Jeanne Renaud - Dance Collection Danse

Sasha Ivanochko
and Marc Boivin
The remounting of existing dance
works is never a thrilling prospect for
an arts council jury. They usually prefer
to gamble on new work. I understand
their position – it seems more
dynamic and current to support something
new, something fresh, in the
hope that the work will expand the art
of dance. However, I think a remount
can influence dance as well. Learning
an exceptional work such as Fifteen
has the ability to change the artistry of
14 Dance Collection Danse
the performers who will, in turn,
change the art form. Remounts also
inform us about our past, who and
where we were and how little or how
much we have progressed. I think in
contemporary dance we undervalue
the importance of great works, though
not so in the other arts. We have no
problem watching Citizen Kane, knowing
it is one of the greatest films ever
made, or acknowledging that Romeo
and Juliet is one of the most significant
plays ever written. But modern dance
was built on change, in some cases as
a reaction against classical ballet: contemporary
choreographers are constantly
seeking the new and questioning
the dance form. While innovation
is important to be sure, it should not
detract from recognizing dance’s
brightest accomplishments.
I remember seeing Bronislava
Nijinska’s Les Noces (1923) as a student.
My life was forever changed.
That experience taught me that as a
creator and a teacher I had to acknowledge
the past in order to contribute to
the art form I had chosen. The first
work I learned in ballet school was
George Balanchine’s Serenade (1934). It
is hard for me now to imagine dancing
and fully appreciating that great
work in only my second year of training.
Learning Serenade from Vincent
Warren laid the foundation for my
understanding of choreography. My
desire to remount Fifteen was probably
inspired by the respect for great choreography
that Vincent taught me. As
students at l’École supérieure de
danse du Québec, we learned appreciation
for art history and choreography
by learning works from classical
repertory as well as from contemporary.
Unfortunately, l’École supérieure
has followed the trend in contemporary
dance to emphasize innovation
and has abolished classical repertory
to focus on new choreography. To be
sure, we must learn about contemporary
work, but we must not be ignorant
of our past. For example, when I
talked to my modern dance technique
students at the school about our project
to remount Fifteen, I was surprised
to find that half of them did not even
know James Kudelka! I feel it is our
responsibility as artists and teachers to
inform and educate. Bill and I decided
to remount Fifteen not only to
acknowledge a masterpiece but
because we believed that this remount
and subsequent presentations would
inform dance students, the dance
audience, the dance world, as well as
the dancers and all those involved in
this project.
So, how did we make it happen?
All photographs by Michael Slobodian