Ballet BC | Medhi Walerski’s big throw

Becoming artistic director of a large dance company in the midst of a pandemic is a huge challenge. After an exceptional career as a dancer and choreographer, Medhi Walerski made the leap over the ocean and the continent to take the helm of the Vancouver Ballet BC. He presented a triple program at Danse Danse on his first visit to Montreal.

Ballet BC’s new artistic director, Medhi Walerski, made his home on the wonderful campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in September 2020.

“I arrived in the middle of a pandemic. It is a real challenge to take over a company under these conditions, but we adapt like everyone else. In order for the dancers to return to the studio, the Vancouver Canucks and Whitecaps health protocol was used. We were able to continue working and doing things that we don’t normally do. “

Medhi Walerski’s career has been built on exceptional collaborations. He danced at the Paris Opera Ballet, the Ballet du Rhin, then, for more than 10 years, at the famous Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), where he developed his first works. The list of choreographers with whom he has worked also makes you dizzy: Balanchine, Béjart, Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe and Ohad Naharin, among others.

Second house

So why Canada and the cold and the snow? we ask him.

“My relationship with Ballet BC has existed for 10 years. I made my first creation with them as a young designer, then three others afterwards. This is my second home ”

As some of her predecessor Emily Molnar’s lineup has been postponed, Ballet BC’s next season will be hybrid. By then, Medhi Walerski will have been able to create a show where the dancers have also played the roles of choreographer, manager and producer. Two plays, which will be seen in Montreal, have been presented online, and the company has recruited new collaborators. His desires for the BC Ballet gradually took hold.

“My vision comes from my background. I had the chance very early on to be in contact with famous choreographers and important works. What matters to me is to develop the creativity specific to each artist to help the company create as many works as possible. I plan to call on choreographers from Canada, from Vancouver and elsewhere. I’m taking advantage of my presence in Montreal to meet some of them. “

Triple program

For this tour, spent in Ottawa just before, the artistic director has concocted a program that includes one of his flagship works, Garden, inspired by Quintet in a minor op. 14 by Camille Saint-Saëns. He imagined a choreography with finesse on music that he says he adores and which, at times, seems to emanate from the very bodies of the performers.

“It’s very fluid as a piece, very organic,” notes Livona Ellis who, at 31, is the eldest performing artist at Ballet BC.

She loves the fact that her company explores all contemporary styles. In the same program, she also takes part in The Statement by the great Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, created by NDT last year.

“It’s demanding, but exciting to go from Garden To The Statement where my character has to express guilt and frustration. It must be integrated into oneself so that the body expresses it subsequently. “

Press was able to attend a few sequences of this piece, supported by a powerful text by Jonathon Young, where lies and hypocrisy make four performers collide in an atmosphere of manipulation and power.

This experienced dancer welcomes the arrival of Medhi Walerski as a blessing for the company in this Covidian era. “His great optimism has helped us get through the last few months. This is very appropriate new leadership for us at this time. “

Power 3, from Ballet BC, is playing at Théâtre Maisonneuve from 1^er to December 4.