Serge Bennathan

Serge Bennathan was the Artistic Director of Toronto’s Dancemakers from 1990 to 2006.

Twelve of his works for Dancemakers received Dora Mavor Moore nominations, with both Sable/Sand and The Satie Project receiving the award for Outstanding New Choreography.

Also known for his extensive work in opera,  Bennathan directed his first mainstage opera, Rossini’s Tancredi, at the Canadian Opera Company (COC) in 2005, and in 2008 he directed Renard for the COC ensemble.

Bennathan now lives in Vancouver where he established Les Productions FIGLIO. The repertoire of his company includes:

  • The Invisible Life of Joseph Finch, a play with actor Jonathon Young, created in 2007 in Vancouver; also performed at the Fringe Festival of Singapore in 2008; toured Canada in 2009;
  • Manga, a duet for Susie Burpee and Linnea Swan, premiered in Vancouver and Toronto in 2007;
  • Slam for a Time Traveller, a commission from Dancing on the Edge Festival on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary in 2008;
  • The Strange Adventure of Myself, a solo performance for Sylvain Senez that premiered in 2009 at the Firehall Theatre in Vancouver; and
  • Conversations, a play about an imaginary encounter between Federico Garcia Lorca and his murderer Juan luis Trescastro, premiered in 2011 in Vancouver.

Bennathan has also created new works for Ballet British Columbia in Vancouver, LADMMI l’école de danse contemporaine in Montreal, and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. He is currently writing his first opera libretto, The Flight, for Tapestry New Opera.

Bennathan is the recipient of the Rio Tinto Alcan Award 2012, which he will use for the creation of Elles, to premiere in March 2012 at the Cultch in Vancouver.

Also a writer and a painter, Bennathan has written and illustrated four books: Julius, le piano voyageur, published by the French-language publishing house Les Éditions du GREF in Toronto; The Other Moon of Mr. Figlio; A Few Thousand Miles, a collection of poems about dance, dancers, and the dance of life; and recently Not-a-fear/Peurderien. Soon to come is Vent d’Automne.

The first exhibition of his paintings took place at the French Cultural Centre in Vancouver in November 2010. His visual art work reflects the poetry of the human soul: its dreams, imagination, and humour.

Back to Faculty list