From the website of Jean Pierre Perreault -
<br>Notes biographiques
[img]http://www.fjpp.org/images/jpp_photo.jpg"%20width="122"%20height="155"%20align="left"%20bordercolor="#FFFFFF[/img]It was through a chance encounter with Jeanne Renaud, who was about to form the Groupe de la Place Royale, that Jean-Pierre Perreault entered the world of dance. He studied at the Groupe school and began dancing with the company in 1967. In 1971, he became its Artistic Director, along with Peter Boneham, and began his prolific career as a choreographer.
In 1981, Jean-Pierre Perreault decided to pursue a freelance career. He worked as artist-in-residence at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and at the Laban Centre in London. Between 1969 and 1983, he traveled to Europe, Asia and Africa, developing an interest in architecture and the sacred arts. He studied the influence of costume on the vocabulary of dance and choreography, as well as traditional dances and functional movement. From 1984 to 1992, he taught at the Université du Québec à Montréal. In 1984, he formed his own company: La Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault.
Far from being limited to the realm of dance, his training has been enriched through contact with the artists that revolved around the Groupe de la Place Royale at the time, artists such as Marcelle Ferron, Fernand Leduc, Françoise Sullivan, Gilles Tremblay and Serge Garant. This privileged milieu is at the origin of his global approach to creation which links choreography, scenography, lighting, music and costumes. Contact with other art forms through the works of artists such as Bruce Nauman, Joseph Beuys, Carl André, or abstract painter Nicholas De Staël has also been formative.
Today one can speak clearly of the Perreault style, of a form of dance rooted in its surroundings, creating elements of its own music through complex rhythmic steps. Acclaimed as one of the country's most important choreographers, Jean-Pierre Perreault creates a metaphorical and paradoxical world in which the private and the social, the contemporary and the timeless, the fragile and the strong coexist. His works are encounters with human nature, evoking "each time this feeling of being a witness, albeit involved, outside of the action yet drawn into it, ignored but signified" (Aline Gélinas, Cahiers de théâtre Jeu, 1988).
In 1991, he faced another challenge when the prestigious Cullberg Ballet of Sweden commissioned a full-length work for the inauguration of the Stockholm House of Dance. Flykt was saluted as "a powerful and risky work" (Dagens Nyheter, 1991).
Drawing is usually the first step in Jean-Pierre Perreault's creative process. With an impressive body of works to his credit, Perreault was invited to present his drawings in solo exhibitions in New York, Antwerp, Québec City, Montreal, Glasgow and Stockholm.
For the richness and originality of his choreographic works, Jean-Pierre Perreault received the Jean A. Chalmers choreographic award in 1990, given by the Ontario Arts Council, and the Jean A. Chalmers Award for distinction in choreography in 1996, a prize that recognizes his entire body of work.
L'EXIL - L'OUBLI, the most recent creation by La Fondation was awarded the 1999 Grand Prix for artistic excellence by the Montreal Urban Community Arts Council.
Photo: Dominique Thibodeau
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