DANCE AT MEGARON

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal
Artistic Director: Gradimir Pankov

– Minus One
(Created for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal.
World Premiere on May 30, 2002, Théâtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts, Montréal)

Choreographer: Ohad Naharin
Lighting Design: Avi Yona Bueno

Music: excerpts from
Mambo Fever and Cha Cha de Amor compilations (production and compilation:  Brad Benedict)
Unknown Territory by Dick Dale, Hava Nagila
Ehad Mi Yodea (arranged and played by The Tractor’s Revenge)
Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Arlen Harold (adapted by Marusha)
Fratres* by Arvo Pärt
Étude No 3 for Marimba by Paul Smadbeck
Greensleeves (arranged by Jeremy Barlow)

* By arrangement with European American Music Distributors LLC, Canadian agent for Universal Edition Vienna, publisher and copyright owner.

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal wishes to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Conseil des arts de Montréal for their continuing support.

Minus One
«The illusion of beauty / and a fine line that separates madness from sanity / the panic behind the laughter / and the coexistence of fatigue and elegance… »
These words open Ohad Naharin’s Minus One, one of the most innovative pieces from the repertory of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal.
This complex and finely chiselled work owes its quality to the alchemy with which every element is suffused. Starting with excerpts from seven different pieces (Zachacha, Sabotage Baby, Black Milk, Passomezzo, Anaphaza, Queens of Golub et Mabul), Mr. Naharin has succeeded in creating a single work, unique and whole, that at no point feels like an arbitrary collage. Choreographic patchwork is a perilous exercise, but the choreographer has carried it off with flair. At the finale, he pays a magnificent tribute to dance and above all to dancers themselves, with the company’s performers speaking in voice-over throughout the piece, telling their own stories and talking about their relationships with dance.
Set to a soundtrack that moves from traditional to popular songs, as well as baroque music, ethnic rhythms and original compositions, 35 dancers perform at a gripping speed—jumping, spinning—and then melt into movements that are slower, hypnotic, though still inspired, before coming full circle to explosive expressiveness. They are by turns joyful, meditative, comical and perfectly geometric, with a unique and audacious physical language that marries grace, agility and humour. Audiences will be left with compelling and unforgettable images that take shape in a charged ambience.
Minus One gives Les Grands Ballets’ dancers a chance to demonstrate the full diversity of their talents. This work is one of the company’s largest worldwide successes to date.

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal
Artistic Director: Gradimir Pankov

50 years young… And still going strong. As illustrated throughout its history, Les Grands Ballets has remained loyal to the very essence of classical ballet since it was founded in 1957, and will continue exploring new territory for dance lovers both near and far.
Differently classic
Determined to focus on creativity, both in its approach to the great classics and through the new works it brings audiences today, Les Grands Ballets takes pride in offering spectators the opportunity to be moved. Differently.
90s / From near and far
Les Grands Ballets has continuously called on the talents of Canadian choreographers, including Ginette Laurin, Paul-André Fortier, Édouard Lock and James Kudelka. In keeping with the international status its founder had achieved, the troupe has also been able to combine this contribution with that of extremely talented European choreographers such as Jiří Kylián, Mats Ek and Ohad Naharin, while showcasing the world’s most prominent dance companies.
70s and 80s / Celebrating the present
Spurred on by this positive reception, Les Grands Ballets commissioned original works by young, up-and-coming choreographers. The troupe’s repertoire expanded throughout the 70s and 80s, with a wealth of Quebecois and Canadian creations, as well as with works by the great Balanchine.
60s / From Giselle to Tommy
Young founder Ludmilla Chiriaeff knew that the troupe had to start by winning the hearts of audiences who had had little exposure to classical dance. First came the learning stage. Enthusiasm quickly followed: Giselle, Les Noces, La fille mal gardée and, soon after, the now-famous The Nutcracker by Fernand Nault. With Carmina Burana and Tommy, also by Fernand Nault, Montreal audiences were introduced to innovation early on and kept asking for more.

Sponsor
METKA
Member of MYTILINEOS group