Ballet BC 25th Anniversary Celebration – April 14-16, 2011
BALLET BC and THE TURNING POINT ENSEMBLE
With Conductor OWEN UNDERHILL
25th Anniversary Celebration
April 14-16, 2011
4 WORLD PREMIERES
Choreography: SERGE BENNATHAN
Music: New Composition by Michael Oesterle
French-born choreographer Serge Bennathan was Artistic Director of Dancemakers in Toronto from 1990 to 2006, leaving an indelible mark on Canada’s dance scene. The physical nature of his new choreography signals his desire “to go back to a rougher artistry…I don’t want to create dance that is too clean. It’s good to prove that you still have the courage to go further in what you think you are as an artist.â€
His work has been commissioned by many international companies and festivals, including Teatro San Martin Ballet Contemporaneo in Buenos Aires, Le Jeune Ballet International de Cannes, the Canada Dance Festival, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Ballet BC, The National Ballet of Canada and the Canada Japan New Creators Series. In 2006, he created Les Productions FIGLIO in Vancouver.
Choreography: Wen Wei Wang
Music: Owen Underhill
As a dancer, choreographer and one of Canada’s fastest rising stars, Wen Wei Wang symbolizes the Canada of today and honours the diversity of his life experiences by making his own unique dance language, using “movements already in dance and turning them into something different. My work is not modern, it’s not ballet, it’s not classical Chinese dance, and yet it is all of these things.â€
Wang danced professionally in China before coming to Canada in 1991 and was a dancer with Ballet BC for several years. He has choreographed more than twenty works and in 2000 received the prestigious Clifford E. Lee Award for excellence in choreography. Created with the support of Dance Victoria.
Choreography: GIOCONDA BARBUTO
Music: New Composition by Anthony Genge
A soloist with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens until 1996, Gioconda Barbuto has distinguished herself in works by choreographers such as George Balanchine, Nacho Duato, Jiri Kylián, James Kudelka, Hans van Manen, Mark Morris, Ginette Laurin, José Limon and Ohad Naharin, among others. In 1998, she joined Netherlands Dance Theatre III, a company of professional dancers over the age of 40.
Barbuto’s choreography reflects her traits as a dancer, explosive wit and subtle intelligence endowed with a fine sense of theatricality and comedic talent. In recognition of her choreographic work, Barbuto received the Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award in 1996. Her works are in the repertoire of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Alberta Ballet, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal and Ballet Jörgen, among others.
For more information, please visit: http://balletbc.com
