“Human yearning is evoked powerfully onstage … Crystal Pite has a gift for bringing out the very best in dancers. Toronto Star
- In-person event
- ≈ 1 hour and 30 minutes · With intermission
In recognition and thanks for invaluable donor support, the NAC Orchestra and NAC Dance grants insider access to donors to audit a working rehearsal in Southam Hall. Often, an artist or member of the artistic team gives insights into the creative process and invites questions from donors. Seating is limited.
The National Ballet of Canada presents a double bill featuring women choreographers.
Emma Bovary by choreographer Helen Pickett
Emma Bovary is a psychological exploration of the central character of Gustave Flaubert’s 19th-century novel Madame Bovary, and the first work the National Ballet of Canada has commissioned from choreographer Helen Pickett. Set to premiere in November 2023, the work follows the success of Pickett’s award-winning The Crucible for Scottish Ballet in 2019. Featuring the NAC Orchestra.
A former dancer with William Forsythe’s Frankfurt Ballet, Helen Pickett combines a compelling physical vocabulary with a keen sensitivity to the human condition, taking narrative ballet to a new level. Performed to an original score by internationally renowned composer Peter Salem.
Angels’ Atlas by choreographer Crystal Pite
The compelling Angels’ Atlas will finally fill Southam Hall stage with its powerful visuals and exquisite choreography. With this major work, Crystal Pite, one of the world’s leading contemporary choreographers, continues her examination of the human condition. Backed by a score of original music by Owen Belton and choral pieces by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Morten Lauridsen, dancing bodies become symbols of humanity’s impermanence in a vast, unknowable world. Angels’ Atlas captures the turbulent rhythm that pulses fiercely through our bodies in the name of life.
Created in 2020 for The National Ballet of Canada, Angels’ Atlas received two Dora Mavor Moore Awards: Crystal Pite for Outstanding New Choreography, and Jay Gower Taylor for Outstanding Achievement in Design.
Performance is approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes including intermission
