{"id":51207,"date":"2024-12-16T13:46:13","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T18:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?post_type=cu_story&p=51207"},"modified":"2024-12-16T13:46:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T18:46:51","slug":"behind-the-curtain-with-the-art-of-creating-the-pas-de-deux","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/story\/behind-the-curtain-with-the-art-of-creating-the-pas-de-deux\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Curtain with the Art of Creating the Pas de Deux"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Behind the Curtain with the Art of Creating the Pas de Deux\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

By Emily Putnam<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hailed as one of the most outstanding Canadian choreographers and Artistic Directors of his generation, Jean Grande-Maitre<\/a> marks his return to Ottawa with The Art of Creating the Pas de Deux, an event that fuses visual art, music, and ballet choreography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grande-Maitre says attendees will have a special opportunity to learn about the art of choreography in a way they could never observe only from performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a 75-minute intimate, up-close encounter, attendees will witness the creation of a powerful, lyrical, and athletic ballet pas de deux inspired by the world premiere of What Angels See<\/em>, a new composition by Professor James Wright<\/a> for piano and cello. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Watching expert, world-class dancers creating an athletic and emotional dance in an intimate space up close is a thrill, and those who experience it will never forget it,” says Grande-Maitre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jean Grande-Maitre.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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“To be the catalyst, the dance maker who must, under extreme pressure, create a spectacular duet in record time, to a never-heard-before score, being premiered that same evening, is a wonderful opportunity.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Grande-Maitre joined The School of Dance<\/a> as an Artist in Residence in 2023. After a pause in ballet performances during the pandemic, he ventured into visual art.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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“I took Joni Mitchell’s advice, as she composes, writes and paints. She said that to be healthy and creative, it’s important ‘to rotate your crops’. Switching from painting to composition in her case. It’s true, as with a garden, it ensures larger, healthier crops,” says Grande-Maitre.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The composition is inspired by one of Grande-Maitre\u2019s paintings from his What Angels See <\/em>series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jean Grande-Maitre’s painting, which inspired James Wright’s composition for the event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The School of Dance, Carleton’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences<\/a>, and its School for Studies in Art & Culture<\/a> will sponsor the event, which will take place at the Carleton-Dominion Chalmers Centre on the evening of December 8th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carleton students will be admitted to the event free of charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wright says he jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with Grande-Maitre, who has created dance for many of the world’s leading ballet companies as well as celebrated pop artists, including Joni Mitchell, Elton John, Gordon Lightfoot, k.d. lang, Sarah McLachlan, The Tragically Hip, and the David Bowie Estate, among other major figures in the international performing arts world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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During a 75-minute intimate, up-close encounter, attendees will witness the creation of a powerful, lyrical, and athletic ballet pas de deux inspired by the world premiere of What Angels See, a new composition by Professor James Wright for piano and cello. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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\u201cI know that this unique experience – where the audience will witness a high-level artistic collaboration between musicians, dancers, and a leading choreographer as he creates dance from music in real-time – will be something they will remember for a long time,\u201d says Wright.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Grand-Maitre will hear this new score for the very first time as the event begins. During the following 75 minutes, he must then create an entire duet to the never-before-heard score with special guest artists Rachele Buriassi<\/a> and Esnel Ramos<\/a>, who are both principal dancers with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rachelle Buriassi, a principal dancer with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, will be performing Grand-Maitre’s on-the-spot duet.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The event unites five established artists, who must instantly bond and focus to produce a finished work of art in record time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raphael Weinroth-Browne<\/a>, an internationally renowned Canadian cellist and composer, will perform the composition alongside Wright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has played on Juno award-winning albums, performed in front of over 40,000 people at the world’s biggest metal festival, and was recruited by Norwegian progressive rock icons Leprous<\/a>, with whom he has played over 200 shows in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to see a greater number of people in Ottawa engage with arts and culture, and I trust that this event will encourage audience members to attend more arts happenings, to invite their friends and community to performances and exhibitions, and to be more curious and open to consuming new and unfamiliar art,\u201d says Weinroth-Browne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Raphael Weinroth-Browne, an internationally renowned Canadian cellist and composer, will perform the composition alongside Dr. Wright.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He hopes the event will incite “cross-pollination” for Ottawans between disparate corners of the local arts scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I find that multidisciplinary collaborations encourage me to think on a more artistic and
creative level rather than a technical and theoretical one. When I work with dancers and visual artists, I get to zoom out and communicate with them in a language that unites all of the gestures and expressiveness that each art form seeks to convey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The School of Dance Director Merrilee Hodgins<\/a>, who piloted the event, says it will lift the veil on the magic of creating for viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m hoping the audience will begin to unravel in their mind the mystery of how these things come together. It’ll be a fascinating collaboration between these five artists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 1978 by Merrilee Hodgins and Joyce Shietze, who were joined a year later by co-Artistic Director Celia Franca (co-founder of the National Ballet of Canada<\/a>), The School of Dance has an international reputation as a centre for excellence in arts education. They will be celebrating their 46th<\/sup> season this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The event will serve as a fundraiser for The School of Dance, who are celebrating their 46th<\/sup> season this year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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“My own feeling about an arts institution is that it shouldn’t just be ‘a building over there’ where you see people come and go from the doorway. I’ve always wanted The School of Dance to be a very active place where people are welcome to explore art on many levels,” says Hodgins.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The event will serve as a fundraiser for The School of Dance.  In addition to their pre-Professional division, their programmes touch the lives of over 70,000 Ontarians with their Charitable Community Programmes and Projects, including DragonFly\u00ae for learners with Down syndrome, Boys Only! Classes, Connecting with Dance for people with Parkinson’s, and DanceONTour\u00ae, school visits designed to inspire interest in the arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those looking to attend can reserve tickets by calling 613-238-7838 or email aide@theschoolofdance.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emily Putnam Hailed as one of the most outstanding Canadian choreographers and Artistic Directors of his generation, Jean Grande-Maitre marks his return to Ottawa with The Art of Creating the Pas de Deux, an event that fuses visual art, music, and ballet choreography. Grande-Maitre says attendees will have a special opportunity to learn about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":51208,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[601],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-51207","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-music-ssac"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/51207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/51207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51209,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/51207\/revisions\/51209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=51207"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=51207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}