Homage by Sylvain Emard
Poem by Marc Boivin
Speech by Peter Boneham
Remembering our Honorary Patron, Jean-Pierre Perreault
Homage to Jean-Pierre
12th December 2002
Since you departed, Jean-Pierre, day after day I am conscious of the great void you have left behind. A void, which is incomprehensible at the moment. Stunning. A huge gap in our lives. A vast emptiness. Not surprising since you were always larger than life. You created a place in our hearts and I have some strong impressions about how you will continue to fill it. In the confusion there will be a place occupied by a friend, an artist, an older brother, an inspirer, a wit, a smoker, an epicurean, a charmer, a cook, a gardener, a teacher, a man with ideas that soared into the sky but who had two feet on the ground. There will also be the choreography. The backcloths and footlights. Passionate debates. Gardens. Friends. Lots of friends: all those who worked with you. Like a family. Of course it was not a family in the traditional sense of the word. It had to be dysfunctional at the edges, otherwise you would not have liked it. A bit delinquent, rather noisy, that's for sure. But full of love. And there was lots of laughter, perspiration, and changes of scenery, trains, and planes to catch. Then, once back in the rehearsal room, you would begin again on another adventure, an expedition to find new meaning for life, which you would share with us. We felt like children putting on grown-up clothes. It was just as you wanted. With you we would become vulnerable to become stronger. We were happy to inhabit both these worlds, vast and tiny. You were a man with a vision. You inspired us and we hoped to return this inspiration. You hated compromise and were ready to drop everything in order to preserve your integrity. You lived entirely for your art. Now the bar is high and the void immense. Unwittingly you still send us a wondrous challenge. To fill this space there will always be the sound of your voice and your footsteps a little like in the finale of NIGHT where the sound of footsteps, dying progressively away, could be heard well after the end of the dance
You are with us, Jean-Pierre
Sylvain Emard
Poem by Marc Boivin
Poem
With and in front of Jean-Pierre,
whether in friendship or at work,
I've always felt in this gaze.
A gaze of vigilence that struggles to see
and a gaze of generosity that creates to love.
What Jean-Pierre has created are, indeed,
choreographic and visual works,
but also meetings, exchanges, collaborations,
dinners, weekends at the country and travels,
lieus of questionning, of conviviality, of humour
and mainly of a vitality
that I carry again and again.
Speech by Peter Boneham
"Jean Pierre ... for forty years as a great friend and in our professional life, we have been together. But I want to tell you a story about when we were dancing together in Mexico. We were in the Bellas Artes Palace Theatre and we were going like crazy stage left and all of a sudden, we looked and Jean Pierre was going stage right. He looked at us and he said .. "don't worry .. I'll catch up!" Well, little man, you caught up. You are one of the great, great creators of the world. You're a master architect. Not only an architect of you own movement but of the space and of human emotions. Your work is about humanity, it is what every great artist and what great art should do. It feeds us, makes it a much better world to live in when your art is here ... and I thank you from the bottom of my heart."