Picasso- Lovers and Muses: Bolero Dance Theatre performs at Winnipeg Fringe Festival

Tomorow the 2024 Fringe Festival begins. 25 venues across the city will host 150 shows produced by theatre groups from around the world. 

One of the local offerings this year is a show that is being put on by Winnipeg’s Bolero Dance Theatre 

Called Picasso: Lovers and Muses this show will give audience members a look behind the canvas and explore the notable women who influenced and inspired Picasso’s art and life. 

The show will tell the story of Picasso and his muses by way of the dances, fans, and castanets, of his native Spain, building up to his dramatic masterpiece titled Guernica. 

The shows take place at the Tom Hendry Warehouse Theater at 140 Rupert Avenue. 

Pedro Aurelio plays the role of Picasso. He is also the Artistic Director for Bolero Dance Theatre. The idea of creating a show about Picasso and his muses came to him over many years. As he explains, “About 15 years ago we did a similar production of Picasso. It had different dances, different storyline...he is such a larger-than-life character, he stays with you. I was looking for an idea for the Fringe Festival that could incorporate a little bit of acting and a storyline, and this story just made sense.” 

Picasso had relationships with many, many women. Most of the relationships were fraught with angst and despair. The show focuses on six of the women Picasso loved, starting from the earliest going until the end of his life.  

Kieran Lloyd is a dancer with Bolero Dance Theatre, she dances the role of Marie-Thérèse Walter, a French model who Picasso started seeing in 1927. As she states, "What's kind of harrowing is that of the six we portray in the show, only one of them came out the other end of a relationship with Picasso whole and okay. There were some that killed themselves, some that went insane, some that died. Only one came out the other side being okay.” 

The show explores the lovers and muses in Picasso’s life and relates them to specific parts of Picasso's artistic career. Costumes and lighting are used to help depict the infamous Blue Period and Rose Period in Picasso’s output. There is also mention of the hugely significant masterpiece by Picasso; his painting Guernica, which was created as a response to the Spanish Civil war and has been used as an icon that depicts the devastation of war ever since.  

Guernica by Pablo Picasso

Adding to the magic of the show is the use of live music. Accordion player Stephen Kiz, guitarist Philippe Meunier, and singer Onna Lou will join the company on stage providing a musical backdrop to the story.  

The music for the show is a mixture of flamenco, classical Spanish dance music and even some numbers that are on outer edges, neither Flamenco or classical. All the musicians on stage will be getting energy from the dancers on stage. As Onna Lou says, “We are feeding off the energy of the dancers. The footwork of the dancers is another instrument...and the choreography adds meaning to the words I am singing, and what the guitar and accordion are doing. Very much like a big band the energy kind of grows beautifully in that collaboration.” 

Picasso: Lovers and Muses promises to be an excellent show full of Spanish flair, that encapsulates the complicated love life of an iconic character of the twentieth century. 

All performances take place at the Tom Hendry Warehouse Theater at 140 Rupert Avenue. For details on showtimes click here.