Noticias
At the Ciudad de la Esperanza Iris theater
Les Ballets Jazz de Montrèal brings beauty, joy and movement to Danzatlán
June 22, 2018Les Ballets Jazz de Montrèal (BJM) returns to Mexico as part of Danzatlán 2018, the International Dance Festival, to offer at the Ciudad Esperanza Iris theather a mixture of rhythm, sensuality and esthetics, through the successful proposals of three choreographers with different colors, personalities and approaches.
One of the most important dance companies on the continent, headed by its artistic director Louis Robitaille, will perform on July 11 and 14, with O balcao de amor by Israeli choreographer Itzik Galili, Closer by Benjamin Millepied, author of the choreography for the movie The Black Swan and husband of its main character, Natalie Portman, and Kosmos by the Greek Adonis Foniadakis.
The dance program will begin with O balcao de amor, a work with countless touches of comedy, sensuality and full of an enchanting absurdity, based on the Cuban music of Pérez Prado. The performance, which reflects Latin American warmth, was adapted by Robitaille for 14 dancers with the authorization of its author, who conceived it for 22.
"In difficult times, it's good to offer a work like this one, full of humor and physical that surprises the audience in some way, so that the public will be able to free themselves a little from the tensions we have”, said Robitaille.
BJM also presents, for the first time in Mexico, Closer, an 18-minute duet created by Millepied, Artistic Director of the Paris Opera Ballet, for the dancer Céline Cassone, who shares the stage with Alexander Hille; together, accompanied by the music of Philip Glass, they perform a work of mathematical and architectural style, with an unusual beauty that leads to a kind of state of hypnosis.
Closer doesn't fall into a bravery trap or circuses. Through the intimacy of a couple dancing, in a simple, subtle and elegant way, with minimal movements and gestures in perfect communion with the composer's music, "the work achieves its success in communicating complexity through simplicity", added the artistic director of the company, open to avant-garde choreographers at an international level.
After the intermission, the company, distinguished by its impeccable performance and artistic, sexy and explosive style, will present Kosmos, a work defined by the word "challenge", created by Foniadakis, one of the great choreographers of this time who, born in Southern Greece, has a great influence from his country and Africa.
As Louis Robitaille explained, Kosmos is an extremely complicated and vertiginous material about the chaos of a big city, with a very energetic feeling towards its people. "It's about the rhythm of our life in a society that challenges us to be more and more machines.... we have to go faster, like the society we live in, but we have some unexpected resources to adapt to that environment without knowing where we're going to go, in the hope of going further," explained the choreographer, who has been with the dance company for 45 years.
One of the festival's star groups, along with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the Sao Paulo Dance Company, BJM, was originally focused on neoclassical dance and today "mixes all the current dance styles with other artistic disciplines such as theater, acrobatics, video, multimedia," said Robitaille.
With the world as a playground, it is a heterogeneous group with Canadian, American, European and Cuban (in the past, also Mexican) dancers. "In the language of dance there are no barriers, the company is like the city of Montreal, it is open to all who come from outside, to the exchange of cultural expressions that bring diversity," said the artist, who believes in exchange and communication. "If we all agreed on art, the world would be a little better," he concluded.
Born out of a collaboration between Geneviève Salbaing, Eva Von Genscy and Eddy Toussaint in 1972, Les Ballets Jazz de Montrèal gives renowned international choreographers such as Mauro Bigonzetti, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Rodrigo Pederneiras and Ihsan Rustem the freedom to develop their artistic process while preserving the identity of the company, a worthy ambassador for Quebec around the world.
Danzatlán 2018, International Dance Festival, is organized by the Elisa Carrillo Cabrera Foundation A.C., with the collaboration of the Department of Culture, the National Institute of Fine Arts, the Arts National Center and the Government of the State of Mexico, and will take place from July 7 to 15 in different venues in Mexico City and the State of Mexico.
Kosmos, by Andonis Foniadakis; O balcao de amor, by Itzik Galili, and Closer, by Benjamin Millepied, will be presented on July 11 at 20:30 and July 14 at 19:00 at the Ciudad Esperanza Iris theather. On July 13 at 19:00, they will perform at the Centro Cultural Mexiquense Bicentenario de Texcoco, in the State of Mexico.
Mexico,Distrito Federal
