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I first met Gillian when I was a shy twelve and she was an outgoing ten. This was in an old Quaker church in Toronto that housed The National Ballet School now in its third year. Gillian was a veteran here. She had taken ballet since she was Nine and Miss Oliphant asked her to show me around. It was the first day of summer school. There were no academics in summer. Just dance dance dance, mostly ballet. We were to be schoolmates for the next six years; she started that year in grade six and me in grade eight, two of sixty-eight students. Grade five six seven and eight all shared the same classroom at that time. Gillian was still in school when I joined the company in 1969. |
Cynthia
Scott, a Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) filmmaker, who was later
to make the academy award winning film at the National Ballet School
called "Flamenco at 5:15" was friends with a Mr. Jurgen Lutz. She and
her husband had bought one of his paintings. Jurgen told Cynthia that
he wanted a model for an idea he had. He did not want a regular nude but
maybe a dancer. She told him "meet me at CBC" and when he did she
walked him over to the National Ballet School and introduced him to
founder of the school, Betty Oliphant, who invited him to watch her
ballet class. He chose Gillian. She told him Gillian was not the best
dancer. He told Miss Oliphant that Gillian was the most vibrant and open person in the room. That was 1969.
In 1970 Gillian invited Mr. Lutz to the performance of the pas de deux "Emily" , in which she performed with Karen Kain, one of six new dances at the National Ballet annual Choreographic Workshop.
After that Jurgen Lutz took an elevator to the top of the Toronto Dominion tower, the tallest building in Toronto at the time. He looked out at the world and felt his life had just changed. He had been photographing Gillian and he asked her if she thought he could film the dance. So Gillian introduced Jurgen to me.
I was skeptical as I am always at first. And I said yes anyway. He was a fellow artist, after all. He was touched deeply by this pas de deux for two girls. It was 1971 when he filmed the dance at the Ryerson sound stage. Jurgen filmed everything : our rehearsals and several three minute performances as I ran the music and coached Gillian and Karen. It really only took a few hours. A few months later Jurgen showed me a film that so enhanced the dance and enchanted me, that he has been my favorite dance filmmaker ever since. His films of my choreography have won many awards.
In 1970 Gillian invited Mr. Lutz to the performance of the pas de deux "Emily" , in which she performed with Karen Kain, one of six new dances at the National Ballet annual Choreographic Workshop.
After that Jurgen Lutz took an elevator to the top of the Toronto Dominion tower, the tallest building in Toronto at the time. He looked out at the world and felt his life had just changed. He had been photographing Gillian and he asked her if she thought he could film the dance. So Gillian introduced Jurgen to me.
I was skeptical as I am always at first. And I said yes anyway. He was a fellow artist, after all. He was touched deeply by this pas de deux for two girls. It was 1971 when he filmed the dance at the Ryerson sound stage. Jurgen filmed everything : our rehearsals and several three minute performances as I ran the music and coached Gillian and Karen. It really only took a few hours. A few months later Jurgen showed me a film that so enhanced the dance and enchanted me, that he has been my favorite dance filmmaker ever since. His films of my choreography have won many awards.
Jurgen's nine-minute film of Emily to the original song "Emmie" by the amazing Laura Nyro played at the Art Gallery of Ontario film theatre for many years. His exhibition of works with Gillian as the theme sold out in 1970-1971.
Gillian stayed in the National Ballet in the corp de ballet and as a favorite of choreographers for about three years. She was worldly, living with an actor, and far less sheltered than the rest of us. She always had a maturity about her. She felt grown up to me, able to manage in the world. She left the company and I lost touch with her as my own choreographic career took me out into the world. I was busy. I lost touch with Jurgen too. And later 1979, He and a colleague got in touch once more and by 1983 we were collaborating on a stage dance show with a film behind it based on the poetry and life an Emile Nelligan. Jurgen and I have been friends ever since and today we are like brother and sister.
In 2011 Jurgen decided to create "variations on the theme of Gillian". He has now painted her in every conceivable style, it is a showcase of his craft, so very highly developed. His talent is immense.
I call it The Gillian Project
She is fascinating and provocative and beautiful in so many ways.
So we decided to try and find Gillian, to seek her permission to show the work. Years before this, I saw her somewhere, I cannot remember where, and she told me she married a New Orleans health food store owner that she met when she was touring with a small mime company. Instant love. They married and had two girls. That is all I knew. When I searched the Internet I could find nothing. Then I remembered she told me they were going to move to Palo Alto, California so I asked a friend in The San Francisco Ballet to go to Palo Alto and look for Gillian and her husband who owned a health food store there. No result.
I remembered that her mother lived in Bermuda so I looked up Hannant in Bermuda and yes her mother was involved in the ballet there; she was serving on the board of a local dance foundation. I found her, called Mrs. Hannant and she gave me Gillian's number. She was Gillian Roy now, living near Charleston, South Carolina.
Since, by then, I lived a lot of the year in Florida and part of the year in Connecticut, Gillian and I decided I should visit sometime on my way up and down highway 95.
2013: I came upon a gated community in sand dunes by a river. Very quiet and peaceful streets leading to a French Manor of a house and a courtyard... Wow Gillian did well for herself.
We enjoyed lunch together in this house that she and her husband helped to design based on their love of New Orleans and I said wow health food got you a long way. And she said: Whole Foods... you didn't know?
No I didn't! Wow Gillian!!!!! Cool
She gave Jurgen permission to do anything he wanted with her image. Thank you Gillian
Ann Ditchburn
May 2015
The Gillian Project |
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