Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal starten ihre Tournee

Macedonian-born Gradimir Pankov has definitively shaken off old postures at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, a company founded by Ludmilla Chia­riaeff, which is equally at home in neo-classical and contemporary forms. Since his arrival as artistic director in 2000, the former dancer, who has worked directing companies as the National Ballet of Finland, the Cullberg Ballet, and the Ballet du Grand Théâtre in Geneva, has displayed, with a determination best described as steely. He knows what audiences want.

From the start, Pankov has introduced Montreal audiences to European Didy Veldman, Stijn Celis, and Mauro Bigonzetti, and re-invigorated the company’s relationship with acclaimed crowd-pleasers Ohad Naharin, Mats Ek, and Nacho Duato. He has also re-cast his troupe – now numbering 37 – to work with an almost entirely new slate of dancers, all resolutely classically-trained.

Flemish-born Stijn Celis’ deft revisionist “Noces” eclipses Bronislava Nijinska’s original 1923 Russian peasant wedding concept, and builds the nuptials as a site for aggressive confrontation and control. The collective ritual hasn’t looked this good in ages.

London-based Didy Veldman, who previously ...