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Creating the conditions for joy
December 19, 2014If you were to try to describe unbridled human joy to a newcomer on planet Earth, pointing directly at Kyle during Elizabeth Simpson’s Music Circle class would make an easy visual. Kyle sits in the standard public high school chair, one leg tucked under another, and beams as Liz Simpson…
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CBC Television: Historic Salisbury concert to air on Christmas day
December 19, 2014On Christmas Day, Canadians are invited to watch the extraordinary performance of the National Arts Centre Orchestra on CBC Television from Salisbury Cathedral to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. The haunting beauty of one of the United Kingdom’s…
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A Tale of Childhood Discovery
December 16, 2014When Alice enters the surreal looking-glass world, she moves in a dreamlike game of chess where logical reasoning and adult thinking rarely deliver the outcome she expects. For the NAC’s English Theatre ensemble, a big part of rehearsals for Alice Through the Looking-Glass was…
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Crystal Pite and the world stage
December 15, 2014In a NAC Dance Podcast interview with Cathy Levy in 2009 at the time of her show Dark Matters, the acclaimed Vancouver dancer-choreographer Crystal Pite spoke about her first time coming to the NAC. It was 25 years ago, and she was then a dancer with Ballet British Columbia. “All I…
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Why a late blooming arts lover is supporting the NAC
December 12, 2014Lawyer Michael Segal admits he wasn’t much of an arts lover in his youth. “I grew up with sports,” he says. “It was my wife, Hedy, who studied music and introduced me to the performing arts.” And so, Michael didn’t know what to expect when Hedy took him to his first ballet at the NAC many…
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How music builds community
December 11, 2014In 2006 the National Arts Centre began sending musicians into schools in rural and remote communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Developed in consultation with local boards of education, and using NAC-created teaching resources based on classical music composers, the Music Alive…
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Singing Messiah: Keeping it fresh, with help from Woody Woodpecker
December 11, 2014I have the great pleasure to prepare the chorus for the National Arts Centre Orchestra's production of Handel's Messiah, an event I have enjoyed for over 27 years. My job is to keep the chorus on their toes, rehearsing the movements in a variety of tempi, articulation and dynamics. Add…
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A new NAC: Re-imagining Canada’s home for the performing arts
December 10, 2014The Honourable John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs and M.P. for Ottawa West-Nepean, and the Honourable Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, today announced capital funding of $110.5 million to transform and revitalize the National Arts Centre. Situated…
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Explore the Symphony: The passion behind the podcast
December 9, 2014Tucked into the back corner of the NAC’s lobby the Hexagon Studio is a small space where big ideas are discussed. It is the home of NAC podcasting and it is where NAC Orchestra musician Marjolaine Fournier and music critic Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer can be seen engaged in passionate…
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Citrus cheesecake
December 8, 2014Back in the old days, before refrigerators and year-round food imports, people used to equate citrus fruit with the holidays. What a special treat it must have been to enjoy a brightly-coloured, fragrant fruit in the middle of the cold, dark winter. It’s in that spirit that NAC Executive…
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The inside scoop: Pre-chats, open rehearsals and previews
December 5, 2014Attending pre-rehearsal chats and open rehearsals are one of the many benefits donors receive when they support performance, creation and learning across Canada through the National Arts Centre Foundation. On November 6, Cathy Levy, Executive Producer of NAC Dance, spoke to donors about…
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Come out to play! Becoming a child again with Alice
December 1, 2014Childhood normally fades slowly. Wisps of childhood persist when the boy or girl is a grown man or woman. Childhood returns sometimes by day, more often by night. But it was not so with Lewis Carroll. For some reason… childhood remained in him entire, he could do what no one else has ever…
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Kiss & Cry - Talkback
November 28, 2014In November 2014, NAC French Theatre was delighted to present Kiss & Cry, an internationally acclaimed work from Belgian artists Jaco Van Dormael and Michèle Anne De Mey. A unique production that combines theatre, dance and live filming, Kiss & Cry is a love story told in miniature, its…
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The Collaborations: Canadian theatre on the world stage
November 27, 2014Helen Lawrence is a ground-breaking co-production with Canadian Stage, the Arts Club Theatre Company, The Banff Centre and Stan Douglas that intertwines 3D animation, live-filming and theatre. NAC English Theatre invested in the show through The Collaborations, an initiative that gives…
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The Nutcracker: The numbers behind the sparkle
November 27, 2014Alberta Ballet is one of the many outstanding Canadian arts organizations that the National Arts Centre partners with every year. Under the leadership of its artistic director Jean Grand-Maître, the company has become known for high-quality dance and inventive repertoire, as evidenced by…
