Ballet BC's REACHING U brings back Bedroom Folk with the new GARDEN
Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar’s beat-driven favourite combines with Medhi Walerski’s meditation on the music of Saint-Saens
Bedroom Folk. Photo by Michael Slobodian
Ballet BC has just announced a new streamed double bill called REACHING U, that will be available for dance fans to view between April 15 and April 21.
The digital event will give audiences a chance to witness both a well-known audience favourite and a new piece by its artistic director Medhi Walerski.
The show features the company’s premiere of GARDEN, a work that marks Walerski’s first new piece for the company since joining the company in 2020. Before taking the position, the Paris-born choreographer had created such popular pieces in the Ballet BC repertoire as the haunting and heartbreaking Romeo + Juliet.
A poetic work inspired by composer Camille Saint-Saens’s Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 14, GARDEN weaves together a series of duets, in unison and counterpoint, that reflect the refined dialogue between the piece’s piano and strings. Walerski’s dancers shape the space physically and organically in a work originally staged for Nederlands Dans Theater in 2016; it was hailed for its “tender magnificence”, and was nominated by Dance Europe for Best Production that year.
Also on the REACHING U program, back by popular demand, is Israeli dance stars Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar’s mesmerizing Bedroom Folk, which was originally performed on Vancouver stages in 2019 and was met with critical acclaim.
Set to pulsing, hypnotic house beats, Bedroom Folk combines music, movement, and light to act as equal protagonists in a visually striking piece. The work has become a highlight in Ballet BC’s global touring repertoire. It was called “mysterious” and “gorgeous” when it was performed as part of a mixed program that opened to wild applause at the Jacob’s Pillow festival in Massachusetts in 2019.
“What a joy to connect again with all our audiences near and far. Although we might not be in the same physical space, the digital world offers us the possibility to reach you,” Walerski said in this week’s announcement. “It is an honour to be leading this exceptional company of artists at this pivotal moment in time and it is with great pleasure and pride that we present you with this exciting evening of dance.”
Registration is now live at balletbc.com and available by donation.
This post was sponsored by Ballet BC.