Louise Lecavalier OC (born October 3, 1958) is a Canadian dancer known as one of the icons of Canadian

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of Concert dance, dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly stron ...

Biography

Lecavalier was born and raised in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec. She began her professional dance career at the age of eighteen when she joined Le Groupe Nouvelle Aire. It was there that she met

Édouard Lock Édouard Lock (born March 3, 1954, in Morocco) is a Canadian dance choreographer and the founder of the Canadian dance group, La La La Human Steps. Career La La La Human Steps Founder, Artistic Director and Choreographer Édouard Lock began h ...

. Lecavalier became Lock's main character and inspiration in his company La La La Human Steps. With her mane of platinum dreadlocks, her physical power and her mastery of the full-body barrel jump – a gravity-defying, fully horizontal, mid-air

barrel roll A barrel roll is an aerial maneuver in which an airplane makes a complete rotation on both its longitudinal and lateral axes, causing it to follow a helix, helical path, approximately maintaining its original direction. It is sometimes describe ...

– her image was a signature for the company. She was the embodiment of Lock's frenetic and technically challenging androgynous aesthetic in works such as ''Human Sex'' (1985) and ''Infante, c'est destroy'' (1991). She joined La La La Human Steps in 1981 for its production of ''Oranges'' and went on to perform in each of the company's productions up until ''Salt'' in 1998. In 1985, Lecavalier became the first Canadian to win a

Bessie Award The New York Dance and Performance Awards, also known as the Bessie Awards, are awarded annually for exceptional achievement by independent dance artists presenting their work in New York City. The broad categories of the awards are: choreography, ...

in New York for her performance in ''Businessman in the Process of Becoming an Angel'' (1983). The London Times critic found Lock's "extravagant" play poor but stated that there were :"...two women who seemed quite skilled at performing various odd dance steps; the fair-haired one ouise Lecavalierhad a pleasing bravado whenever the production gave her half a chance." She danced in ''Human Sex'' (1985), ''New Demons'' (1987), ''Infante, c'est destroy'' (1991) and finally, ''2'' (1995) and ''Salt'' (1998). Lecavalier also participated in each of La La La's major collaborations, including

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

Sound+Vision Tour In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

in 1990 and Fame '90 music video,

The Yellow Shark ''The Yellow Shark'' is an album of orchestral music by American musician Frank Zappa. Released in November 1993, it was the last album Zappa released in his lifetime, almost exactly a month before he died of the cancer from which he had suffered ...

concerts, performed by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

and Germany's

Ensemble Modern Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of contemporary composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countri ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in 1992, and the film '' Inspirations'' from director

Michael Apted Michael David Apted (10 February 1941 – 7 January 2021) was an English television and film director and producer. Apted began working in television and directed the ''Up (film series), Up'' documentary series from 1970 to 2019). He later di ...

in 1996.

In May 1999, Lecavalier received the Jean A. Chalmers National Award, Canada's most distinguished dance prize. In 2003, she appeared with Tedd Robinson in ''Lula and the Sailor'' as part of a concert of duets choreographed by Robinson. In the winter of 2005, she co-produced ''Cobalt Rouge'' with the

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) () is a Arts centre, performing arts organization in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre building. History The NAC was one ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, the

Biennale di Venezia The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Architecture Biennale (), which are held in alternating ye ...

and

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in Paris. The work features Lecavalier with dancers Marc Boivin, Masaharu Imazu, and Tedd Robinson, and musician/composer Yannick Rieu. Lecavalier has been a guest teacher at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

on several occasions and continues to perform as an independent artist. In 2008, she was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. On April 7, 2010, she was awarded the Order of Canada. On December 7, 2012, her piece "So Blue" premiered in

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. It was her first dance choreography. In May 2014, Lecavalier received the

Governor General's Performing Arts Award The Governor General's Performing Arts Awards are an annual Canadian award, presented to honour distinguished achievements in Canadian performing arts and culture. Administered by the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation in associ ...

for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in dance. The award is Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.

Notable performances

* ''Oranges'' (1981) * ''Businessman in the Process of Becoming an Angel'' (1983) * ''Human Sex'' (1985) * ''New Demons'' (1987) * ''Infante, C'est destroy'' (1991) * ''2'' (1995) * ''Salt'' (1998) * ''Lula and the Sailor'' * ''Cobalt Rouge'' (2005) * ''Children'' (2010) L.L. / Fou Glorieux * ''So Blue'' (2012) L.L. / Fou Glorieux

Movies and videos

* 1982 ''The Mondo Beyondo Show'' (TV) * 1989

Carole Laure Carole Laure (born August 5, 1948) is an actress and singer from Quebec, Canada. Career Throughout most of her career, Carole Laure primarily collaborated with Anglophone singer, songwriter, producer, and director Lewis Furey, whom she met i ...

's "Danse avant de tomber" as Dancer * 1990

's " Fame '90" music video as Dancer * 1992 ''

'' by

(TV) * 1994 ''Velasquez's Little Museum'' as Dancer * 1995 ''Pour tout dire'' as Module 3 * 1995 ''Pour tout dire'' as Module 4 * 1995 '' Strange Days'' as Cindy 'Vita' Minh * 1997 '' Inspirations'' as Herself

References

External links

* *
Lecavalier and Bowie performing in the iconic music video

Archival footage of Louise Lecavalier performing ''A Few Minutes of Lock'' in 2011 at Jacob's Pillow.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lecavalier, Louise 1958 births Canadian contemporary dancers Canadian female dancers Living people Officers of the Order of Canada Entertainers from Montreal Governor General's Award winners Prix Denise-Pelletier winners

Biography

Notable performances

Movies and videos

See also

References

External links