Alberta troupe brings Joni's ballet to town

by Grania Litwin
Victoria Times Colonist
January 21, 2010

ON STAGE
What: Joni Mitchell and Alberta Ballet's The Fiddle and the Drum
Where: Royal Theatre
When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 27 and 28
Tickets: $33 to $67, call 250-386-6121

Jean Grand-Maître is breathless in Vancouver.

The artistic director of Alberta Ballet -- who has worked with Paris Opera, La Scala in Milan, and the national ballets of Canada, Cuba, Norway and Bavaria -- is working flat out to choreograph the opening, closing and nightly victory ceremonies for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

But before that begins, he is bringing his famed The Fiddle and the Drum to the Royal Theatre stage for the first time.

It's the piece he created with Canadian songstress Joni Mitchell in 2007, a ballet that explores humanity's need to wage war and love, to consume, devour and deceive, as well as to create beauty and environmental disaster.

And it's the work that put Alberta Ballet on the map, said Grand-Maître.

"The ballet was made into a Bravo TV film and I've had more than 100 impresarios from around the world interested in touring the piece." It's in Vancouver this weekend as part of the cultural Olympiad; after Victoria, it heads to Seattle and Los Angeles.

"Working with Joni was an extraordinary adventure," said the choreographer. "That woman is intense. She has more ideas in six seconds than I have in a year. She is a serious artist, very involved. She did everything. Not just the sound track but she was composer, lyricist, set designer, video editor. ..."

Intimidating at first -- "When that voice started to echo in the studio I had a hard time thinking of even one step. It was like working with Bob Dylan."

The result is a show that features 30 dancers and Mitchell's melodies and lyrics, but no literal translation of her words.

"When she talks about a guy picking up a newspaper, we don't have someone doing that on stage. We don't necessarily tell a story in every movement," said Grand-Maître, who has never done a ballet about the environment or war before.

"Those are very big subjects but all the while it was like I had a play in my hands: text, words, and Joni worked out all the sequences." So he came up with a fusion of styles, and "opened all the doors."

He said Mitchell was always ahead of her time, talking about the buckling economy or bludgeoned environment long before others took up the battle cry -- "They called her Doomsday Joni" -- and her passion inflamed his creativity, too.

"Working with Joni changed me. When you become an artistic director there is art and there is business and you can't be naive about the economy, the bottom line. Something about her reminded me about the art. I trust my instincts more now."

The original one-act show is now a full-length ballet with four additional songs.

"We also added an intermission because it is so athletic the dancers need a break," said the choreographer, who has been working at full speed on the Olympic ceremonies since Nov. 8.