Program 2 1st Flash Jorma Elo WHICH/ONE Adi Salant Solo Echo Crystal Pite Feb 28 Mar 1 2 Queen Elizabeth Theatre @BALLETBC AN ARTSLANDIA #BALLETBCPROGRAM2 #TALKBALLET PUBLICATION WECHAT JOIN THE BALLET BC E-LIST: BALLETBC.COM Program 1st Flash orma lo WHICH/ONE Adi alant Solo Echo Crystal ite Learning Guide The goal of this Learning Guide is to help students engage fully with the dance performance featured in Ballet BC’s 2018 production of Program at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. TABLE OF CONTENTS 3… Welcome from Artistic Director 4… About Ballet BC 5… nterie it Emi nr i … About Ballet BC’s Program … About the Artists 1… Before the Performance Lesson I - Dance … Before the Performance Lesson II - Storytelling … After the Performance Lesson III … Continue Your Exploration Ballet BC would like to thank Diamond Foundation for their geners support of Ballet BC’s Student and Community Dress Rehearsal rgrm. Ballet BC acknowledges the financial assistance of the Province of British Columbia for Ballet BC’s Outreach and Education Program. A message from Ballet BC WELCOME TO PROGRAM 2! First, a sincere thank you for joining and supporting us as we journey through this celebratory 2018–19 season . After weeks of exciting touring in new locations, we return to our home town to present a captivating evening of dance featuring three remarkable and inspired works. Tonight’s program features the return of Jorma Elo’s gripping 1st Flash, followed by a world premiere by the fresh choreographic voice of Adi Salant, and we close the evening with Solo Echo, a company signature and audience favourite by renowned Canadian choreographer, Crystal Pite. Jorma Elo’s commanding 1st Flash was originally As we celebrate 10 years of riveting dance under the artistic commissioned for Nederlands Dans Theater in direction of Emily Molnar, we hope you’ll join us as we con- 2003. This “virtuosic mind-blower” premiered clude our season in May with the North American premiere of in Vancouver in 2011 and was an immedi- Bedroom Folk by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar, a world premiere ate success. An ambitious work set to Jean by acclaimed Canadian choreographer Serge Bennathan, and Sibelius’ inspired violin concerto, six dancers the much-anticipated return of Ohad Naharin’s playful Minus 16. create harmony of sound and movement as Throughout our home season in Vancouver, we are honoured the music interrupts their silence and charges to serve as cultural ambassadors for British Columbia when it with beauty and musicality. we embark on national and international tours. In the next few Former Co-Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance months, we will be engaging audiences in Victoria, Ottawa, Company, Adi Salant, delivers a mesmerizing Halifax, Toronto, Des Moines, New York City, Beckett (MA), world with her choreography. Anchored by a Barcelona, Stuttgart and other cities soon to be announced. deep sense of presence, her compelling work Be sure to visit our website for more details! balances explosive physicality and a delicate Our commitment to excellence and collaboration and our sensibility of the unpredictable. Ballet BC is mission to inspire diverse communities through dance could honoured to be the first company in North not be accomplished without the dedicated participation and America to commission a new creation by this generous gifts from our audience, volunteers, sponsors, and powerful, emerging dance maker. patrons. We would like to express our deepest appreciation The third piece of the evening showcases for the tremendous and steadfast support we receive from internationally celebrated Vancouver chore- our Founders’ Council members, subscribers, government ographer Crystal Pite as she explores recurring and private funding agencies, our incredible staff and team, themes of acceptance and loss with Solo Echo. our dedicated Board of Directors, individual donors, in-kind Inspired by two sonatas for cello and piano by contributors, the Ballet BC Up committee, and volunteers who Brahms—creative touchstones for the artist passionately support our work. throughout her career—and the poem Lines Finally, we are incredibly humbled by the support of our Platinum for Winter by Mark Strand, Pite continues her Season Sponsor, BMO, our Production Sponsor Assante lifelong artistic exploration of tension and its Wealth Management, our Hotel Sponsor, Rosedale on Robson resolution. Solo Echo moves from aggression Suite Hotels, as well as our Media Sponsors, Georgia Straight, to yearning, from the individual to the collec- Omni Television and CityTV. tive, traveling the pathways from conflict to acceptance. Having performed the work on a Thank you for being here tonight; your support means so much number of international stages – from Madrid to us at Ballet BC. We look forward to seeing you throughout to Toronto, London to Tel Aviv, making Pite’s the season. Enjoy the performance! inventive work a signature for the company, we are thrilled to present Solo Echo on our home –Emily & John stage in Vancouver. 3 About Ballet BC An internationally acclaimed collaborative and Performing at Vancouver’s ueen creation-based contemporary ballet company Elizabeth Theatre and tourin that is a leader and resource in the creation nationally and internationally. production and education of contemporary dance in Canada. Founded in 1986, Ballet BC has been under the leader-ship Ballet BC regularly performs at of Artistic Director Emily Molnar since 2009. Ballet BC is an Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre internationally acclaimed collaborative and creation-based (QET) in the fall, winter and spring. We contemporary ballet company that is a leader and also tour provincially, nationally and resource in the creation, production and education of internationally, and as a complement to contemporary dance in Canada. Bold and innovative, the the repertoire and activities of the Company’s distinctive style and approach has made a Company, we present national and unique and valuable national contribution to the development international guest companies as part of of dance. our subscription series. Including the QET and community performances, regional Ballet BC’s dancers are a group of open-minded and curious and national tours, audience artists, each unique for their dynamic movement while engagement activities and programming sharing an intuitive passion for dance. Ballet BC is for children and youth, more than 25,000 committed to its role as a leader in the community through patrons see Ballet BC each season. dancer training opportunities, community and audience outreach, and professional development activities. Ballet BC’s outreach and education programs include: The Artist Salon, The Company presents a diverse repertoire of Canadian and Alternative Space Program, Sneak international work from the late 20th and early 21st Previews, Studio Visits, Pre- centuries, and is a hotbed for the creation and performance of performance Chats and Student Dress new works. Since 2009, the Company has developed a Rehearsals. Our programs directed to the repertoire of more than 45 new works by acclaimed professional dance community include: Canadian and international choreographers including William Choreographic Workshops, Professional Forsythe, Cayetano Soto, Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar, Medhi Development Program, Artist-in- Walerski, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, Johan Inger, Emanuel Residence Program and Emerging Gat, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Jacopo Godani, Company Artist Program, in addition to the 605, Jorma Elo, Wen Wei Wang, Itzik Galili, Serge Summer Dance Intensive, which is Bennathan, Walter Matteini, José Navas, Emily Molnar, presented in collaboration with Arts Lesley Telford, Nicolo Fonte, Fernando Hernando Magadan, Umbrella. Kevin O’Day, Shawn Hounsell, Gioconda Barbuto, Simone Orlando, Robert Glumbek and Aszure Barton As a cultural institution, we bring value among others. and opportunity to the life of the community that generously supports us. Under the artistic direction of Emily Molnar, former member of We are a creative place and we work in a The National Ballet of Canada, Ballet BC and the Ballett collaborative environment. We are a Frankfurt, the Company actively fosters collaborations that company that aims to create dance at support artists, choreographers and audiences alike, its most essential: visceral, powerful, furthering the boundaries of contemporary dance. We thought provoking and transformative. embrace excellence in the practice of contemporary ballet, with its wide diversity of technique and style, honouring its roots and components. 4 INTERVIEW Interview with Emily Molnar BY PIA LO Ballet BC is a contemporary “We’re trying to facilitate ballet company. What makes it ‘contemporary’ and what, an environment where in your view, does it mean to be ‘contemporary’? people can find both a To me, as an artist and the com- pany’s Artistic Director, contem- collective and individual porary means something that is of relevance today and that responds presence.” to the current state of society. By asking questions, as living artists, about how we practice, who our audiences are here and around the world, the kind of work we are making, and by creating work today—that, I believe, makes us speaking to the conflict of contrasting tones between the industrial world contemporary. where we are having to produce and produce - with the primal world that’s reflective of our instinctive nature. Although Adi is not attaching a How are these ideas demon- specific label to her work, it doesn’t mean she’s not making a comment strated in the ways that the about the world. dancers work? st We take a lot of time working on In 1 Flash, Jorma is challenging the boundaries of classicism and making building voice in the creative process a delightfully distinct examination into the virtuosity of contemporary ballet. so that we have dancers who feel There is a contemporary approach in the way the choreography relates like they can communicate their to the use of space, music, lighting and set design. ideas and observations within a In Solo Echo, Crystal is reflecting on both the collective and individual rehearsal.