Ballets Jazz Montréal

Dear audience members, 

It is always a pleasure to welcome Ballets Jazz Montréal back to Danse Danse. This company has a remarkable gift for surprising us, reinventing itself, and introducing us to singular choreographic voices. Under the artistic and executive direction of Alexandra Damiani, Ballets Jazz Montréal moves forward with confidence, asserting a strong, open, and inquisitive signature. 

With his new creation La revue finale, Norwegian choreographer Jo Strømgren offers us a deeply moving work. We recognize his fondness for theatre, for expressive bodies, and for atmospheres where the absurd meets raw emotion. This is a work about relationships, memory, and the paradoxes of the human condition—carried throughout by an astonishing vitality. 

The dancers of Ballets Jazz Montréal shine through their intensity, sensitivity, and their ability to fully inhabit this very distinctive choreographic language. There is something rare in this creation: a freedom of tone, a humour-tinged poetry, and a gaze that is at once tender and clear-eyed on our shared humanity. 

Thank you for being here to share this moment. 

Enjoy the performance! 

__________ 
 
Territorial Acknowledgement 
 
Danse Danse acknowledges that we are gathered on the traditional and unceded territory of the Kanien’keha:ka Nation. We honour the continued presence of Indigenous peoples on the Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal) territory, which has long served as a meeting place for exchanges between nations. With respect for the links to the past, present and future, we thank the Indigenous peoples for reminding us of the importance of living in harmony with ourselves, with each other and with nature, and we are grateful for the opportunity to present works of living art at Tiohtiá:ke. 

Do you wish there was more to life when you close your eyes at night? Well, maybe there is. When truth is dying, imagination is the new living. We cling to pictures as proof of our existence, both towards ourselves and others. And it is convincing and rather satisfying for a while. But such relics of frozen moments soon fade to oblivion like autumn leaves. A paradox, since we fear everything that ends. By nature, we prefer spring, when things start, where every seed is a potential tree. Dreams, desires, hopes - the juiciest parts of life are everything that could happen but never did. And sometimes, those things that indeed happened but which we managed to keep secret. This is the juice that/gets us out of the bed in the morning. La revue finale is a tribute to invisible lives, and possibly with some suggestions on how to live them."

Jo Strømgren

When life wavers, what remains?

Movement, friendship, love. Silences that speak, heartbeats.

La revue finale is a tribute to what resists oblivion: dance as refuge, ritual, and the pursuit of a deeply human joy.

The piece unfolds like a musical journey, carried by an eclectic selection that brings bodies into dialogue with the soul of Montreal and the company’s identity. It moves through the absurd, flirts with laughter and tears, seeks to move, to surprise, and at times to unsettle.

The choreographic writing is grounded in a keen sense of displacement, nourished by the absurdity of the human condition. It creates deliberately uncomfortable situations, where unease meets tenderness, and plays subtly with emotional contrasts. While certain movements have become Jo’s signature, his true strength lies in his ability to draw inspiration directly from the performers, revealing and showcasing the full range of their talents, including singing.

In La revue finale, the dancers fully deploy their virtuosity: an engaged, precise, and physical dance, shaped by rupture, restraint, and sharp, staccato movement. Bodies respond to one another in a constant search for contrast, allowing the full richness of interpretation to emerge.

Thirteen soloists share the stage, carrying a foundational value of BJM: collectivity. The writing is resolutely choral. Here, strength is born from the group, from listening and connection, affirming a confident and renewed approach for the company.

Alexandra Damiani, Executive and Artistic Director

Choreographer and director Jo Strømgren.

Costume design Philippe Dubuc.

Lighting design Chantal Labonté.

Props design and fabrication Alain Jenkins.

Technical director Marco Vargas Navarro.

Technical coordinator Louis Morriset.

Technical team Maxime Lambert, Claude Plante, and Daniel Ranger.

Music Charles Aznavour, Madalena De Melo, Enirbod, Mette Henriette, La Bottine Souriante, Luis Mariano, Peppina et Kauko Käyhkö, Gustavo Santaolalla, Bergmund Waal Skaslien, Ole Wagner, Zelwer

Video recording and editing Louis-Martin Charest.

Photographer Raphaël Ouellet, Sasha Onyshchenko.

Performers Zoey Anderson, Troy Atamanuk, Gustavo Barros, Millie Brinck-Dubuc, Yosmell Calderon Mejias, Marcel Cavaliere, Kyle Davis, Shanna Irwin Calderon, Miu Kato, DaMond LeMonte Garner, Zack Preece, Madeleine Salhany, Silje Vereide.

La revue finale is a co-production of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, premiering at FASS 2025.

Team

Executive and artistic director Alexandra Damiani.

Associate executive director – Development and partnerships Catherine Cardinal.

Rehearsal director and artistic coordinator Stéphanie Dalphond.

Rehearsal Raphaël Bouchard, Jeremy Galdeano.

Technical director Marco Vargas Navarro.

Head stage mechanic Daniel Ranger.

Head sound engineer Maxime Lambert.

Head lighting designer Claude Plante.

Head video technician Steve Montambault.

Director of finance and administration Maximilien Cossette.

Assistant to the executive and artistic director Camille Fabre.