contemporary

I was excited about seeing Program 3 since it was announced a year ago that they were to be performing a work by Ohad Naharin, director of the mighty Batsheva Dance Company. Add to that new work by acclaimed choreographer Emanuel Gat, and a fresh piece by Ballet BC’s director Emily Molnar and we were set for an intriguing evening of dance.

LOCK is a complex and deeply absorbing work by Emanuel Gat and the dancers of Ballet BC. It is a piece about the dancers, ‘their history, talent, commitment and curiosity’. Gat gives us an opportunity to observe the...

Minus16_Dress_11052017_31 photo©Michael Slobodian Minus 16 Choreography / Ohad Naharin Dancers / Artists of Ballet BC

Last night I had the pleasure of attending Ballet BC’s Program 2, a unique collection of works in honour of Canada’s 150th birthday. While it is traditional for Ballet BC’s programs to include a world premiere work, this evening featured not one, but three world premieres! All four pieces were created in collaboration with BC companies, designers and artists, in line with Artistic Director Emily Molnar’s vision of supporting the work of Canadian choreographers.

Before the performance began, Molnar spoke to the importance of unity and togetherness in the artistic community, now more than ever. Using artistic expression to bring...

Alexis Fletcher and Kirsten Wicklund in Swan by Wen Wei Wang – photography Cindi Wicklund

An abstract meditation on the nature of those with hooves, perhaps you require hooves of your own to truly appreciate this production written and directed by Elysse Cheadle. Inspired by beasts both domestic and mythic, hoof attempts to stand on its own four feet (or 10 feet if you count the actual number of feet belonging to its five female performers appearing onstage at the Waterfront Theatre). The show has physical theatre and abstraction aplenty but spoken text is largely nowhere to be found.

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