Ballet BC turns 25 this week. To celebrate the milestone, a special performance will be presented from April 14-16. The Turning Point Ensemble, an award-winning Canadian chamber orchestra, will join Ballet BC in bringing four new ballet pieces to the stage. Three of the four performances are world premieres. Vancouver is one lucky city!
[Ballet BC’s Alyson Fretz, Makaila Wallace, and Delphine Leroux]
BC Ballet Artistic Director Emily Molnar is thrilled to present these four pieces to both dance and music lovers alike. Here’s a brief background on the four pieces that audiences can expect to be wowed by later this week.
[Ballet BC’s Alexis Fletcher]
French-born choreographer Serge Bennathan’s new work is set to an original composition by Montreal-based composer Michael Oesterle. This piece will showcase the physical nature of ballet. Bennathan wanted to “go back to a rougher artistry…I don’t want to create dance that is too clean. It’s good to prove that you still have the courage to go further in what you think you are as an artist.”
Wen Wei Wang’s new piece set to Owen Underhill’s music, Geometry of Harmony, symbolizes today’s Canada while honoring the diversity of Wang’s life experiences through his own unique interpretation. Wang, a dancer with Ballet BC for several years, has choreographed over 20 works and received the prestigious Clifford E. Lee Award in 2000 for excellence in choreography.
Award-winning Montreal choreographer Gioconda Barbuto presents a World premiere set to an original score by Anthony Genge. Barbuto is a former dancer with the Netherlands Dance Theatre III. Her works are in the repertoire of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Alberta Ballet, BJM Danse and Ballet Jörgen, amongst others.
Donald Sales, currently a dancer with Ballet BC, is well known for his powerful presence on stage. Sales will use the score of cheating, lying, stealing by Pulitzer Prize-winning New York composer David Lang in this production. Edgy, visceral and compelling, his choreography resonates with street-wise cleverness. This collaboration is an example of Ballet BC’s commitment to supporting members of the company in their choreographic development.
Ballet BC comprises 15 dancers from around the world, presenting a variety of both Canadian and international contemporary ballet. The company continues to perform on multiple regional, national, and international tours in addition to its regular season at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
The Turning Point Ensemble won 2011’s Rio Tinto Alcan Award for Music. With conductor Owen Underhill (Co-Artistic Director) and trombonist Jeremy Berkman, TPE’s repertoire spans several hundred years and the Ensemble looks forward to this first Ballet BC collaborative project.
Tickets for this special event are priced between $35 – $70 (including HST) and are available either through Ticketmaster (1.888.985.2787 | 855.985.ARTS) or online. A toast to another 25 great years of Ballet BC productions!
Photos courtesy of Chris Randle.
