Claim OwnershipNAC Dance with Cathy Levy
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© Canada's National Arts Centre
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From ballet to contemporary dance, these podcasts (each about 30 minutes long) feature fascinating conversations between NAC Dance Producer Cathy Levy and some of the world's most exciting dance artists, all of whom will be appearing, or have appeared, at the National Arts Centre.
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In this special podcast episode, Annabelle Cloutier, Executive Director of Strategy and Communications at Canada’s National Arts Centre, chats with Cathy Levy about her career at the NAC as Executive Producer of Dance. Over the course of her 22.5 years with the institution, she programmed 23 amazing seasons highlighting the depth and breadth of the world of dance. Cathy reflects on her love of the art form, the Canadian and international dance companies and artists that graced the NAC stages, the privilege of working for the National Arts Centre, the people who inspired her, and the role of the NAC as a leader in the field and a place of experimentation and learning.
This episode of NAC Dance with Cathy Levy features a fascinating conversation with Wen Wei Wang, Artistic Director of Ballet Edmonton, choreographer, and NAC Associate Dance Artist. Born and raised in Xi’an, China, Wen Wei dedicated his life to dance at a very early age upon seeing the famous Chinese ballet The White-Haired Girl. He trained at the Langzhou Army School and the prestigious People’s Liberation Army Academy of Art. A five-month cultural exchange in Vancouver led him to return for good a few years later with the help and support of his mentor and friend Grant Strate. The following decades saw him perform with Judith Marcuse Dance Company, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and Ballet BC; create his own company Wen Wei Dance; and accept the artistic leadership of Ballet Edmonton.
Cathy chats with internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer Gregory Maqoma on the eve of the National Arts Centre presentation of Broken Chord, a work created in collaboration with composer and musical director Thuthuka Sibisi and inspired by the multi-media installation The African Choir 1891: Re-imagined. Gregory speaks of his upbringing in Soweto, a township of Johannesburg, South Africa, and how he channeled the trauma he experienced and witnessed through dance. Wanting to be part of the solution, he creates works that explores the human condition and our relationship to the earth, works that evoke and provoke emotions and inspire discourse, feeling greatest pride in seeing audiences take in and appreciate it and changing perceptions.
Hope Muir became Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada on January 1, 2022, replacing Karen Kain who had served in this position since 2005. During her first NAC visit for the company’s February 2023 presentation of Romeo and Juliet, Hope spoke with Cathy Levy over the course of a public pre-show chat about how dance shaped her life and career, about her vision for and commitment to The National Ballet of Canada and being a female leader in the world of ballet.
Carleton University Professor Janne Cleveland and playwright Lawrence Aronovitch engage Cathy Levy in conversation about her exceptional 22 and a half-year career at the helm of the National Arts Centre Dance Department as she approaches the end of her term. The discussion touches on audience development, the collaborative nature of dance, the severe impact the COVID pandemic had on dancers and how the NAC and NAC Dance responded, and the fine art of programming.
This ‘Next Stages’ podcast, produced by CKCU-FM (Ottawa), is brought to you by the Carleton University Drama Studies Program in the Department of English.
Cathy Levy chats with Vancouver-based multi-dimensional performer, creator and educator Shay Kuebler about his performing arts influences and trajectory, his philosophy of life and movement, and the massive importance he attaches to education and building awareness and appreciation of creativity.
Cathy Levy chats with world-renowned Greek artist Dimitris Papaioannou on the eve of the North American exclusive National Arts Centre presentation of his new work Transverse Orientation. He speaks of his early years as a visual artist and student of the iconic Greek painter Yannis Tsarouchis, his introduction to the world of movement and the successes that led him to direct the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. He credits Claire Verlet with launching his international career which exploded after presenting Still Life at Théâtre de la Ville in 2014. Several works followed including co-commissions with many international theatres. He then became the first artist to create a full-length work for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. Lastly, he shares the very personal origin of and issues at play in creating Transverse Orientation.
In this special NAC Dance podcast, Cathy Levy (Executive Producer of Dance at Canada’s National Arts Centre), Nathalie Bonjour (Director of Performing Arts at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre), and Jim Smith (Artistic and Executive Director of Vancouver’s DanceHouse) chat with Alan Lucien Øyen, one of Norway’s most exciting multi-talented and in-demand artists, about his art and bringing Story, story, die to Ottawa, Vancouver and Toronto in June 2022 as part of Nordic Bridges, a celebration of Nordic art, culture and ideas across Canada in 2022. Alan describes how the remounting of this work that speaks to our isolation and how we present ourselves depending on who we are with and the situation we are in, feels like a victory after the postponements and setbacks imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. He expresses gratitude for having been able to work in both theatre and dance; for the deeply moving experience of remounting Pina Bausch’s Sweet Mambo on Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch; for a future filled with exciting projects; and to be given the freedom and agency to look at things differently at a moment in time when the world seems to be rotating backwards.
Mélanie Demers’s fascination with creation led her early on the path of the performing arts, eventually choosing contemporary dance. A successful decade-long dancing career with O Vertigo gave her the confidence to have her own company, tell her own stories, embrace chaos. She is adamant to militate with her art. She achieves this with beautiful and complicated collaborations that are wonderfully rewarding. Her conversation with Cathy Levy touches on her approach to choreography, how being a Black person affects the way she sees the world and creates work, and "La Goddam Voie Lactée", presented at Canada’s National Arts Centre in early March 2022. A work about the state of the world seen through the eyes of women. A work born out of the politically and socially charged period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of George Floyd and Montreal’s third wave of #MeToo. What does she want the audience to take away from seeing it? The sensation that the end is near and everything we do is important.
Dana Gingras, Artistic Director of Animals of Distinction and a boundary-pushing choreographer, chats with Cathy while her latest multimedia work FRONTERA is presented at the NAC. The conversation touches on how Dana’s formative years influence the nature of her artistic practice, her work with The Holy Body Tattoo, her love of music and collaboration with cultural icons and artists such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Fly Pan Am and the UK-based United Visual Artists (UVA), and the creation of FRONTERA which she hopes will generate dialogue around important issues of our time.
In this podcast interview, the incomparable Louise Lecavalier chats with Cathy about her initial encounter with dance, the guidance she received as a novice, and how Edouard Lock came to invite her to join La La La Human Steps where she performed for 18 years, revolutionizing dance and doing guest appearances with superstars David Bowie and Frank Zappa in the process. In 1999, she parts with the company to seek pleasure in new beginnings and embarks on a career interpreting works by Tedd Robinson, Benoît Lachambre, Crystal Pite and Nigel Charnock, amongst others. In conclusion, Louise tells us about creating her own choreographic works starting with So Blue in 2012 followed by Mille batailles/Battleground and Stations.
The sublime Principal Dancer Greta Hodgkinson spoke with Cathy Levy in December 2019 on the eve of her retirement from The National Ballet of Canada following an extraordinary 30-year career with the company. Dance found her at a very early age and she credits Principal Artistic Coach Magdalena Popa, leading choreographers and the full range of classic and contemporary ballet repertoire offered to her for her artistic success. She talks about her pre-show ritual, her favourite ballet, guesting, her longevity, juggling family and career, and her decision to retire. The conversation closes on her next project and with advice to aspiring dancers.
Over the course of a fast-paced conversation with Cathy Levy, Helsinki-born Mikko Nissinen, Artistic Director of Boston Ballet, describes how he stumbled into dance and how a strong technique and infectious enthusiasm for the art form rapidly led him to soloist roles with The Finnish National Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Basel Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. Having always aspired to be an artistic director, he assumed this position with Marin Ballet and Alberta Ballet before joining Boston Ballet in 2005 as an agent of change. The company has since grown exponentially in size, purpose and reputation, enticing most recently the great William Forsythe to make it his home.
Guest host Lindsay Lachance, Artistic Associate with the National Arts Centre’s brand new Indigenous Theatre Department, chatted with Margaret and Andrew Grenier of the family-led Indigenous dance company Dancers of Damelahamid a few days before its NAC debut and world premiere presentation of Mînowin. Margaret explains how she grew up among the Gitxsan people of the Northwest coast of British Columbia immersed in the knowledge and practice of her family’s lineage and tradition. Aware of the role that each generation plays in continuing the practice, she and Andrew are dedicating their lives to the process of revitalization. Their contemporary dance work Mînowin, generations in the making, looks at what emerges from the epic loss and imbalance of the past.
Cathy Levy’s conversation with acclaimed Canadian contemporary dance performer, choreographer, master teacher and mentor Peggy Baker opens with memories of Wim Wenders and Pina Bausch. From there, Peggy speaks of her youth, her fateful encounter with Patricia Beatty, her professional dance career that brought her to Toronto’s Dancemakers and then to New York’s Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mark Morris and the White Oak Dance Project. She returned to Toronto in 1990 to form her own company to support her solo career and has been choreographing for small ensembles since 2010. Her most recent creation who we are in the dark that features Sarah Neufeld and Jeremy Gara of Arcade Fire was performed at the NAC in April 2019.
Cathy converses with internationally acclaimed, award-winning Vancouver dance artist Crystal Pite following the NAC opening night performance of Revisor, her most recent choreographic work co-created with Canadian actor/writer Jonathon Young. They touch on Crystal’s childhood aspiration to be a complete dance artist, her early choreographic career, the founding of her company Kidd Pivot in 2002 that united the dancer and choreographer in herself, and life-work balance. Crystal has created over 50 works for her company and others such as Ballet British Columbia, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater and The Royal Ballet. In great demand internationally, her immediate future includes a tour of Revisor and commissions by The Paris Opera Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada and Nederlands Dans Theater.
In this NAC 50th Anniversary podcast, Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, and Rex Harrington, Artist-in-Residence, both acclaimed former principal dancers with the company, share memories about performing at the National Arts Centre and during Karen’s farewell tour across Canada. Throughout her career, opportunities came to Karen through artists Rudolph Nureyev, Erik Bruhn, John Neumeier, Glen Tetley and Jiří Kylián and her exquisite performances were made all the more memorable by Rex’s innate gift for magical and magnetic partnering. Under her artistic directorship, The National Ballet of Canada has become one of the top international companies in the world. Both she and Rex explain how this was achieved. In closing, Rex speaks of the rewards of coaching and passing on knowledge while Karen shares her vision for the coming years.
Cathy Levy chats with Jean Grand-Maître, Artistic Director of Alberta Ballet, choreographer and recent recipient of the Order of Canada, about the full-evening portrait ballet Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle and the Drum that will close the National Arts Centre 2018-2019 Dance season. Co-created with the iconic singer-songwriter —who celebrated her 75th birthday in 2018— the work, which addresses war and environmental neglect, was initially produced in celebration of Alberta Ballet’s 40th Anniversary. Jean describes his first encounter with Joni, their relationship, past and present, her approach to creation, her extensive contribution to the ballet, her passion for humanitarian causes, and the degree to which she has inspired him. This original venture unexpectedly opened the door to similar collaborations with or about other supreme popular music artists such as Sir Elton John, Gordon Lightfoot, The Tragically Hip, k.d. lang and Sarah McLachlan. The conversation concludes with a few anecdotes about the entertainment industry’s homage to Joni’s life and career held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles in November 2018, and the legacy of Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle of the Drum.
Cathy Levy leads a captivating conversation with Alonzo King the day of his company’s NAC presentation of SUTRA, an ensemble work created in honour of the 35th Anniversary of Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Born in Albany, Georgia, to a prominent 1960s civil rights family with ties to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, Mr. King learned early on the importance of aligning actions with beliefs. His natural love of movement led to a passion for dance and the eventual creation of his San Francisco-based contemporary ballet company, known for breaking the structure of the art form and for its intelligent and powerful dancers. Collaborative ventures are key and SUTRA showcases the unique talent of the tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain and master sarangi musician Sabir Khan. Mr. King’s other passion, education, saw him partner with Dominican University of California to create a four-year BFA, and a host of education and outreach programs for pre-professional dancers, youth and the community.
Cathy Levy chats with NAC Associate Dance Artist Tedd Robinson, choreographer and artistic director of 10 Gates Dancing Inc, and composer Charles Quevillon on the eve of the NAC presentation and premiere of their latest creation Love & Other Things… a drama for flower, clay and bone. The two met in 2010 when Tedd was commissioned to produce a work for LADMMI and while Charles was at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. They have since collaborated on over 20 works. The conversation touches on creative highlights, the genesis and concept for this new work and how it was influenced by Charles’ three-month residency in Japan where he studied with Yoshito Ohno, and Tedd’s lifelong obsession with Madame Butterfly. The May 26 to June 1st performances, to be accompanied by a graphic novel written by Tedd, were preceded by a two-week residency in the Alan & Roula Rossy Pavilion supported by NAC Dance.
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Oh my God! Thank you very very much! It's amazing interview. I try to translate it to Persian for Iranian audiences.