Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie Dance

Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie (CLC), led by husband and wife Bill Coleman and Laurence Lemieux, is a professional dance organization that creates, produces and presents works on a local, national and international scale. The company is recognized as one of the most dynamic forces in Canadian dance, thanks to the scope of its social and artistic vision and the accomplishments of its founders. Coleman and Lemieux have not only been hailed among the country’s finest dancers and choreographers (Lemieux is a recipient of the Dora Mavor Moore Award and Coleman of the Jacqueline Lemieux Prize), they are also producers of ground-breaking community activities and events that bring together dancers, composers, musicians and visual artists at the forefront of their fields with diverse communities that are “off the beaten track”.

Artistic highlights have included: Convoy PQ. 17 (2001), a work choreographed by Coleman, inspired by the tragic WWII experiences of Bill’s father aboard a Merchant Marine convoy to the USSR, performed in Canada as well as premiering in Russia; Varenka, Varenka!, a duet choreographed by Lemieux with live original music by Vladimir Sidorov, also performed in Canada and in Russia, and selected as one of the Top Ten Dances of 2003 by the Globe & Mail and by Toronto’s Now Magazine; and The Kudelka/Taylor Project, an evening devoted to the work of James Kudelka, featuring eleven of Canada’s finest dancers along with celebrated countertenor Daniel Taylor and The Theatre of Early Music, which was hailed as one of the most important events of 2006 by the Globe and Mail.

In 2007, CLC presented their work at the New York City Center’s Fall For Dance Festival, and appeared as headliners at the 75th Anniversary Season of the Jacob’s Pillow Festival in Becket, Massachusetts, where they performed three pieces by James Kudelka plus a revival of Ted Shawn’s The Dome, originally created for Shawn’s Men Dancers and performed in CLC’s version by seven children, including Jimmy and Juliette. Their performance of Kudelka’s Soudain, l’hiver dernier in August 2007 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival garnered them The Bank of Scotland Herald Angels Award. CLC also produced The Manitoba Project: From Pointe Shoes to Powwow, a free community dance event presented in Winnipeg and at the nearby Long Plain First Nation Annual Competition Powwow, featuring some of North America’s oldest dance traditions side by side with works by some of the 20th Century’s greatest choreographers, including Cunningham, Balanchine, Limón, Kudelka and David Earle. Coleman’s recent work Hymn To The Universe, featuring music by The Sun Ra Arkestra, was included in The Toronto Star’s Top Ten dance events of 2008, and Eye Magazines top ten music events of 2008.

CLC is currently touring In Paradisum, featuring the work of CLC’s recently announced resident choreographer James Kudelka, which includes In Paradisum, Fifteen Heterosexual Duets and Soudain, l’hiver dernier.

www.colemanlemieux.com

2009/10 Concerts
The Kreutzer Sonata