Gioconda Barbuto

Freedom of Movement

Unlike most ballet dancers forced into retirement at the sign of the first wrinkle, Canadian dancer Giocanda Barbuto's career on the stage continues to flourish as she journeys through her forties with the Dutch dance troupe Netherlands Dance Theater III.

For as far back as she can remember, Gioconda Barbuto always wanted to dance. The Canadian born dancer was already creating her own choreography as a child. It was the warm mezzo-soprano voice of her Italian mother that first inspired her to move to music.

"She had a beautiful voice and she sang every day," says Barbuto. "I think it was her liberation when she sang that intrigued me. I only hope I can captivate when I am dancing. My mother is like that as a person. I’m not, but I feel as though I can be like that when I dance."

As Gioconda grew, so did her desire to dance. She was passionate about movement and this fixation left the family in a quandary. “I was constantly imitating anything I saw was moving,” says Gioconda, "So, when a friend of my father’s suggested sending me to ballet, they did! That was a very unusual thing to do, remembering my family is from Southern Italy and had little understanding of the ballet world or what ballerinas do."

"I heard they measured your limbs!"

Gioconda Barbuto’s career path was not typical of that taken by many young dancers. She was afraid of the Canadian National Ballet because: “I heard they measured your limbs. And I really didn’t want to know about that,” she laughs. "As a young girl I just was so afraid of that.”

Her first ballet teacher, the renowned Canadian dancer and choreographer Gladys Forrester, turned out to be one of the leading lights on the pathway to her career. “She was about everything, she was about how every part of your body moved from inside out,” she recalls. "Gladys showed you how your emotions took you somewhere, how you listened to music and how it made you feel."

It was Forrester’s attention to detail that fascinated the young dancer. "She showed you how your little finger, if you just moved it the right way, could speak out to the audience,” Barbuto says. "She was a great inspiration to me because she didn’t let a thing go by.” Gioconda stayed with Forrester for many years and continued her training on full scholarships at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Professional Program of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

When Barbuto was 18, another experience help light the path the young dancer would take. “I remember seeing a modern contemporary work. 'The ecstasy of Rita Joe'" says Gioconda."It was quite different to what I had seen at the National Ballet, and from that moment on I said that’s the way I wanted to dance.”

It was the freedom of the modern dance movement that intrigued Gioconda. “I was able to see from that contemporary moment that there was a realness … a freedom about it and I wanted to be like that -- to dance like that.”

Under the tutelage of legends

Barbuto was a soloist with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens until 1996. She also danced with the Minnesota Dance Theatre. During that time she distinguished herself in an impressive number of works by choreographers the likes of George Balanchine, John Butler, Nacho Duato, Michel Fokine, Jirí Kylián, James Kudelka, Ginette Laurin, José Limon, Hans van Manen, Brian MacDonald, Mark Morris, Ohad Naharin, Fernand Nault and Antony Tudor.

But after 16 years with Les Grand Ballets Canadiens, Barbuto left to become an independent dancer/choreographer. “I was still feeling inspired and full of energy to keep dancing," she explains. "And it was the time to make room for many of the new dancers coming up."

Over the next two years she performed with Danse Théâtre de Montréal, Fortier Danse-Création and Margie Gillis. With the grants awarded to her by the Canada Council, Gioconda went on to create and perform projects with Danse-Cité. In recognition of her talent as a choreographer she won the Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award in 1996. But unlike many colleagues in their late thirties, Gioconda was a long way from hanging up her dancing shoes.

“I remember hearing my colleagues who were in their thirties saying, "'Oh well, that’s it for me," she says. "I was a little shy and said, 'Hey I'm just starting to feel like things are coming together.'"