≈ 116 minutes · With intermission
Last updated: March 12, 2019
It’s such an honour to bring to Ottawa a vast world of dance, shaped by some of the most gifted and innovative artists working across a broad spectrum of styles and influences. As we continue to search out the best and brightest dance companies to present to you, our wonderfully receptive and enthusiastic audience, we invite you to explore the new and the familiar on this extraordinary journey of life in motion!
Ballet BC has enjoyed a spectacular rebirth under the artistic leadership of Emily Molnar, and we are great fans of her work both as a choreographer and director. Celebrating her 10th season at the helm, Emily has assembled a gorgeous evening of works that highlight the company’s distinctive style, including her latest piece inspired by Jimi Hendrix and one of William Forsythe’s most stunning and challenging œuvres. NAC Dance is honoured to bring you these performances on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Nation, and we respectfully acknowledge them as past, present, and future stewards of this land. Enjoy the performance!
Ballet BC
Founded in 1986, Ballet BC is an internationally acclaimed collaborative and creation-based contemporary ballet company and a leader in the creation, production, and education of contem-porary dance in Canada. Bold and innovative, the Company’s distinctive style and approach has made a unique and valuable national contribution to the development of dance.
Ballet BC’s dancers are open-minded and curious artists who share an intuitive passion for dance. Ballet BC is committed to its role as a leader in the community through dancer training opportunities, community and audience outreach, and professional development activities.
The Company presents a diverse repertoire of Canadian and international work from the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and is a hotbed for the creation and performance of new works. Since 2009, the company has developed a repertoire of more than 45 new works by acclaimed Canadian and international choreographers. Under the artistic direction of Emily Molnar, Ballet BC actively fosters collaborations that support artists, choreographers, and audiences alike, furthering the boundaries of contemporary dance. We embrace excellence in the practice of contemporary ballet, with its wide diversity of technique and style, honouring its roots and components.
Acknowledgements
Ballet BC tours nationally and internationally, inspiring places we visit with our bold choreography. We gratefully acknowledge support of our positive touring trajectory.
Ballet BC acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.
Ballet BC acknowledges financial support from the Province of British Columbia through funding provided by the BC Arts Council.
Ballet BC extends sincere thanks to the Y. P. Heung Foundation for its commitment to Ballet BC’s Emerging Artist Program.
BEGINNING AFTER
World Premiere: November 2016, Ballet BC
The truth is a comfortable place only if you accept it or pursue honesty. The truth can be uncomfortable if you dislike it or prefer to stay living in your own illusion.
But then memory comes into play, and memory can be uncertain. It could help those who seek the truth and annoy those who flee from it.
Is what you’re seeing really happening? Or maybe, at the same time, you are creating a parallel dream?
Which reality is going to be your truth? Is this reality the same for you as it is for me?
This is a beginning. Or are we still dreaming?
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Choreography, Lighting and Costume Design: Cayetano Soto
Music:
Giulio Cesare, HWV 17, Act 1: Son nata a lagrimar
Composed by George Frideric Handel
Performed by: Nathalie Stutzmann, Philippe Jaroussky, Orfeo 55
Courtesy of Warner Classics UK
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing
Arianna in Creta, HWV 32, Act 2: Son qual stanco pellegrino
Composed by George Frideric Handel
Performed by: Nathalie Stutzmann, Orfeo 55
Courtesy of Warner Classics UK
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing
Assistant Lighting Design: James Proudfoot
Assistant to the Costume Designer: Kate Burrows
Assistant to the Choreographer: Mikiko Arai
Performers: Brandon Alley, Emily Chessa, Alexis Fletcher, Scott Fowler, Patrick Kilbane, Racheal Prince, Justin Rapaport, Gilbert Small, Peter Smida, Nicole Ward, Kirsten Wicklund
Enemy in the Figure
World Premiere: May 1989, Operahouse Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
Making use of an undulating screen positioned diagonally across the stage, a rope that is pulsed across the floor as if indicating energy levels or secret messages, a floodlight on wheels that is manipulated by the dancers, and a ticking, brooding score by Thom Willems, Enemy in the Figure is a dark and thrilling poem about vision and perception, form and chaos.
Light – as integral here to the choreography as the steps – filters across the stage in uneven and transient shafts, exploding and contracting the space, bathing the dancers in a concentrated glare or obscuring them with deepening shadows that intensify the ephemeral beauty of the movement.
Donning garments of layered fringes over their black or white leotards, the dancers burst out of and disappear into the darkness like eruptions from the unconscious, their bodies appearing as polyphonous instruments that can generate movement from any point. Ballet-trained limbs mutate into angled, disjointed shapes, inscribing convulsive geometries as they spin against their kinetic shadows, or generate endless chains of movement on a suddenly empty stage, the light bleached and even, the music a low, rhythmic, repetitive melody. In a universe alternately frenetic and calm, Enemy in the Figure presents a non-narrative of mystery and urgency, isolation and connection, the mechanical and the human: dance as a medium for infinite possibilities.
– Roslyn Sulcas
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Choreography: William Forsythe
Music: Thom Willems
Stage, Lights and Costumes: William Forsythe
Staging: Thomas McManus, Ayman Harper
Performers: Brandon Alley, Emily Chessa, Alexis Fletcher, Scott Fowler, Kiera Hill, Patrick Kilbane, Racheal Prince, Justin Rapaport, Gilbert Small, Nicole Ward, Kirsten Wicklund
Performances of the work are given by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.
To this day
World Premiere: November 2018, Ballet BC
Choreography: Emily Molnar
in collaboration with the artists of Ballet BC
Music:
Born Under a Bad Sign
Words and music by: William Bell, Booker T. Jones Jr.
© Universal Music Publishing Canada on behalf of Music, Inc./ 75%
Not for broadcast transmission. All rights reserved.
DO NOT DUPLICATE. Cotillion Music Inc. (BMI)
Master Recording Courtesy of Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. under exclusive license by Sony Music Entertainment
Once I Had A Woman and Voodoo Chile Blues
Words and music by : Jimi Hendrix
© Universal Music Publishing Canada on behalf of Experience Hendrix, L.L.C.
Not for broadcast transmission. All rights reserved.
DO NOT DUPLICATE.
Cotillion Music Inc. (BMI)
Master Recording Courtesy of Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. under exclusive license by Sony Music Entertainment
Special thanks to Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. for permission.
Lighting Design: James Proudfoot
Costume Design: Kate Burrows
Assistant to the Choreographer: Alexis Fletcher
Performers: Brandon Alley, Anna Bekirova*, Emily Chessa, Parker Finley, Scott Fowler, Miriam Gittens*, Kiera Hill, Patrick Kilbane, Racheal Prince, Justin Rapaport, Peter Smida, Dex van ter Meij*, Nicole Ward, Sophie Whittome*, Zenon Zubyk* (*Emerging artists)
Ballet BC
Credits
Artistic Director: Emily Molnar, C.M.
Guest Rehearsal Directors: Sandrine Cassini, Makaila Wallace, Sylvain Senez
Dancers: Brandon Alley, Anna Bekirova*, Emily Chessa, Parker Finley, Alexis Fletcher, Scott Fowler, Miriam Gittens*, Kiera Hill, Patrick Kilblane, Racheal Prince, Justin Rapaport, Gilbert Small, Peter Smida, Dex van ter Meij*, Nicole Ward, Kirsten Wicklund, Sophie Whittome*, Zenon Zubyk* (*Emerging artists)
Resident Teachers: Beverley Bagg, Andrew Bartee, Justine Chambers, Kate Franklin, Artemis Gordon, Heather Myers, Sylvain Senez, Gilbert Small, Lesley Telford, Makaila Wallace, Wen Wei Wang
Guest Teachers: Francisco Martinez, Adi Salant, Risa Steinberg, Francesca Caroti
Accompanists: Wendy Albrecht, Zabelita Fraser, Trevor McLain, Michael Park, Amanda Pi, Gregg Schiller, Catherine Tseng, Yawen Wang
Board of Directors
President and Chair: Linda Brown
Vice-President: Cheryl Stevens
Treasurer: Robert Riecken
Secretary: Melina Buckley
Past-Chair: Dr. Kevin B. Leslie
Directors: Linda Brown, Melina Buckley, John Davis, Arlene Gladstone, Stanley Hamilton, Ingrid Leong, Dr. Kevin B. Leslie, Pamela McDonald, Dario Meli, Robert Riecken, Cheryl Stevens, James Sullivan, Bruce Wright
Honorary Life Members: Jane McLennan, Don Shumka, Jane Shumka
Administration
Executive Director: John Clark
Artistic Assistant: Rebecca Karpus
Director of Finance: Sabine Rouques
Bookkeeper: Joanne Reid
Office and Volunteer Coordinator: Noni Raskin
Associate Director of Foundation and Government Support: Elisabeth Kyle
Development Coordinator: Laura Aliaga
Audience Services Manager: Fran Hefferman
Marketing Manager: Adrienne Toye
Marketing and Development Assistant: Clara Chow
Education and Outreach Administrator: Nina Patel
Media Relations: Shannon Heth, Milk Creative Communications
Graphic Production: Derek von Essen
Photographer and Videographer: Michael Slobodian
Production
Director of Production and Operations: Derek Mack
Technical Director: Elliot Banner
Production Stage Manager: Kimberly Plough
Resident Lighting Designer and Director: James Proudfoot
Production Electrician: Patrick Smith
Head of Props and Scenic Carpenter: Randy Biro
Head of Wardrobe: Kate Burrows
Pacific Ballet British Columbia Society (Ballet BC) is a non-profit society, charitable registration no. 11907 5364 RR0001.
Artists
Since August 2020, Emily Molnar has been the Artistic Director of Nederlands Dans Theater, where her vision is to move the company into a new era of creativity. Molnar has worked and toured extensively throughout the world as an internationally respected and critically acclaimed dance artist, choreographer, mentor, arts advocate, and leader. After graduating from Canada’s National Ballet School in 1990, she pursued a performance career as a member of the National Ballet of Canada, Ballet BC and a soloist with Ballett Frankfurt under director William Forsythe. From 2009-2020, Molnar was the Artistic Director of Ballet BC, where her vision for innovation and collaboration resulted in the creation of over forty-five new works and steered the company to international recognition. For five years, Molnar served as the Artistic Director of Dance at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her contributions have been recognized with numerous awards and distinctions. In 2016, Molnar was named a Member of the Order of Canada, one of Canada’s highest civilian honours, for her contribution to dance.
Born and raised in North Carolina, Brandon Lee Alley is a multi-hyphenate artist residing on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. Brandon began his professional career with Hubbard Street 2 followed by one year with BODYTRAFFIC in LA. In 2015, he joined Ballet BC. After 5 seasons, he continued to perform and collaborate with numerous companies and artists within Vancouver such as Company 605, Idan Cohen and Rachel Meyer. In 2022, Brandon joined Kidd Pivot for Revisor and was a member of the final global tour. In 2019, Brandon co-founded Dance//Novella - a contemporary dance company based in Vancouver, Canada. In addition to creating dance, Brandon is also an Audio Engineer with a diploma from SAE North Vancouver. He has made several original scores for dance and is excited to continue developing his musical journey.
