This Summer it's The Manitoba Project

The Manitoba Project presents a glimpse of two dance worlds in motion together – some of North America's oldest dance traditions side by side with works by some of the 20th Century's most important choreographers.

Featured artists include: Edward Poitras, John Oswald, Daniel Taylor, David Earle, and of course, Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie. Featured elements include dance performances and a "transcendental procession" at the Legislature Building.

The event will take place on August 5, 2007, in Winnipeg, Manitoba and surrounding area, including the Manitoba Legislature Building, Thunderbird House and the Long Plain Annual Powwow.

CLC in Asia

Bill goes to Beijing April 4to begin a collaboration with dance company LDTX. He'll also be visiting Mongolia to begin work on a site-specific event there.

More News...

Laurence is a "cover girl" for the 75th Anniversary Season at the Jacob's Pillow Festival ,Massachusetts.

Bill performs at Dancers Transition Gala in Toronto on April 19. CLC performs at Vancouver's Dancing on the Edge Festival, July 5-14, and during the Edinburgh Festival, August 10-September 2.

Juliette was promoted in her gym class (the new sparkly leotard might have helped) and Jimmy received his first penalty in hockey at the NDG Hockey Tournament.

Grasslands

Birdsong Communications' documentary Grasslands: Where Heaven Meets Earth aired Monday,December 11, 2006 on Bravo! in Canada.

This one-hour documentary celebrates the 2004 collaboration between Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie’s visiting artists -- including Bill and Laurence, Margie Gillis, David Earle, Robin Poitras, Gordon Monahan and many more -- and the ranching community of Val Marie, Saskatchewan. Produced in High Definition television format, Grasslands: Where Heaven Meets Earth follows the creative process and culminates in an extraordinary performance in the rolling hills of Grasslands National Park.

The premiere was held on November 23 at the University of Regina, and was attended by Bill Coleman, the Honourable John Nilson, Q.C., Minister of Environment, and a busload from Val Marie including community organizers Karen Fargey Smith and Twila Hayes, students from Val Marie School and Grasslands park staff, who drove four hours through a Saskatchewan snowstorm to be there.

The Gros Morne Project

The Gros Morne Project: Feel the Earth Move by Anne Troake, produced by Morag Loves Company will air Thursday, March 29, 2007 on Opening Night on CBC Television in Canada.

In July, 2006 an extraordinary occurrence happened in the tiny town of Trout River (pop. 688). At the peak of the summer season, CLC descended upon the quiet village with an artistic team of Canada's finest dance artists to create a site specific work together with the people of Trout River.

Other Company News

David Earle was presented with the Walter Carsen Prize, and during the ceremony Bill and son Jimmy performed an excerpt of Earle’s Emotional Geography.

CLC welcomes John Oswald, new guest artist, who joins James Kudelka (currently creating a solo for Laurence in Vitorria, Ontario) and Edward Poitras.

Bill has started tap dancing again,and is absorbing the hoofer tradition of Bunny Briggs and Arthur Duncan.

Juliette received a 96% for her participation at Club Gymnix. Her piano teacher says she wriggles too much.

Jimmy made the school basketball team.

The Chamber of Commerce of the Borough of Saint-Laurent nominated Laurence for the Alpha New Business Prize.

Canadian dance leading light and CLC regular David Earle received the Walter Carson Award.

Bill’s 1990 solo Heartland and duet The Brother’s Plaid made appearances this spring and promise to again in the near future, and Jimmy braved 4 weeks at the National Ballet Summer School and “can come back anytime”.

In other fields Bill and Laurence have been made honourary members of the League of Merchant Mariners of Canada, Juliette is starting piano lessons and Bill’s ‘67 Chrysler Newport started after 5-1/2 years of inactivity and $100 of repairs, and at this moment is the vehicle of choice for Bill Kimball’s baseball team in Peterborough.

And last but not least, Sajith Kumar, a dance artist, and Shaiju Thomas, a make- up artist and costumer, are arriving from Kerala, India on September 25 to make a comparative study between Kathakali dance and CLC repertoire. We will be working on Kudelka rep and Laurence’s duet Les Paradis Perdus so lets see what happens! Well, that’s it for now.

As the dance season commences, Bill and Laurence would like to bring to your attention a few recent and upcoming events that we are pretty excited about.

On September 30 and October 1 we will be in New York at the City Center Fall for Dance Festival. The festival lineup includes Paul Taylor Dance Company, the Martha Graham Dance Company and American Ballet Theatre. We will be presenting an excerpt of James Kudelka’s Fifteen Heterosexual Duets.

If you are curious, come and see the show or buy the beautiful new book about the reconstruction of this piece, recently published by Dance Collection Danse.

If you don’t feel like reading you may want to take in a film or two. Anne Troake’s celluloid version of our project in Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park, Feel the Earth Move, will be premiering at the beginning of the new year on CBC’s Opening Night. As well, Grasslands by Birdsong Productions and Gunby Mark Adam will be appearing on Bravo throughout the year (you can see a 6 minute preview here).

In the studio, Laurence commences work on a new CLC production that features all the Colemans (Juliette, Jimmy, Bill and Laurence) chaperoned by Schubert.

Bill, among other things, moves towards a new choreo-harmonic convergence at the Manitoba Legislature in Summer 2007.