Candace Loubert (1947-2011)

Candace Loubert / Photo courtesy of LADMMI

>> by Samantha Mehra

Candace Loubert, co-founder of Les Ateliers de danse moderne de Montréal Inc. (LADMMI), died on October 28th, 2011. Loubert co-founded LADMMI with Linda Rabin, initially under the name of the Linda Rabin Danse Moderne School, where she was the artistic director until 1996. Prior to this, Loubert enjoyed a career as a performer in Europe, as well as dancing for Montréal's Les Grands Ballets Canadiens for five years, putting to use her extensive training in ballet. She also danced in Linda Rabin's groundbreaking work The White Goddess (1977) alongside a group of other young dancers including Margie Gillis and Stephanie Ballard. While artistic director of and teacher at LADMMI, Loubert found time to pursue creative research specifically on body work, while also tackling her interest in masks and other diverse visual arts practices. Rabin said of Loubert: [translated] "Candace's exceptional gift was her extraordinary capacity to nurture and support creativity in an original and profound manner. Through body work and a range of artistic media – painting, drawing, clay sculpting and mask making – she created space for the imagination to flourish. Those who were fortunate enough to experience her teaching knew the depth of her supportive nature, understanding and compassion."

New book on contemporary Indian dance

>> by Samantha Mehra

Palgrave Macmillan recently published Contemporary Indian Dance: New Creative Choreography in India and the Diaspora, written by scholar Ketu H. Katrak, a professor in the Department of Drama at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The book, which includes over thirty images, explores both the historical and contemporary practices of Indian classical dance, and the ways in which concepts of globalization and diaspora have influenced artists in India and in other locations such as Toronto, London, Chennai and Los Angeles. The book also unravels the "multilayered language" of dance that emerges when forms such as martial arts, yoga, modern and postmodern dance intersect, employing the themes of ethnicity, sexuality and gender to further the analysis. Katrak is the founding chair of UCI's Department of Asian American studies, and is also author of Politics and the Female Body: Postcolonial Women Writers, Wole Soyinka and Modern Tragedy.

DCD launches new exhibit

>> by Cynthia Brett

On November 14th, Dance Collection Danse (DCD) unveiled its latest exhibit: Renegade Bodies: Canadian Dance in the 1970s. For this exhibit, artifacts from Canada's 1970s dance boom, such as programs, posters, photographs and video, are on display in Theatre Museum Canada's Macdonald Heaslip Walkway of Theatre History at Toronto's Hart House Theatre until September 14th, 2012. In 2012, Dance Collection Danse Press/Presse will also release the anthology Renegade Bodies: Canadian Dance in the 1970s, edited by Allana C. Lindgren and Kaija Pepper.

DTRC turns 25

>> by Jacqueline Hansen
Canada’s Dancer Transition Resource Centre (DTRC) is turning twenty-five years old, and the occasion is being commemorated with a night of performances titled Choreographing Change, at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre in Vancouver on December 1, 2011. In a quarter century, the DTRC claims it has acted as a "springboard for more than 10,000 dancers to make inspired, educated, and productive new beginnings." More information and tickets for Choreographing Change are available at www.dtrc.ca.

Beyoncé video accused of plagiarism

>> by Naomi Brand
Pop star Beyoncé Knowles' new video Countdown has raised some controversy over its striking similarity to the work of Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and has been accused of plagiarism. The video allegedly borrows from two of De Keersmaeker's videos: Achterland (1990) and Rosas danst Rosas (1983). Beyoncé's video shares not only some very similar dance movement with Rosas danst Rosas, but also bears similarities in the set, costumes and even some specific shots, which are almost direct copies of the film made by Thierry De Mey. In an interview with a Belgian radio station, De Keersmaeker said, "I'm not mad, but this is plagiarism. This is stealing." In response to these comments, Beyoncé released a statement saying: "Clearly, the ballet Rosas danst Rosas was one of many references for my video Countdown. It was one of the inspirations used to bring the feel and look of the song to life." De Keersmaeker's work has made a major mark on contemporary dance over her thirty-year career and has received critical acclaim and international success.

Canadian wins Dance Your PhD

>> by Naomi Brand
Emma Ware, a biologist at Queen's University, is one of four winners of Dance Your PhD, an annual contest that asks researchers to convert their doctoral dissertation into a dance video. Ware's dissertation, entitled "A Study of Social Interactivity Using Pigeon Courtship", was a moody, black-and-white, contemporary dance video that won in the social science category. The contest attempts to bridge the gap between the arts and sciences and challenges researchers to explain their research to the public in an accessible and creative way. This year's competition had fifty-five entries from Canada, the United States, Europe, India and Australia. The competition is now sponsored by TEDx Brussels, part of a global network of events and speakers based on innovative ideas. The winner of the competition receives $1,000 and a trip to Brussels for the awards ceremony.

Alexander Grant (1925-2011)

Alexander Grant with ballet master David Scott / Photo by David Street

>> by Jaimée Horn
Alexander Grant, beloved dancer and former artistic director of The National Ballet of Canada, died in London on Friday, September 30th at the age of 86. Grant had been ill for eight months following a hip surgery that resulted in infections and pneumonia. The dynamic performer will be fondly remembered for his roles in ballets such as Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée, as well as his influential presence in the international ballet scene. His classical technique and interpretation of demi-character roles distinguished him as an outstanding performer, “one of the few great, as opposed to merely magnificent, dancers of our time” according to New York Times dance critic Clive Barnes. Born in New Zealand in 1925, Grant began his dance training at the age of seven. He was quickly offered a ballet scholarship in London where he went on to perform with the Royal Ballet for thirty years. He was artistic director of The National Ballet of Canada from 1976 through 1983 and brought several Ashton ballets into the repertoire including La Fille, Monotones, Les Patineurs, The Dream and Two Pigeons. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award from the Royal Academy of Dance in London, as well as the 2009 De Valois award for outstanding achievement in dance.