When you step inside the Rachel Browne Theatre at the corner of Main Street and Bannantyne Avenue in downtown Winnipeg, you can feel the reverence that the space holds for the woman who brought contemporary dance to western Canada.
That innovating spirit and vision will be celebrated this weekend by the ensemble that Browne founded, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, who will open their 60th season with a tribute to Rachel Browne.
“The contemporary dance community in Winnipeg and even beyond has an incredible love for Rachel Browne,” says Jolene Bailie, the artistic director of Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers. “You cannot study contemporary dance in Winnipeg without hearing about Rachel Browne. Her bringing of contemporary dance to Winnipeg opened up pathways for so many people to not only experience contemporary dance but also have the freedom and the entryway to be experimental.”
Browne first moved to Winnipeg with her friend Benjamin Harkarvy when he became the artistic director of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 1957. She performed as a soloist with the RWB for four years before founding Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers in 1964. In the two decades that she served as the artistic director, the company rose to national acclaim performing works by international choreographers as well as her own work. She remained an active player in the Canadian contemporary dance scene until her death in 2012.
Bailie notes that Browne’s artistic vision allowed for a real humanity that was revolutionary at the time. “All of a sudden, we're talking and dancing about real human societal issues. All of a sudden, we're putting on stage real people in real scenarios that most people could imagine themselves as opposed to the pretend world you might see in other performance art. So, there was a real welcoming of people as people."
That humanity will be on display in the dances being presented as a part of this tribute. A cast of seven dancers will share five of Browne’s most memorable pieces with a wide range of movements, music and moods between them. Dancer Julious Gambalan says that although the range of the program is quite demanding, it’s very much in keeping with the type of choreographer that Browne was.
"Rachel would really push yourself or the dancer to its fullest extent,” Gambalan says. “We always have a level that we're good at, but I think Rachel would see more in you to push yourself even further.”
Even though some of the dancers never had the pleasure of knowing Rachel Browne, Gambalan still feels her creative spirit flowing through the movements that are being performed. “I think we all have a little bit of Rachel Browne in us,” he says. "Rachel's legacy is passed down from mentors who were dancers before, and now they're passing it down to us as dancers. We'll just keep that legacy going with Rachel Browne with her pieces, with her teachings, and even this theater as well.”
Jolene Bailie also feels Rachel’s spirit in the space ahead of the tribute performances. "I said to our lighting designer on Friday, ‘Oh, it would be so nice if Rachel was just here,’ but she is here. Her works are here and they're alive and it's beautiful.”
Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers’ 60th Anniversary Tribute to Rachel Browne opens on November 28 at the Rachel Browne Theatre in downtown Winnipeg. Performances run November 28 through 30 at 7:30 p.m. and on December 1 at 4 p.m. Tickets and more informaiton can be found at their website.