Édouard Lock

Édouard Lock, the choreographer and founder of La La La Human Steps, began his dancing career at the age of 19. From 1975 to 1979, he choreographed several pieces for dance companies around Montreal, such as the Groupe de la Place Royale, the Groupe Nouvelle Aire and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. In 1980, he founded his own dance company, the Lock Danseurs, which later became La La La Human Steps. That same year, he choreographed Lily Marlène dans la jungle (1980), a work presented at The Kitchen, a space in New York renowned then for hosting contemporary dance. In the early eighties, Lock choreographed two more pieces, Oranges (1981) and Businessman in the Process of Becoming an Angel (1983). The latter won dancer Louise Lecavalier, Lock's long-time collaborator, a Bessie Award in New York. The company's reputation grew rapidly with Lock also winning a Bessie Award in 1986 for Human Sex, a work created in 1985. New Demons (1987) opened the second Festival de nouvelle danse de Montréal and propelled the company into a world tour that lasted two years. Édouard Lock has also worked with several figures in the world of music. He created a choreographed event with David Bowie and Louise Lecavalier as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, filmed by video artist Nam June Paik, then continued his collaboration with Bowie in 1990 as creator and art director of his Sound + Vision world tour. In 1992. he worked with Frank Zappa on the performance of Yellow Shark, alongside the Ensemble Modern, the Frankfurt Alte Oper, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Konzerthaus. Among his many honours, Lock was appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Québec in 2001. That same year, he won a National Arts Centre Award in the field of dance as part of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for Salt/Exaucé. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2002.