Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal (GBCM) is a

ballet company A ballet company is a type of dance troupe which performs classical ballet, neoclassical ballet, and/or contemporary ballet in the European tradition, plus managerial and support staff. Most major ballet companies employ dancers on a year-round ba ...

based in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, 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 u ...

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 Michel Brunet Perrault (born 20 July 1925) is a Canadian composer, conductor, music educator, and percussionist. As a composer, his work largely pulls on Canadian folk melodies and his compositions include classical of harmony and counterpoint. ...

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 pri ...

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

James Kudelka James Kudelka, OC (born September 10, 1955 at Newmarket, Ontario), is a Canadian choreographer, dancer, and director. He was the artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada from 1996 to 2005, now serving as the National Ballet's artist in ...

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 ...

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 National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca as the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...

, the

Royal Winnipeg Ballet The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America. History It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also fou ...

, le Groupe de la Place Royale, the Danny Grossman Dance Company, the

Toronto Dance Theatre The Toronto Dance Theatre is a Canadian modern dance company based in Toronto, Ontario. Described by ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' as "one of the foremost modern-dance companies in Canada", the company tours nationally and internationally and regula ...

, Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers and the Anna Wyman Dance Theatre in the Canadian Dance Spectacular, a dance show at Ottawa's

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

which was filmed by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

for the 1982 documentary film ''

Gala Gala may refer to: Music * ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush *'' Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman *GALA Choruses, an association of LGBT choral groups *''Gala'', a 1986 album by T ...

''. In 2000, Gradimir Pankov became Artistic Director. A native of Macedonia, Pankov previously served as Artistic Director of

Nederlands Dans Theater Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT; literal translation Netherlands Dance Theatre) is a Dutch contemporary dance company. NDT is headquartered at the ''Amare'' building in The Hague. NDT also performs at other venues in the Netherlands, including Amste ...

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 un ...

(Sweden), and Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève (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. 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; The Little Prince, Possibly Six and TooT by

Didy Veldman Didy Veldman (born 1967, in Groningen)Didy Veldman
at introdans.nl is a Dutch choreogra ...

; The Beast and the Beauty by Kader Belarbi; Four Seasons by

Mauro Bigonzetti Mauro Bigonzetti (born 1960) is an Italian ballet dancer and choreographer. He trained at the ballet school of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma and entered their company in 1979. In 1983 Bigonzetti joined the Reggio Emilia company Aterballetto, renow ...

; Minus One and Danz by

Ohad Naharin Ohad () was the third son of Simeon; he is mentioned in Genesis 46:10. Ohad may also refer to: __NOTOC__ People Surname * Daniella Ohad, American design historian Given name * Ohad Benchetrit, Canadian musician * Ohad Cohen, goalkeeper for Hapo ...

; 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 aft ...

; and Re–II by

Shen Wei Shen Wei () is a Chinese-American choreographer, painter, and director who resides in Chinese Americans in New York City, New York City. Widely recognized for his defining vision of an intercultural and interdisciplinary mode of movement-based p ...

. Its repertoire also includes major acquisitions by such artists as

Mats Ek Mats Ek (born 18 April 1945) is a Swedish dance and ballet choreographer, dancer and stage director. He was the manager of the Cullberg Ballet from 1985 to 1993. Life and career Ek was born in Malmö in 1945, the son of the Royal Dramatic Theatr ...

Jiří Kylián Jiří Kylián (born 21 March 1947) is a Czech former dancer and contemporary dance choreographer. Life Jiří Kylián was born in 1947 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, to his father Václav who was a banker and to his mother Markéta, who was as a ...

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, ...

and Christopher Wheeldon, 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 (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, 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