≈ 1 hour and 30 minutes · With intermission
Last updated: November 23, 2021
I am delighted to welcome back Ballet BC to our dance season and to introduce you to its new Artistic Director, Medhi Walerski, who took the reins in July 2020. Medhi is an artist whose work I have admired for many years, both through his long association with Nederlands Dans Theater and his previous commissions with Ballet BC. A former dancer with Paris Opera Ballet and Ballet du Rhin, Medhi’s keen understanding of the artistic process from the inside out is impressive and inspiring. He has curated a sensational evening for this program, featuring the choreographic brilliance of Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar, Crystal Pite and Medhi himself. Ballet BC is one of Canada’s finest contemporary companies and we are proud to continue our long association with it through these performances.
Enjoy!
We would like to recognize the Algonquin Nation, on whose traditional unceded territory the National Arts Centre is located. We gratefully acknowledge them as the past, present and future stewards of this land.
Program
Duration: Approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes
GARDEN
18 minutes
Previously nominated by Dance Europe for Best Production, Medhi Walerski’s GARDEN is an elegant and sophisticated work inspired by Camille Saint-Saëns’ Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 14. While reflecting the refined dialogue between strings and piano, the dancers move fluidly through a series of duets, unison, and counterpoint, embodying the notes in a pure and organic way.
World premiere: September 2016, Nederlands Dans Theater I
Company premiere: November 2021, Ballet BC
-- Intermission: 20 minutes --
The Statement
20 minutes
This dance/theatre hybrid by the world-renowned Crystal Pite explores conflict of power through her distinctive and wildly inventive choreographic style. Originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater in 2016, four dancers move to a recorded script by Canadian playwright and close collaborator Jonathon Young. Locked in a battle for control, the characters have been tasked with fuelling a conflict in a distant country. Tensions rise when they are asked to take responsibility for their actions.
World premiere: February 2016, Zuiderstrandtheater, The Hague
Company premiere: November 2021, National Arts Centre
-- Pause --
Bedroom Folk
23 minutes
Choreographed by esteemed collaborative duo Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar and set to a hypnotic house beat, Bedroom Folk combines music, movement and light to act as equal protagonists in this visually mesmerizing piece. Originally introduced to North American audiences in 2019, Bedroom Folk has become a highlight in Ballet BC’s global touring repertoire.
World premiere: April 2015, Nederlands Dans Theatre I
North American premiere: May 2019, Ballet BC
About Ballet BC
Founded in 1986 by David Y. H. Lui, Jean Orr and Sheila Begg, with Annette av Paul as first Artistic Director, the company has been under the artistic direction of Reid Anderson, Patricia Neary and Barry Ingham, followed by John Alleyne for 17 years and Emily Molnar for 11. As of July 2020, the company is proudly under the directorship of Medhi Walerski.
Ballet BC is an internationally acclaimed collaborative and creation-based contemporary ballet company that is a leader and resource in the creation, production and education of contemporary 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. In 2019, the Company was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production for their tour to Sadler’s Wells in London.
Ballet BC’s dancers are a group of open-minded and curious artists, each unique for their dynamic movement while sharing 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 including William Forsythe, Cayetano Soto, Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar, Medhi Walerski, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, Johan Inger, Adi Salant, Emanuel Gat, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Jacopo Godani, Company 605, Jorma Elo, Wen Wei Wang, Itzik Galili, Serge Bennathan, Walter Matteini, José Navas, Emily Molnar, Lesley Telford, Nicolo Fonte, Fernando Hernando Magadan, Kevin O’Day, Shawn Hounsell, Gioconda Barbuto, Simone Orlando, Robert Glumbek and Aszure Barton among others.
Ballet BC actively fosters collaborations that support artists, choreographers and audiences alike, furthering the boundaries of contemporary dance. The company embraces excellence in the practice of contemporary ballet, with its wide diversity of technique and style, honouring its roots and components.
Credits
GARDEN
Choreography: Medhi Walerski
Staging: Rupert Tookey
Music : Piano Quintet in A Minor, Op. 14: Allegro moderato e maestoso & Andante sostenuto
By Camille Saint-Saëns
Performed by Cristina Ortiz, piano; Fine Arts Quartet
Courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc.
Sound Design: Pierre Pontvianne
Lighting & Stage Design: Theun Mosk
Ballet BC Associate Lighting Designer: James Proudfoot
Costume Design: Medhi Walerski, Joke Visser
Performers: Anna Bekirova, Livona Ellis, Miriam Gittens, Kiana Jung, Sarah Pippin, Justin Rapaport, Rae Srivastava, Dex van ter Meij, Jacob Williams, Zenon Zubyk
The Statement
Choreography: Crystal Pite
Music: Owen Belton
Text: Jonathon Young
Vocal Performance: Meg Roe, Colleen Wheeler, Andrew Wheeler, Jonathon Young
Lighting Design: Tom Visser
Set Design: Jay Gower Taylor
Costume Design: Crystal Pite and Joke Visser
Staging: Roger Van der Poel and Rena Narumi
Performers: Anna Bekirova, Livona Ellis, Justin Rapaport, Rae Srivastava
Bedroom Folk
Choreography: Sharon Eyal
Co-Creator: Gai Behar
Assistant to the Choreographer: Tom Weinberger
Ballet BC Rehearsal Assistants: Justin Rapaport, Lara Barclay
Music: Ori Lichtik
Lighting Designer: Thierry Dreyfus
Lighting Director: Alon Cohen
Costume Design: Rebecca Hytting
Performers: Anna Bekirova, Emily Chessa, Livona Ellis, Miriam Gittens, Kiana Jung, Sarah Pippin, Evan Rapaport, Justin Rapaport, Rae Srivastava, Dex van ter Meij, Jacob Williams, Zenon Zubyk
Artists
Medhi Walerski became Artistic Director of Ballet BC in 2020. Raised in France, Walerski danced at the Paris Opera Ballet and the Ballet du Rhin before joining Nederlands Dans Theater in 2001. For more than a decade he contributed to NDT’s famed innovative style, and was awarded the Dutch dance prize VSCD Zwaan in 2013. Walerski has created with and performed works by Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon, Crystal Pite, Johan Inger, and Wayne McGregor among others. Since his choreographic debut in 2008, he has created numerous acclaimed works for NDT and Ballet BC including Petite Cérémonie (2011), Chamber (2012), Romeo and Juliet (2018), Silent Tides (2020), and just BEFORE right AFTER (2022), and Pieces of Tomorrow (2024),as well as works for Bern Ballet, Göteborg Ballet, StaatsBallett Hannover, Charlotte Ballet, and more.
In a choreographic career spanning three decades, Crystal Pite has created more than 50 works for dance companies in Canada and around the world. She is the founding artistic director of the Vancouver-based company Kidd Pivot, world-renowned for radical hybrids of dance and theatre that are assembled with a keen sense of wit and invention. Crystal is known for works that courageously address such challenging and complex themes as trauma, addiction, conflict, consciousness, and mortality; her bold and original vision has earned her international acclaim and inspired an entire generation of dance artists.
Crystal Pite was born in Terrace, BC, and grew up in Victoria. She began her dance career as a company member of Ballet British Columbia (Ballet BC), then William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt. She made her choreographic debut in 1990 at Ballet BC, and since then has created works for such prominent companies as The Royal Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Cullberg Ballet, Ballett Frankfurt, The National Ballet of Canada, Ballets Jazz Montréal (resident choreographer 2001–04), and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. She has also collaborated with Electric Company Theatre and Robert Lepage, and is currently Associate Choreographer of Nederlands Dans Theater, Associate Dance Artist of Canada’s National Arts Centre, and Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells in London.
In 2002, she formed Kidd Pivot, a company that strives to distill and translate universal questions into artworks that connect us to deep and essential parts of humanity.
“Running through all of my work is the question of what moves us,” she says. Kidd Pivot tours internationally with critically acclaimed works such as Betroffenheit and Revisor (both co-created with playwright Jonathon Young), The Tempest Replica, Dark Matters, Lost Action and The You Show. In 2008, Crystal Pite participated in the inaugural GGPAA Mentorship Program as the protégée of 2004 GGPAA laureate Veronica Tennant, former principal dancer of the National Ballet of Canada.
Crystal Pite is a Member of the Order of Canada. Her other awards and honours include the Benois de la Danse, Canada Council Jacqueline Lemieux Prize, Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal, two UK Critics’ Circle Dance Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and an honorary doctorate from Simon Fraser University.
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Sharon Eyal was born in Jerusalem. She danced with the Batsheva Dance Company between 1990- 2008 and started choreographing within the framework of the company’s Batsheva Dancers Create project.
Eyal served as Associate Artistic Director for Batsheva between 2003-2004, and as a House Choreographer for the company between 2005-2012. During her time with the company, she created 16 new creations.
In 2005 Eyal started to collaborate with Gai Behar on her creations, as well as the L-E-V company and different projects.
From 2009 Eyal created over 30 new creations for dance companies around the world such as Bedroom Folk, salt Womb, Feelings and Sara for the Nederland Dance Theatre; Half-Life for the Royal Swedish Ballet; Untitled Black and Autodance for GoteborgsOperans Danskompan, Sweden; Killer Pig and Corps de Walk for Carte Blanche Dance of Norway; Too Beaucoup for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago; Plafona for Tanzcompagnie Oldenburg, Germany; Soul Chain for Staatstheater Mainz, Germany and more.
Eyal collaborated with major names out of the traditional dance world such as:
Dior - Spring Summer 2019 Fashion show
The National and Mike Milles album/movie - participating in 2 music videos for the songs ‘Hairpin Turns’ and ‘Hey Rosey’ from the album ‘I Am Easy To Find’ as well as a live performance for their international tour’s opening concert at the L’Olympia in Paris
In 2013 Eyal launched L-E-V.
L-E-V’s repertoire consists of 6 creations. Their latest piece Love Chapter 2, premiered at the Montpellier Dance Festival in July 2017, and this year L-E-V is working on a new creation to be premiered in September 2019 at the Ruhr Triennale Festival in Germany.
L-E-V's creations are co-produced with some of the leading dance venues around the globe such as Sadler’s Wells- London and Julidans- Amsterdam. The co-producers list consists of many other great venues: Montpellier Danse Festival, GROS Culture Percentage - Dance Festival STEPS, Theater Freiburg, The Banff Centre in Canada, Carolina Performing Arts - North Carolina, USA and TorinoDanza.
In the past 10 years since L-E-V was founded, the company had more than 200 performances some in the most exclusive venues around the world such as The Joyce Theatre – NYC; Jacob's Pillow - Becket, Massachusetts; Sadler's Wells - London, UK ; The Montpellier Danse Festival – France; Edinburgh International Festival; Julidans – Amsterdam.
Eyal received several awards:
The "Faust" theater award in Germany (2018)
The Professional Association of Dance & Theater Critiques at the Chaillot National Theater in Paris (2018)
The prestigious FEDORA - VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Prize for Ballet 2017 (2017)
The Best Dance Performance - James Sewell Ballet's 'Killer Pig' (2017)
The 12th Belgrade Dance Festival’s Jovan Ćirilov Award (2017)
The Landau Prize for the Performing Arts in the dance category (2009).
Eyal was named - Chosen Artist, by the Israeli Cultural Excellence Foundation (2008)
The Ministry of Culture Award for Young Dance Creators (2004),
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Gai Behar (Tel-Aviv, 1977) has been of wide influence of Tel Aviv’s live music, art and nightlife scenes from 1999 to 2005. He produced live music, underground artistic events and techno raves.
Between 1999-2005 Behar also curated and produced the events Man Without a Shirt in Tel Aviv. The event was co-curated by Uri Katzenstein, and among other included works by Ohad Naharin and Sharon Eyal. Gai produced the second round of Ohad Naharin’s Playback.
In October 2012, Eyal and Behar premiered Untitled Black in collaboration with the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani in Gothenburg, Sweden. In May 2013, they created the ethereal piece Sara for NDT 2. The same year, they launched their dance company L-E-V.
Since L-E-V was founded, the company had more than 180 performances some in the most exclusive venues around the world such as: The Joyce Theatre – NYC; Jacob’s Pillow – Becket, Massachusetts; Sadler’s Wells – London, UK ; The Montpellier Danse Festival – France; Julidans – Amsterdam.
Alongside their work with L-E-V, Eyal and Behar had also been commissioned to create for external companies: the Nederland Dance Theatre’s Sara (2013); Bedroom Folk (2015); Salt Womb (2016), Half-Life for the Royal Swedish Ballet and more.
NAC Dance team
Cathy Levy, Executive Producer
Tina Legari, Associate Producer
Mireille Nicholas, Special Projects Coordinator and Assistant to the Executive Producer
Sophie Anka, Company Manager
Siôned Watkins, Education Associate and Teaching Artist
Brian Britton, Technical Director
Livia Belcea, Communications Strategist
Chatelaine Rindorindo, Marketing Strategist
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees