Montreal's Ginette Laurin inspires the next generation of choreographers and dancers
Ginette Laurin is being presented with Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award in Dance at the #GGAwards
Taking her inspiration from film, poetry and theatre, Ginette Laurin created a language of dance all her own. Now the dancer, choreographer and trailblazer is being presented with a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award in Dance from the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. Her meticulous and eclectic process of creation has led to her award-winning works being performed all over the world and acclaim here at home.
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Laurin worked tirelessly in the Montreal dance community before establishing her own company O Vertigo in 1984. And with over 50 credits to her name, Laurin is known as a pioneer in Quebec's contemporary dance movement. Her signature works include La Chambre Blanche (1992), Luna (2001), Passare (or Another Shape for Infinity) (2004) and more recently Soif (2014).
In 2015, Laurin became a Member of the Order of Canada and the same year, she handed O Vertigo down to three young choreographers. The company is now known as Centre de Création O Vertigo (CCOV) and offers new choreographers a chance to create a large scale work as part of a three-year residency, along with facilitating artist exchanges and research projects.
Laurin continues to help the next generation of artists by teaching the dance program at Université du Québec à Montréal.
On June 1, Angela Hewitt, among other laureates, are being honoured with the highest distinction a performing artist can achieve in Canada — a Governor General's Performing Arts Award. Find out more.