As terrific an artist as Leonard Cohen was, his is probably not the music you think of first when you think of dancing. For Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal’s Artistic Director, Louis Robitaille it was, at times, all he could think about. Montreal was about to celebrate its 375th anniversary and what better way to throw a party than with a new work celebrating one its most famous exports.

That result of his work with choreographers Annabelle Lope Ochoa, Ihsan Rustem and Andonis Foniadakis is Dance Me, which will be performed on Friday and Saturday night at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

Robitaille secured the rights to Cohen’s music, and his blessing, shortly before Cohen passed away in 2016.

Last week I spoke by phone with Robitaille about Cohen, his music and how he and his team put Dance Me together. Here are edited excerpts from that conversation.

As wonderful a poet as Leonard Cohen was, dynamic range is not something that’s inherently built into his songwriter. He even said, “Journalists, especially English journalists were very cruel to me. They said I only knew three chords when I knew five!” Did that lack of range pose a challenge for Dance Me?

I recognize Mr. Cohen’s sense of humor. But it is true. One of our concerns was to find some songs with different rhythms so we could modulate the evening with something more sometimes poetic, sometimes more dark, sometimes more humorous, sometimes more punchy.

One of your choreographers, Rustem, said that this show is “less about the songs and more about the poetry.” That seems counter-intuitive to how new dances are created.

It was different from one choreographer to another. Each choreographer had their own focus on Mr. Cohen’s work. Ihsan Rustem paid a lot of attention on the words. He made some research to find out the reason why Cohen wrote the song, where he was in that point of his life. Andonis was inspired by music first. Annabelle by words first. It is, after all, an abstract work, even though we have a dramatic line throughout the evening. Dance has this wonderful quality to express emotions and feelings – sometimes stronger than words themselves.

You obviously have to include certain well-known songs, but the making-off documentary talks about the painful job of eliminating some songs. What was that process for you?

The Partisan was a song that was difficult to let go. This was one of the only songs he sings in French, but we couldn’t use it. It didn’t fit in the process. Some songs were too much the same or the theme or the music. We had You Want It Darker, but I didn’t realize we were not at the level for that song. This is still on our minds to change the production a little bit and create for [that song.] I wish we could have created a three-hour show. It was heartbreaking, painful, but we could not retain all the songs that we liked or people like.

The works of a single artist have inspired other dance companies. The Joffrey Ballet had Billboards which was all set to Prince’s music. Obviously these shows are easier sells. How does Dance Me challenge and extend the capabilities of Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal as well as its financial resources?

Mr. Cohen brings a diversity of audiences to a dance performance, to our dance performance. Some of them have never seen a dance performance. This is a great opportunity to open up our discipline to people. Dance Me is the most expensive production in the history of the company. We are still paying the debt, but thanks Lord, it is very  popular, very in demand. We have almost 100 shows on our calendar this year. It brings a great dynamic to our dance company, but also to the industry of dance.

In his novel Beautiful Losers Cohen wrote, “How can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me?” Do you face the same challenge he wrote about?

We are all part of history. In this part we have baggage that we all carry. Even if it’s not ours, somehow it is in our genes, our culture, our personality, our close family and community. It is almost impossible to create something new.

But the beauty of creation is you have a blank page in front of you. Creation for me is like building a house. You start with the foundation, you put the structure, at the beginning you have an idea, but suddenly elements bring changes. Sometimes compromises, sometimes it is wonderful ideas that just pop up. This is creation. It’s not exactly as I  thought at the beginning, but I think it is more surprising than I thought. Each one of us has our own story.

Does Dance Me reflect your story?

Above all I believe that this world, it’s a lot of beauty, some inspiration, some creativity, some emotions, some feelings, positive energy and that’s our personality. To try to make and forget all those factors for an hour and a half each during a dance performance. If we succeed, during a performance, just to bring positive energy, emotion, beauty and love and make them forget their anxieties and problems, maybe we did a part of what our goal is.

As of press time, Friday night’s performance was sold out. For tickets on Saturday, please go here.

Except as noted, all photos courtesy of Les Ballet Jazz de Montréal

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