Anik Bissonnette
{{Short description|Canadian ballet dancer (born 1962)}}
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{{BLP one source|date=July 2021}}
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{{Infobox dancer
| name = Anik Bissonnette
| image =
| alt =
| caption =Canadian ballet dancer
| full_name =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1962|2|9}}
| birth_place = Montreal, Quebec
| death_date =
| death_place =
| current_group = Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
| former_groups =
| dances = Ballet
| website =
}}
Anik Bissonnette {{Post-nominals|post-noms=CC CQ ChOM}} (born February 9, 1962) is a Canadian ballet dancer.{{Cite web |title=Anik Bissonnette announces a bequest to Les Grands Ballets |url=https://grandsballets.com/en/news/detail/anik-bissonnette-announces-a-bequest-to-les-grands-ballets/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=grandsballets.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Anik Bissonnette, O.C., C.Q., O.M. |url=https://www.esbq.ca/en/profiles/anik-bissonnette-o-c-c-q-o-m/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=www.esbq.ca |language=en}} She began her professional ballet career with the Ballet de Montreal Eddy Toussaint in the 1980s and became a principal dancer with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in 1990.
Career
= Training =
Bissonnette began her ballet training at the age of ten at the studios of Ludmilla Chiriaeff, the founder of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. She discontinued her studies after six months.{{Cite news |last=Swoboda |first=Victor |date=Fall 2006 |title=Saving the Last Dance |work=Dance International |url=http://www.danceinternational.org/archive/fall2006.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070524104704/http://www.danceinternational.org/archive/fall2006.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-05-24 |access-date=31 January 2023}} She then pursued jazz and dance at the École de Danse Eddy Toussaint. Toussaint later offered her a scholarship on the condition that she take classical ballet classes, to which she agreed.
= Le Ballet de Montréal Eddy Toussaint =
In 1979, at the age of 17, Bissonnette joined Toussaint's troupe, Le Ballet de Montréal Eddy Toussaint.{{Cite web |title=Anik Bissonnette, O.C., C.Q., O.M. |url=https://www.esbq.ca/en/profiles/anik-bissonnette-o-c-c-q-o-m/ |access-date=2022-06-08 |website=www.esbq.ca |language=en}} She originated several leading roles in Toussaint's choreographies, including Rose La Tulipe (1979), Un Simple Moment (1981), Requiem de Mozart (1986), New World Symphony (1987), and Bonjour Brel (1988).
Under Toussaint's artistic direction, Bissonnette formed a partnership with Louis Robitaille. She starred in several televised productions with Le Ballet de Montréal Eddy Toussaint and appeared in Night Magic, a film directed by Lewis Furey. Her participation in the 1984 Helsinki Ballet Competition contributed to Toussaint earning a gold medal for his choreography in Un simple moment.
She first danced the role of Giselle in Odesa, Ukraine, USSR in 1988. The following year, she was invited to Toulouse, France, where she performed the role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake alongside Laurent Hilaire, a principal dancer with the Opéra de Paris. She also portrayed Juliet in Nicholas Beriozoff's Romeo and Juliet and the title role in Cinderella.
= Les Grands Ballets Canadiens =
In 1989, Bissonnette joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montréal and was named principal dancer the following year.{{Cite web |title=Anik Bissonnette, O.C., C.Q., O.M. |url=https://www.esbq.ca/en/profiles/anik-bissonnette-o-c-c-q-o-m/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=www.esbq.ca |language=en}} She performed leading roles in The Nutcracker, Coppélia, La Fille Mal Gardée, Les Sylphides, Giselle, and Swan Lake. She also played dramatic principal roles in Antony Tudor's Jardin aux Lilas and Pillar of Fire and José Limón's Moor's Pavane. Additionally, she has performed in ten of George Balanchine's ballets. In 1991, she reprised the role of Giselle, partnered with Éric Vu An, an étoile at the Paris Opera. Bissonnette left the company in 1996.
Throughout her career with Les Grands, Bissonnette worked with choreographers including James Kudelka, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Nacho Duato, Nils Christe, Susan Toumine, and Hans van Manen. She collaborated with Montréal choreographer Ginette Laurin and emerging choreographers such as Kevin O'Day, Gioconda Barbuto, Septim Webre, Didy Veldman, and Stijn Celis. In 2001, she created the role of Lisa in Kim Brandstrup's La Dame de Pique.{{Cn|date=June 2025}}
Bissonnette frequently performed at gala events worldwide, including in Melbourne, Athens, Prague, Budapest, Thessaloniki, Montréal, New York City, Toronto, Vienna, Spoleto (Italy), Helsinki, and Bratislava.{{Cn|date=June 2025}}
In 2005, Carla Fracci of Rome's Teatro dell'Opera invited her to revive the ballet La Chatte, which Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal had staged for her in 1990. She performed in Vienna for the closing of Tanz für Europa.
= Leadership =
In 2015, Bissonnette became the artistic director of École Supérieure de ballet du Québec.{{Cite web |last=Swoboda |first=Victor |date=July 15, 2020 |title=Eminent Montreal ballet school marks half century |url=https://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment-life/article264150.html}}
Alongside her stage career, Bissonnette serves as the Artistic Director of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur{{Cite web |last=Wyatt |first=Nelson |date=22 July 2013 |title=Dance prodigy Cesar Corrales takes big step |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/733183/dance-prodigy-cesar-corrales-takes-big-step/ |access-date=2023-02-01 |website=Globalnews.ca |language=en-US}} and is the President of the Regroupement québécois de la danse.{{Cite web |title=Anik Bissonnette, O.C., C.Q., O.M. |url=https://www.esbq.ca/fr/profils/anik-bissonnette-o-c-c-q-o-m/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=www.esbq.ca |language=fr}}{{Cite web |title=Anik Bissonnette, O.C., C.Q., O.M. |url=https://www.esbq.ca/en/profiles/anik-bissonnette-o-c-c-q-o-m/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=www.esbq.ca |language=en}}
Bissonnette has contributed to organizing Montreal's Festival Quartiers Danses.{{Cite web |last=Holt |first=Willa |title=Free Dance Shows Are Taking Over Montreal's Quartier des Spectacles This Week - MTL Blog |url=https://www.mtlblog.com/montreal/montreal-s-festival-quartiers-danses-is-holding-free-performances-this-week-they-look-stunning |access-date=2023-02-01 |website=www.mtlblog.com |language=en-ca}}
Personal life
Bissonnette was in a relationship with Louis Robitaille for nearly 20 years before they separated in 2001. She has one daughter who attended l'École supérieure de danse.
Awards and honors
- 1985: Best individual Performance at the International de Danse Porsche du Canada
- 1985: Personality of the week by La Presse
- 1988: Personality of the year, Youth section by the Salon de la Femme de Montréal
- 1990: Prix des Biches (awarded on the Radio-Canada television show La Bande des Six)
- 1995: Officer of the Order of Canada
- 1996: Chevalier de l'Ordre du Québec{{Cite web |title=Anik Bissonnette – Ordre national du Québec |url=https://www.ordre-national.gouv.qc.ca/membres/membre.asp?id=182 |access-date=2023-02-01 |website=www.ordre-national.gouv.qc.ca}}
- 2005: Awarded the Prix du Public at the Budapest Ballet Gala
- 2007: Awarded the Prix du Public at the Budapest Ballet Gala
- 2014: Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement{{Cite news |date=26 March 2014 |title=Blue Rodeo, Tom Jackson win Governor General's arts awards |work=CBC |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/blue-rodeo-tom-jackson-win-governor-general-s-arts-awards-1.2587187 |access-date=31 January 2023}}
- 2018: Ordre de Montréal{{cite web |title=Anik Bissonnette |url=https://ville.montreal.qc.ca/ordre/anik-bissonnette |website=Ordre de Montréal |access-date=28 April 2025 |language=fr |date=11 May 2018}}
- 2021: Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec{{cite web |title=Anik Bissonnette - Compagne des arts et des lettres du Québec |url=https://www.calq.gouv.qc.ca/actualites-et-publications/actualites/anik-bissonnette-oalq |website=Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec |access-date=28 April 2025 |language=fr-CA |date=9 June 2021}}
- 2024: Prix de la danse de Montréal, catégorie Contribution exceptionnelle
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930065551/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0012087 Anik Bissonnette] at The Canadian Encyclopedia
{{Prix Denise-Pelletier laureates}}
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Category:Canadian female dancers
Category:Knights of the National Order of Quebec
Category:Officers of the Order of Canada
Category:Entertainers from Montreal