Louise Lecavalier

Dance, Labor, Culture

MJ Thompson (Concordia University, Canada)

$160

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Methuen Drama
24 July 2025

Dance; Ballet

As principal dancer with Montréal-based company La La La Human Steps, Louise Lecavalier was among the most iconic dancers of her generation: strong, muscled, androgynous, punk. Moving with spectacular speed, precision and an athletic physicality, her commitment to dancing would ultimately transform the potential of what bodies within Western concert dance could do.

Drawing on extensive oral history accounts and archival material, the book follows Lecavalier’s impact on the evolving aesthetic of La La La Human Steps, via the development of its early repertoire, and offers the first sustained account of her 1982 solo Non, Non, Non, je ne suis pas Mary Poppins. More, it tracks diverse influences and sources for the repertoire, complicating understandings of nationalism in Québec, while marking the significance of the collective in generating new aesthetics. What emerges is a portrait of the dancer as artist, icon, labourer and mover of cultural discourse.

Featuring an expansive set of photos and ephemera, including performance documentation by photographer/activist Linda Dawn Hammond, production images by choreographer Édouard Lock and street photography by key players in the 1980s Montréal scene, this study offers a critical and celebratory appraisal of Lecavalier’s unique contribution and the role of the dancer more broadly as a producer of culture.

By: MJ Thompson (Concordia University Canada)
Imprint: Methuen Drama
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 218mm, Width: 136mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 548g
ISBN: 9781350195202
ISBN 10: 1350195200
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 24 July 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

MJ Thompson is Associate Professor at Concordia University, Canada. She has written for a wide variety of publications, including Ballettanz, Border Crossings, The Brooklyn Rail, Canadian Art, Dance Current, Dance Ink, Dance Magazine, The Drama Review, Women and Performance and more. Her academic work is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in Canada and her essays have appeared in several anthologies, including Performance Studies Canada (2017). More recently, she received the National Park Service Arts and Sciences Residency (Cape Cod National Seashore) where she worked on a long-form essay about the body in landscape.