole Laure Carole Laure O.C. (born August 5, 1948) is an actress and singer from Quebec, Canada. Career Throughout most of her career, Carole Laure primarily collaborated with Anglophone singer, songwriter, producer, and director Lewis Furey, whom she m ...

's "Danse avant de tomber" as Dancer * 1990

's " Fame '90" music video as Dancer * 1992 ''

'' by

(TV) * 1994 ''Velasquez's Little Museum'' as Dancer * 1995 ''Pour tout dire'' as Module 3 * 1995 ''Pour tout dire'' as Module 4 * 1995 '' Strange Days'' as Cindy 'Vita' Minh * 1997 '' Inspirations'' as Herself

References

External links

* *
Lecavalier and Bowie performing in the iconic music video

Archival footage of Louise Lecavalier performing ''A Few Minutes of Lock'' in 2011 at Jacob's Pillow.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lecavalier, Louise 1958 births Canadian contemporary dancers Canadian female dancers French Quebecers Governor General's Performing Arts Award winners Living people Officers of the Order of Canada People from Montreal

Biography

Notable performances

Movies and videos

See also

References

External links