The death of Jan Rok Achard, co-founder of La Tohu and the En Piste group, who directed the National Circus School of Montreal for 13 years, continues to make the circus community react, which will pay tribute to him in about ten days at the 7 Fingers Studios.
He was not known to the general public, but in the world of circus arts, Jan Rok Achard was a pillar and one of its most ardent defenders. He died Wednesday after a long illness at the age of 79.
Gaétan Morency, who co-founded La Tohu with him – as well as Charles-Mathieu Brunelle and Marc Lalonde – but also the En Piste group, remembers a man “engaged 24/7 in his community”.
“He managed to structure an environment that was not very organized and to have it recognized by institutions, particularly in the various arts councils. He worked actively to give it a voice. The circus was his life. »
En Piste, which is currently the only circus arts group in Canada, has 600 members and more than 80 circus companies. In particular, the organization has played an important role in making legal resources available to artists who are victims of sexual violence.
Jan Rok Achard also directed the National Circus School of Montreal for 13 years — from 1986 to 1999 — succeeding the school’s founder Guy Caron.
He was very close to his students, who adored him. It was there that he met the young artists who founded the Cirque Éloize and the 7 Doigts. That’s why they pay tribute to him today.
Gaétan Morency, co-founder of TOHU and En Piste
Gaétan Morency, who was also vice-president at Cirque du Soleil, recalls that it was Cirque that funded Tohu before it was recognized by the government and obtained public funding.
Jan Rok also defended tooth and nail the training of students from the National Circus School – whom the Circus sometimes wanted to train only for specific acts.
“It was the time when circus companies had their own schools, recalls Gaétan Morency, but I was at Cirque at that time and I was sensitive to Jan Rok’s arguments, so I was a bit played a role of mediator so that the students complete their training. »
Last June, weakened by illness, Jan Rok Achard received the insignia of Compagnon des arts et des lettres du Québec.
The tribute to Jan Rok Achard will take place on Sunday, December 11 at the Studio des 7 Doigts (2111, boul. Saint-Laurent). Parents, friends and colleagues are invited from 1:30 p.m. The ceremony and the speeches will begin at 3:30 p.m.