The Kathakali Asian character dance and its percussion instruments were permanently introduced to Canada and North America in 1976 by choreographer Richard Tremblay and composer Bruno Paquet. As a percussionist, the latter joined this early implementation in 1985. Since then, these performers have made the Kathakali dance and music part of their creation process (Le Lion du Panjshir (2003) and In Himalayas, Prayer for a Rope, a Pope, And a Rogue (2003), for instance) in addition to their own presentation of the Kathakali repertoire. Richard Tremblay gave his first Kathakali performance in Kerala as a beginner with the Kathakali troupe in 1976, followed by a series of performances in Saguenay (Quebec) where he had set up a performance laboratory. He has danced since then in Victoria, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City with K. Gopalakrishnan (1981 Canadian tour), K. Karunakaran in Toronto (1980) and the Indian national Kathakali company, Kalamandalam of Kerala, in Montreal (1981). Since 1984, Bruno Paquet and Richard Tremblay have presented little-known pieces from the repertoire, such as Gitopadesham, as well as Kathakali works of their own, such as Au Clair de la Lune (premiered in Montreal in 1985), Origines (Montreal, 1988 – 94-96), The Iliad or The Story of Achilles (Kerala, 1988 – 91-93) and Ulysse (Kerala, 1994).
An attempt to introduce Kathakali to Quebec and Canada had previously been made by a descendant of a family of gurus (gurukkula) from Kerala, who, in the early 1950s, lived for two years in a small apartment on Sherbrooke Street in Montreal, contributing to several concerts with his dance partner of Australian origin.
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