The phone won’t stop ringing for Margie Gillis.
The contemporary dancer will be honoured Saturday (May 14) at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa with the Governor Genera’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. The next day, she’ll be in Nanaimo hosting workshops in dance leading up to a performance at the Port Theatre.
“This is the highest honour a performer can get,” she said. “I feel very much awarded.”
Gillis said she was surprised to get the call from the Governor General’s office.
“I thought they were calling to ask my opinion on someone else,” she said. “I ran around the house swearing.”
Less an affirmation of her work – Gillis received countless awards during her career and was named to the Order of Canada – and more responsibility for her place in the artistic community.
It was a feeling shared by one of her fellow recipients.
“He, too, had that experience,” Gillis said. “Particularly when the arts in Canada are in the state that they’re in.”
Part of that responsibility moves Gillis to advocate for the arts in Canada, an industry which has given so much to the artist and those she performs for.
Her dances, both performed and choreographed for others, touch souls and change lives, uplift and leave worry behind, if only for a short time.
“That is just down to your toes rewarding,” Gillis said. “That’s where the real sense of value comes from.”
The Montreal-based artist spends most of her time in La Belle Province and considers herself lucky to work in a place that values what she creates through government funding. Even if Quebeckers don’t go to a modern dance performance, they appreciate the art and are willing to support it through their tax dollars.
“I’m very lucky to be from a province that supports the arts,” Gillis said.
The previous Conservative minority government cut funding to arts programs and that trend looks to continue in the new majority government.
“It’s been a tough time and unless they change it’s another tough time to come,” Gillis said.
Because of her success, Gillis is able to teach and perform where others can’t, due to financial hardship.
“You do them because they need to be done,” she said.
Gillis was one of the first Western artists to perform in Maoist China. While her list of accomplishments is long, the ones she holds to are more personal.
She danced at the Lincoln Centre in Washington, second to last, an honoured spot. Whenever she dances with Jessie Norman, she feels like a “goddess in training.”
In her 20s, she had Leonard Cohen sitting outside her bathroom stall, talking about her performance. The pair were equally shy, but struck up a friendship with Gillis using Cohen’s Sisters of Mercy for one of her dances.
“There’s too many – I’m a bit of a spoiled brat when it comes to that,” she said.
While in Nanaimo, Gillis will host a series of workshops with Holly Bright, Crimson Coast Dance Society artistic director.
“We’re going to go out and create in parks around Nanaimo,” Gillis said.
What participants create will be displayed as much as possible in the Port Theatre, prior to Gillis’s performance May 20. Her dance, Thread, is a collection of explorations using ropes, weaving and other pathways.
“Usually I’m very clear about what I’m creating but this time I wasn’t,” Gillis said.
The dance includes two characters in addition to Gillis, with Eleanor Duckworth, a professor at Harvard University, portraying the benevolent side of aging.
Each stage of life carries its rewards but some things are left behind, said Gillis.
“Once you get over the shock, it’s a lot of fun,” she added.
The second character is danced by a young man representing the beloved, a generic term to represent people or objects that are loved, said Gillis.
“It sounds abstract but when you’re in the moment, it’s very tangible,” she said.
Workshops run May 15-18, with a performance at the Port Theatre May 18, 6-8:30 p.m. Cost is $75, with venue details upon registration.
Gillis performs May 20, 7:30 p.m., at the Port Theatre. Tickets $35; $31/members; $15/students. Please call 250-754-8550 or visit www.porttheatre.com.
arts@nanaimobulletin.com