≈ 75 minutes · No intermission
Last updated: November 5, 2021
A gifted and accomplished performer and choreographer, José Navas explores this wondrous Schubert song cycle, inhabiting the spirit of both the music and poetic lyrics. At times poignant, at times enlightening, Navas’s Winterreise draws us into the emotional journey of the wanderer in the winter of his life. While dancing solo he is emboldened by the live piano and voice accompaniment, a trilogy of artistic expression whose result is divine. One of Canada’s true artistic treasures, and an inaugural NAC Associate Dance Artist, we are delighted to welcome José to share his world with all of you.
Thank you for returning to NAC Dance and experiencing Life in Motion – live – throughout this season.
Enjoy!
A word from the choreographer
Winterrreise (Winter Journey) is a cycle of 24 songs for voice and piano, composed by Franz Schubert towards the end of his short life. It traces a wanderer’s nonlinear journey and I have been journeying with it for nearly a decade. From the first time I listened to it – sung by Thomas Quasthoff – my body reacted and tears sprung to my eyes. In 2015, I choreographed the cycle’s last song, “Der Leiermann” (“The Hurdy-Gurdy Man”), as part of my solo show Rites. From that moment, I fell in love with the piece and the challenge of choreographing it as a solo. During my work, I drew substantial guidance from Ian Bostridge’s masterful book Schubert’s Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession.
My Winterreise includes key elements that are continuous with my prior solo shows. One is the dancer waiting on stage, meditating, while the audience enters the hall. Another is the empty space with nothing but the costumes and a chair. A third is the covering of the dancer’s head, at moments of transformation or of observing the body in motion, unconstrained by personal identity.
Winterreise parallels the nature of the mind, which wanders constantly, consumed with its lacks and fears. It is through understanding his suffering that the wanderer finds solace, just as the mind finds solace when one learns to observe it with equanimity. The wanderer passes through stages of solitude, alienation, and enlightenment. Walking to a realization of his own mortality, the wanderer presents a perfect canvas for my dance. My journey as a dancer increasingly leads me to confront the presence of physical pain in my everyday life. I experience physical suffering and transform it into movement. In dancing Winterreise, I transform the calm behind the pain into poetry and inspiration for others.
We would like to recognize the Algonquin Nation, on whose traditional unceded territory the National Arts Centre is located. We gratefully acknowledge them as the past, present and future stewards of this land.
Program
Winterreise
Choreographer and Dancer: José Navas
Music: Winterreise by Franz Schubert, lyrics by Wilhelm Müller
Piano: Francis Perron
Tenor: Jacques-Olivier Chartier
Lighting Design: Marc Parent
Technical Direction: Pierre Lavoie
Costume Design: José Navas
Fabrication: L’Atelier de couture Sonya B.
Production and Touring Direction: Adrien Bussy
Production: José Navas/Compagnie Flak
José Navas/Compagnie Flak would like to thank the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Conseil des arts de Montréal for their support, as well as the donors to the Creation Fund of José Navas/Compagnie Flak.
About José Navas/Compagnie Flak
Founder and artistic director of Compagnie Flak, José Navas carries out his overall artistic approach in three distinct ways: he dances with intensity in solo shows charged with emotion, he constructs abstract and captivating group pieces, and he creates pieces of contemporary ballet with classicism and sensitivity. As guest choreographer for prestigious ballet companies, he created an iconoclastic version of Giselle (2013, for Ballet BC) and made a commission for the prestigious National Ballet of Canada. In 2015, he created Dénouement/Auflösung for Staatstheater Mainz in Germany. An Associate Dance Artist of the National Arts Centre, José Navas has presented his work in 30 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
NAC Dance team
Cathy Levy, Executive Producer
Tina Legari, Associate Producer
Mireille Nicholas, Special Projects Coordinator and Assistant to the Executive Producer
Sophie Anka, Company Manager
Siôned Watkins, Education Associate and Teaching Artist
Brian Britton, Technical Director
Livia Belcea, Communications Strategist
Chatelaine Rindorindo, Marketing Strategist
Artists
A native of Caracas, Venezuela, José Navas moved to New York before settling in Montreal, where he created his first choreography in 1991. Four years later he founded Compagnie Flak. José Navas dances with intensity in solo shows charged with emotion, he constructs abstract and captivating group pieces, and he creates pieces of contemporary ballet with classicism and sensitivity. As guest choreographer for prestigious ballet companies, he created an iconoclastic version of Giselle (2013) for Ballet BC, Watershed (2013) for the National Ballet of Canada, and Dénouement/Auflösung (2015) for the German company tanzmainz. His work has been presented in 30 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Young tenor Jacques-Olivier Chartier is a rising star on Canada’s music scene. In 2016, he was among the winners of the first Tafelmusik Vocal Competition in Toronto. Recently, he studied with Lyne Fortin at the Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier lyrique. His recent engagements include guest appearances with such renowned ensembles as Les Violons du Roy (Bernard Labadie), the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières (Jacques Lacombe) and the Tafelmusik Orchestra (Ivars Taurins). He made his opera debut with the Opéra de Québec in Nelligan (Charles Gill), and sang the role of the Sailor in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at Carnegie Hall in New York, conducted by Richard Egarr.
Francis Perron pursued advanced studies at several prominent institutions. He has performed in concert with a number of ensembles, including the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and his extensive experience as a chamber pianist, accompanist and vocal coach has led to collaborations with such organizations as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Opéra de Montréal and the Wien Kammeroper.
He has several recordings to his credit and has been heard many times on Radio-Canada, CBC Radio and Radio-France Internationale. He is currently an associate professor at the Université de Montréal Faculty of Music, responsible for the piano accompaniment program in addition to being the vice-dean for international relations.
Founder and artistic director of Compagnie Flak, José Navas carries out his overall artistic approach in three distinct ways: he dances with intensity in solo shows charged with emotion, he constructs abstract and captivating group pieces, and he creates pieces of contemporary ballet with classicism and sensitivity. As guest choreographer for prestigious ballet companies, he created an iconoclastic version of Giselle (2013, for Ballet BC) and made a commission for the prestigious National Ballet of Canada. In 2015, he created Dénouement/Auflösung for Staatstheater Mainz in Germany. An Associate Dance Artist of the National Arts Centre, José Navas has presented his work in 30 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
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