She's a Canadian dance icon, and now Linda Rabin is getting rightfully honoured at 75
The dancer, choreographer and teacher is a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award for Performing Arts
This is part of a series of articles about the 2022 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards laureates.
Montreal dancer, choreographer and teacher Linda Rabin is being honoured this year with the Governor General's Performing Arts Award (GGPAA). The seasoned globetrotter and co-founder of the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal has devoted more than 50 years of her life to sharing her passion for dance and somatic education.
When she got the call last August informing her that she had won the Governor General of Canada's Lifetime Achievement Award, Linda Rabin first thought it was a hoax. That's because for many years her work has more often been done in the shadows.
"It was a shock. I wasn't expecting it. I haven't been in the public eye for a long time. I am someone who works more behind the scenes," she explains over the phone, a few days before the GGPAA gala.
Since her debut in the 1960s, Linda Rabin has largely contributed to the development of contemporary dance in the country, but also internationally. She has visited the four corners of the Earth, from Israel to Japan via the Netherlands, the U.K. and Indonesia.
Trained at the prestigious but demanding Juilliard School
Born in 1946 in Montreal, she very quickly knew that she wanted to dedicate her life to dance.
As a child, Linda Rabin already dreamed of becoming a choreographer, but she still had to learn how to dance. At barely 18-years-old, she underwent a baptism by fire at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City.
"Of course it was demanding — it was a very competitive environment. There was a lot of stress, but at the same time there were teachers who were great and thanks to them there was a good atmosphere," she recalls.
Equally passionate about travelling, the young dancer flew to Israel as soon as she could, where she had a distant family. After a few years as a rehearsal mistress and teacher in Tel Aviv, then New York, she returned to Montreal with the idea of creating a place to share her love of contemporary dance, a trend that was gaining momentum at the time.
The École de danse contemporaine: combining theatricality and technique
In 1981, with her Ontario colleague Candace Loubert, she set up Les ateliers de danse moderne de Montréal (LADMM), which became the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal in 2012, with the idea of combining the very technical side of classical dance with the more theatrical fluidity of contemporary dance.
"We noticed [at the time] that either there were dancers who were very technical, but who lacked interior life, or there were more theatrical dancers, but who had no technique," she remembers.
The École de danse contemporaine de Montréal remains today one of the most renowned dance establishments in Canada, thanks largely to its creative research component, which aims to bring each person to their full artistic blossoming.
Understanding your body to better express yourself
As a dancer, choreographer and, especially, teacher, Linda Rabin has developed a unique perspective on dance thanks to somatic education. From the Greek soma, meaning "body," somatic education brings together a set of approaches that aims to help people reclaim their bodies in motion and develop their conscience.
The term was established in the late 1970s with the emergence of educational modalities such as the Alexander Technique, based on the relation between the spine and the head.
"We learn through our own body. We listen to our body and we are guided by the body's messages. And it is not the body in space, it is the inner body, the inner life of the body," sums up Linda Rabin.
At 75, Linda Rabin confirms that her passion for dance and teaching, which today takes up most of her time, is as strong as ever. Asked about what awaits her in the next act in her career, the dancer becomes mysterious.
"I still teach, but I am someone who goes through phases where I feel there should be changes. That is part of my nature. And I sense in the air that there is a call to change. I don't know what it is; it is not clear yet."
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