Lucky are those who manage to combine work and play, and this Christmas Paul Larocque has extra reason to feel festive. Not only will the Arts Umbrella president and CEO get to bring both worlds together, he’ll do it for an adoring audience in the elegant Orpheum theatre, as part of Christmas With Chor Leoni: Angels Dance.

By day, Larocque is in charge of the business side of the thriving arts-education organization, with the added responsibility of overseeing its takeover of part of the former Emily Carr University site on Granville Island, slated for completion in 2020. By night, he sings baritone with the region’s premier men’s choir. And this weekend, he’s helping to bring his two passions together when students in Arts Umbrella’s pre-professional dance-training program join Chor Leoni in a rare fusion of choral music and choreography.

“Collaborations are always exciting,” he tells the Straight in a telephone interview from his False Creek home. “But this one, for me, is extremely special, because these are two organizations that I’ve been personally and professionally involved with for close to two decades. With Chor Leoni, being a singing member for 16 years, and with Arts Umbrella, off and on for a 24-year span.

“Arty [Artemis Gordon], the artistic director of the dance program at Arts Umbrella, and Erick Lichte, the artistic director of Chor Leoni, they’re both dear friends of mine, and I’m so excited to see how the two of them will work together,” he continues. “A very special collaboration will result.…and I think that the two performances, for us, will just be extremely special. To have this additional element of live dance really is going to be extremely dynamic for us, and we’re very, very excited about it.”

As thrilled as Larocque is about being part of the musical accompaniment for choreographers Lesley Telford, Livona Ellis, and the Ballet BC team of Brandon Lee Alley and Rachael Prince, he’s even more enthusiastic about what the student performers will take away from appearing on Vancouver’s most glamorous stage.

“It’s an extraordinary opportunity for these dancers,” he says. “And it’s actually one of the foundational aspects of the program, to be a part of these kinds of exchanges. This year alone, these dancers will perform with Ballet BC, they’ll be performing with Chor Leoni, of course, with Bard on the Beach, with a number of choreographers creating new works. This program is about intensive artistic practice, the study of technique, working with choreographers—and then putting all that into practice at a professional level, which speaks to why so many of our students are moving into professional careers upon leaving.”

Most of all, he adds, it will give the young dancers, right from the start of their professional lives, a profound sense of possibility—and then, in turn, they’ll give their gifts to us. A better Christmas present would be hard to imagine.

Christmas With Chor Leoni: Angels Dance takes place at the Orpheum on Saturday (December 21). Chor Leoni will also perform, without dancers, at West Vancouver United Church on Sunday (December 22).