Les Grands Ballets Canadiens will be performing at the Centre culturel de l’Université de Sherbrooke, in the Salle Maurice-O'Bready, on May 1. They will present a triple bill featuring Jeunehomme by Uwe Scholz, Six Dances by Jiří Kylián, and Désir by James Kudelka.
Discover Jeunehomme, one of the masterpieces by Uwe Scholz, a prominent figure in the world of ballet. Created in 1986, this luminous ballet is a jewel of the contemporary repertoire. Through three captivating movements, Scholz magnifies the contrasts within Mozart’s world—between glowing joy and tender melancholy—to offer a sensorial journey of rare intensity. A work of great technical rigor, it promises a performance imbued with vitality and deep emotion.
With Six Dances (Sechs Tänze), Jiří Kylián revisits Mozart’s 1789 composition by giving it a stage interpretation that is both playful and critical. Dancers in period wigs and powdered faces adopt a burlesque choreographic language laced with irony. Beneath the comedy lies a more serious reflection on the sociopolitical context of the late 18th century, marked by revolutionary upheaval and wartime tensions. This juxtaposition gives Sechs Tänze a rich interpretative depth, showing how dance can echo the turbulence of history.
Created in 1991, Désir by James Kudelka stands as a major work in Les Grands Ballets’ repertoire. Through refined choreographic style, the piece bridges classical vocabulary with modern language, drawing on the lush musical textures of Prokofiev’s Waltzes, Op. 110, and Cinderella. Kudelka structures the work around a series of pas de deux, in which technical virtuosity serves a nuanced exploration of emotional dynamics. Between passion and tension, Désir delves into the many facets of human relationships, lending the choreography a rare emotional depth.
These three unique artistic visions come together to offer a program rich in emotion. An unmissable evening for anyone who wishes to experience dance in all its subtlety and to witness powerful works live on stage.
Salle Maurice-O’Bready
Centre culturel de l’Université de Sherbrooke
Thursday, May 1, 2025, at 7:30 p.m.
