Le Devoir spoke with the company's artistic director, Alexandra Damiani, before the premiere of La revue finale in Saint-Sauveur.
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Ballets Jazz Montréal
La revue finale (previously JOIE DE VIVRE)
Jo Strømgren
Secret gardens
Ballets Jazz Montréal shines once again with a captivating new work by Jo Strømgren, a prolific figure in the international performing arts. Boundless creativity!
Eloquent and laced with humour, Jo Strømgren’s dance is full of charm. Choreographer in residence with the Norwegian National Ballet as well as a playwright and theatre director, this versatile artist collaborates extensively with prestigious companies. Buoyed by the vibrant energy of Ballets Jazz Montréal’s extraordinary performers, La revue finale unveils the beauty of those simple, fleeting moments beneath the apparent banality of existence, while probing the mysteries of untold stories. A character experiencing their final moments revisits fragments of their life. With a dramatic composition inspired by the cinema and interspersed with touches of humour and great choreographic verve, the work immerses us in a dynamic reflection on memory, buried secrets and the paradoxes of the human condition. Pleasure and emotion guaranteed!
Co-produced by Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur.
Before and after the show
Tuesday, February 17
Pre-show talk at 7:15 PM: ÉCHOS DE DANSE - interview with Alexandra Damiani, Artistic and General Director, Ballets Jazz Montréal
Wednesday, February 18
Playlist DJ Evita ✦ Post-show talk with the artists
Thursday, February 19
Playlist DJ Evita
Friday, February 20
Playlist DJ Evita ✦ Post-show talk with the artists
Saturday, February 21
Playlist DJ Evita
Raphaël Ouellet. Dancer : Astrid Dangeard.
Sasha Onyshchenko.
Sasha Onyshchenko.
Raphaël Ouellet.
Artist(s)
Choreographer
Jo Strømgren
Jo Strømgren was born in Norway. He is a choreographer, but also works as a director, scriptwriter, stage designer, lighting and costume designer. In the 1980s he began by dancing jazz ballet, before studying classical ballet and choreography at the Oslo National Academy of Ballet. He worked for some years for the Carte Blanche dance company in Bergen, both as choreographer and dancer.
Jakub Sobotka.
Company
Ballets Jazz Montréal
Founded in 1972 by Geneviève Salbaing, Eva Von Genscy, and Eddy Toussaint, Ballets Jazz Montréal is a contemporary dance repertory company which, under the artistic and executive direction of Alexandra Damiani, creates, produces, and presents on local, national, and international stages. The company collaborates with internationally renowned choreographers who develop their own research to generate a repertoire that reflects BJM's identity and is accessible to all audiences.
Credits
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.
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