Coleman, Lemieux & Compagnie: Elvis & The Man in Black – Double Bill!

Interview with Laurence Lemieux

Laurence Lemieux is the dancer featured on the banner promoting Public Energy’s
presentation of Coleman Lemieux & Co at Showplace in January, 2006.

Laurence Lemieux interviewed by Kate Story, February 9, 2016

Kate: You’ve already taken this program to lots of places, particularly small cities in Ontario… Is there a difference for you performing in smaller centres versus big cities?

Laurence: In a smaller city you might find that audiences haven’t seen much contemporary dance, or maybe none at all…The Man in Black has a real effect on people. It’s really, really accessible for somebody who has never seen dance. Not so scary. They can relate to the music, to the dancers wearing cowboy boots. There’s something to grasp even though a story is not being told. But it’s sophisticated choreographically, so a dance audience will also grasp its mastery. James is very good at that.

Looking for Elvis is more abstract, more complex in a way…I’ve found that people really want to talk about it afterwards. You hear Elvis singing during the piece, and hear him speak. People grasp onto that.

Kate: You took a trip to Graceland in 2012…how did the material for Looking for Elvis come to you?

Read the full interview here

Laurence Lemieux is the co-artistic director of Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie (CLC). She and her company are coming to Public Energy’s 2015-16 season with the program “Elvis and the Man in Black”, a double bill of contemporary dance made up of two works: The Man in Black, choreographed by James Kudelka, and Looking for Elvis, choreographed by Lemieux. The two works will be performed at Showplace Performance Centre on Saturday March 12 at 8pm.

Coleman, Lemieux & Compagnie performing The Man in Black at their Toronto studio, Citadel.

The tunes of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash are brought to life in this rockin’ and rollin’ double bill! James Kudelka’s country choreography probes at deeper emotions of six songs in The Man in Black, a celebration of American working-class grit and the man whose gravelly voice embodied it, Johnny Cash. Meanwhile, Laurence Lemieux’s choreography shines in Looking for Elvis, pulling from interviews, songs, and dance to explore the life of a young Elvis Presley while simultaneously attempting to reconcile the duality of being a public performer with that of being a private individual.

For more information, please call or email Public Energy during regular office hours at 705-745-1788 or admin@publicenergy.ca.
Artistic Producer Bill Kimbal: bill@publicenergy.ca

Elvis and the Man in Black is made possible by the generous contributions of our community sponsors: