Cas Public appoints assistant to the artistic director

>> by Jaimée Horn
Pierre Lecours has been appointed assistant to Hélène Blackburn, choreographer and artistic director of the Montréal company Cas Public. He will assume several of the many responsibilities related to running the company. Lecours graduated from LADMMI in 1999 and has since distinguished himself as a dancer and choreographer. Within the last ten years, he has created fifteen pieces and has performed with several companies including La Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, Cas Public, Whatwhatiwhat, Le Carré des Lombes and O Vertigo. Lecours’s presence will allow Blackburn to better respond to directorial demands and other projects of interest. Blackburn believes the new position also addresses the need to transfer the experience and artistic expertise required to run a company to the next generation of choreographers. This skill set is rarely part of dance trainees’ curricula; however, it is an important element of their professional reality. In Lecours’s upcoming work Les Steppes, Blackburn will take the stage again, alongside the dancers. She is pleased to be alleviated of some decision making, and to be working with the company members on a different level. Les Steppes, co-produced by Cas Public, opens in January 2010 at l’Agora de la danse in Montréal.