Ballet BC's live season opener Unfold + Give boasts premieres by local bright lights Lesley Telford and Company 605
The program at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on November 4, 5, and 6 also includes a new work by rising choreographer Ethan Colangelo and a live look at artistic director Medhi Walerski’s GARDEN
Ballet BC Dancer Anna Bekirova. Photo by Marcus Eriksson
Ballet BC has gathered a program that boasts a compelling quartet of works to mark its much-anticipated live return to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
In the program running November 4 to 6 with COVID protocols in place, the company will debut three world premieres and the live North American premiere of its artistic director Medhi Walerski’s serene GARDEN—a work enjoyed online by Ballet BC audiences during pandemic lockdowns.
Fast-rising Toronto-born, NYC-based choreographer Ethan Colangelo will unveil Stadium, a piece that deals with a dialogue and introspective dive into human reflection through memory. As the stadium is built, each character sees themselves as a spectator from outside their own experiences and memories.
Elsewhere on the program, Vancouver’s own Lesley Telford, an alumna of the acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater, will debut her compelling new Lean-To, her third commission for Ballet BC. Rich with her signature intricate, deeply thoughtful choreography, the work explores the interdependencies of family constellations and how they transform over time.
And Vancouver’s Company 605 is working with Ballet BC dancers for the world premiere of After We Glow, a piece that asks how we envision the future in our bodies and how we might move there. Time and place are constantly bent and distorted, and dancers move between unfamiliar forms and rhythms, playing within unknowable spaces and moving toward a new way forward.
Walerski’s GARDEN rounds out the diverse program in an elegant and sophisticated work inspired by Camille Saint-Saëns’ Piano Quintet in A minor—one that earned a nomination by Dance Europe for Best Production when it premiered at NDT. The piece centres around a series of flowing duets, unison sequences, and counterpoint, while reflecting the refined dialogue between strings and piano, the dancers shaping the space physically in a pure and organic way. It marks the first work that Walerski has mounted on a live stage since taking on the role of artistic director amid the pandemic last year.
And a note for those unable to venture out to live performances yet: Ballet BC will offer a digital performance of Unfold + Give, to be released following the live performances at the QET. Stay tuned for more details on how to access that offering.
You can find more information and tickets for Unfold + Give here.
Post sponsored by Ballet BC