The ballerina is a cherished character in the Western imagination. An archetype, a stereotype, and literally a type, when you know the requirements that the little opera rats must still meet to reach their ideal. The author Jolène Ruest, in Star dancers parasitize your sky, follows a ballerina invented to speak, in her first play, of diverted dreams and hyperperformance, human as much as social and real estate.
It was first a novel, Jolène Ruest’s second after Monogamies or how a country singer fucked my sex life (XYZ, 2016). It will soon be a play, co-written with Jonathan Caron. We follow the character of Prunelle, after ballet school, who short-circuits her dream of becoming a prima ballerina, earns her living at the Dairy Queen on rue Sainte-Catherine, realigns her ambitions, while witnessing the gentrification of the Hochelaga district.
How come we want to make buildings profitable so quickly? It’s not normal, and it has an influence on all those who are tenants and who just want to pay decent rents.
From the very beginning of her project, Jolène Ruest knew that her main character had to be a ballerina. “This way of going towards perfection, and the level of physical performance of ballerinas, it’s hard to match”, explains the author in an interview of her hyper-fast delivery.
“The notion of perfectionism, worse of hyperperformance, we bathe in it, continues Mme Ruest. It affects all levels. She makes the link, in the story, with gentrification. “How come we want to make buildings profitable so quickly? It’s not normal, and it has an influence on all those who are tenants and who just want to pay decent rents. »
It is not just a fiction for the author, who must appear at the end of the month at the Administrative Housing Tribunal to counter the repossession of her apartment, which she has occupied for nine years, in this district of Hochelaga. where the action takes place — and where the Denise-Pelletier theater is located.
Dance to write better
To feed her research, Jolène Ruest went to take leisure ballet lessons. It was at the Studio des Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal that she met teacher Lisa-Marie Villeneuve, who has since become her ballet consultant, and the choreographer of the piece — a first theater experience for Ms.me Villeneuve.
” In the showlet’s go all in with the image of the ballerina, more than in the book, specifies Mme Ruest. Me, in one of the first meetings, I said: “There won’t be any, tutus!” I was supercategorical, “It’s no!” I didn’t want to go into clichés. But it exists. And Sarah Maude [Laliberté, qui tient le rôle principal]we saw her dancing Nutcracker. Finally, we use them, tutus, in the most explosive moments of the play. »
Another aspect of the ballet’s imagination, notes Lisa-Marie Villeneuve, is that “it’s not something you can do individually. If you use humor, like Jolène did [qui a terminé l’École nationale en 2012]and you want to make a career out of it, well, you can make open mic‘ for three years, the worse it is, the worse it becomes. »
“In classical ballet, no one puts on a show solo”, notes the teacher, if not the stars, the large prima ballerinas. “To express yourself and perform in ballet, you have to be in a company. You are chosen. »
“It is still this culture that remains today, and it is still the primary aspiration for classical dancers: to join a company. There are no other exits for those who want to dance. “And at the start of his career, adds Mme Ruest is always so just to interpret, the possibility. »
The beauty of prima ballerinas
As a teacher of the introductory course, does Lisa-Marie Villeneuve believe that the imaginary ballerina is present among her adult students, who come to dance for fun? She smiles. “Yes, I have this demographic portrait. It is mainly ladies in their fifties and sixties who arrive at the January session, at the time of resolutions. »
“They come to live their dream as little girls. They come with the ballerina skirt, the pink tights, the bun…” “Ah yes, interrupts Jolène Ruest, the ballet skirt, that’s really where you find it the most! »
“They like everything set “, adds M.me Villeneuve, affection in his voice. “It helps them to feel in the image, to enter it. And when, at the end of the first lesson, I make them do the port de bras, with the 5e at the top, arms crowned, I see them light up…”
From dance to book to theater
The dance entered the novel, and the novel is now on stage. What transformations? “The play and the novel are really non-identical twins,” says the author. There are merged characters, scenes that didn’t exist, others that I loved in the book, but disappeared. »
In high school, the compulsory wearing of a swimsuit without tights and puberty did not necessarily go hand in hand. You will always remember it: a student had left the hair on her crotch sticking out of her jersey. The loudmouth of the group, Marie-Soleil, had to explain to him the importance of shaving because his hair made the whole class uncomfortable. Classical dance imposes its codes even in the most intimate choices.
Excerpt from the novel Star dancers parasitize your sky
“What strikes me, adds Mme Villeneuve is to see how the idea of putting movement on the stage was transposed from the novel. There is a passage where Prunelle will carry CVs everywhere to find a job. On stage, it’s completely crazy: everything turns, the text is reversed, it’s ping-pong. »
“Furthermore,” continues M.me Ruest, the piece is a collective work, of co-writing, with a lot of people. Some dancing was added. ” Hey, there’s breakdance and even a Broadway moment in the play! “Yes, there is more dance diversity on the stage,” confirms Mme Villeneuve. “As long as there is mosh pit, For me it goes well ! » laughs Mme Ruest, large fan of punk and metal music. The latter, who speaks about it regularly in her radio broadcasts on CISM, has signed the collection Crowd review. Night walk from the mosh pit to the potholes (at Bouc productions). And it seems that it even nudges.