Setting the songs and words of Leonard Cohen to dance might seem like a daunting task. But that’s precisely what Louis Robitaille, former artistic director of Ballets Jazz Montréal, set in motion during his tenure at the company, founded in 1972. The work, Dance Me – Music by Leonard Cohen, premiered in 2017 as part of Montréal’s 375th anniversary celebrations, and was an immediate hit. Alexandra Damiani, who took the reins from Robitaille in 2021, called the work — which lands at Irvine Barclay Theatre on Sept. 24 and Palm Desert’s McCallum Theatre on Sept. 26 — a “masterpiece.”
“I totally fell in love with it,” added the former dancer originally from France, who was also a member of the company from 2002 to 2005. “I kind of took over the artistic direction of it and the guidance of the many different dancers who come and go and keep it alive. The piece itself, the meeting of dance and the musical and poetic world of Leonard Cohen, I fall even more in love with it every time I see the show.”
Cohen, who gave the project his blessing before his death in 2016, never had a chance to see the show. He left a vast archive to choose from, with the songs in the work including “Everybody Knows,” “Suzanne,” and “Dance Me to the End of Love.” And while the 80-minute dance avoids a literal narrative, abstraction proved the right vessel for Cohen’s poetry and music.
Damiani puts it in terms of motion. “I think that the piece is like a journey. Leonard Cohen really liked walking in his city, Montréal. He would take long walks, so in the piece, we take a walk along with him through time, through the different albums. There are songs from his latest album to much earlier albums, and through the seasons.
“During the show,” added Damiani, “it rains, it snows, it gets really hot. We like to call him the fifth season […]. It’s abstract but simple. We invite the audience to take a walk, and when we take a walk, we wander in our heads, in our thoughts, our memories, in our imaginations. I find it such a great way of allowing the language of dance to make us escape, to make us travel.”
Dance Me features 14 dancers and the work of three well-known choreographers, Andonis Foniadakis, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Ihsan Rustem, with each bringing distinct movement vocabularies to the moody solos, duets, and group numbers. Directed by Eric Jean, the work also features video projections and strobe effects. In addition, two of the songs — “So Long Marianne” and the anthemic “Hallelujah” — are sung live by company dancers in a gambit that’s both unexpected and emotionally bracing.
“When a dancer who is not a professional singer sings,” explained Damiani, “you see how universal the work of Leonard Cohen has become. He belongs to all of us. I think one of the beautiful things, one that was really achieved by [the troupe] was the humility and homage to this artist who is deeply human and authentic and vulnerable.
“Some moments are quite physical,” she continued. “To see someone sing ‘Hallelujah’ a cappella in front of an audience, when the best singers in the world have sung it, is quite a feat.
“And that’s why it touches us so much. Similarly, dance and art connect our deep humanity. It’s not about perfection. It’s vulnerable, it’s authentic, it’s human. This piece is healing for our times.”
Having toured to some 109 cities across 18 countries since 2017, Dance Me returns to Montréal’s Théâtre Maisonneuve Nov. 25–28 for its final shows. It will be a “beautiful celebration,” Damiani said, “and we want to do that with so much joy and gratitude. But,” added the director, “as everything in life, it’s a mix of emotions.
“So, after a 10-year chapter, it’s taking its last bow. In French, we say savoir-faire. We’ve been able to do big shows that keep dance at the forefront while honoring the musical world. It’s something I would love to keep exploring with different artists.”
