Program 3 Bedroom Folk Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar Poesía Serge Bennathan Minus 16 Ohad Naharin May 9 10 11 @BALLETBC AN ARTSLANDIA #BALLETBCPROGRAM3 #TALKBALLET PUBLICATION JOIN THE BALLET BC E-LIST: BALLETBC.COM Queen Elizabeth Theatre Program 3 Bedroom Folk Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar Poesía Serge Bennathan Minus 16 Ohad Naharin Learning Guide The goal of this Learning Guide is to help students engage fully with the dance performance featured in Ballet BC’s 2018/19 production of Program 3 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. TABLE OF CONTENTS 3… Welcome from Artistic Director 4… About Ballet BC 5… Interview with Serge Bennathan by Pia Lo 6… About Ballet BC’s Program 3 8… About the Artists 15… Before the Performance Lesson I - Dance 18… Before the Performance Lesson II - Storytelling 19… After the Performance Lesson III 20… Continue Your Exploration Ballet BC would like to thank Diamond Foundation for their generous support of Ballet BC’s Student and Community Dress Rehearsal program. Ballet BC acknowledges the financial assistance of the Province of British Columbia for Ballet BC’s Outreach and Education Program. 2 A message from Ballet BC WELCOME TO PROGRAM 3, the final program of a memorable season! Thank you for joining and supporting us as we commemorate 10 years of inspiring dance under the artistic director of Emily Molnar. After touring across Canada, we return to Vancouver to present a celebratory evening of intriguing works. This season concludes with a riveting mix of dance, music, and design, featuring long-time col- laborators Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar’s North American premiere of Bedroom Folk, followed by a world premiere by the poetic Serge Ben- nathan, and ending with the much-anticipated return of Ohad Naharin’s playful and interactive Minus 16. From collaborators Sharon Eyal and Gai Next season, we are excited to continue a dialogue about Behar, we are eager to bring the North Ameri- dance; its power to transform and connect us in ways that can premiere of Bedroom Folk to Vancouver. echo across time, place and culture. Reveling in the beauty of Intensely cool, a house beat pulses through an our humanity, the 2019/20 season opens with two works that intoxicating space as dancers move in hypnotic stir the push and pull of the everyday: the Ballet BC premiere synchronicity. Bedroom Folk showcases the raw of BUSK by Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton and the and absorbing choreographic vision of these return of B.R.I.S.A. by Johan Inger. In Program 2, we revisit talented international collaborators. the pleasure, pain and politics of young love with the timeless Romeo + Juliet by Medhi Walerski. And closing the season is Serge Bennathan has made an indelible mark a hypnotic experience of the sensory worlds of Hora by Ohad on Canadian dance with his commitment to Naharin and Bill by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar. We hope you’ll making work that goes “back to a rougher join us for all the excitement next season will bring. artistry.” Set to an original score by Montréal- based composer and collaborator Bertrand Our commitment to excellence and collaboration and our Chénier, this world premiere of Poesía fuses mission to inspire diverse communities through dance could music and movement into an intricate conversa- not be accomplished without the dedicated participation and tion of poetic depth. Ballet BC is thrilled to once generous gifts from our audience, volunteers, sponsors, and again collaborate with this extraordinary creator. patrons. We would like to express our deepest appreciation for the tremendous and steadfast support we receive from our Acclaimed choreographer and former Artistic Founders’ Council members, subscribers, government and Director of Batsheva Dance Company, Ohad private funding agencies, our dedicated Board of Directors, Naharin, has been enthralling audiences around individual donors, in-kind contributors, the Ballet BC Up com- the globe since 1999. An instant sensation with mittee, volunteers who passionately support our work, and a Ballet BC audiences in 2017, Minus 16 features special thanks to our incredible staff and team at Ballet BC. an eclectic score ranging from Dean Martin to mambo to techno to traditional Israeli music, Finally, we are incredibly humbled by the support of our Platinum bringing a surprising originality that makes each Season Sponsor, BMO, our Performance Sponsors, Wells performance unique—an unforgettable work to Fargo and Grant Thornton, our Hotel Sponsor, Rosedale on close a remarkable season. Robson Suite Hotels, as well as our Media Sponsors, Georgia Straight, Omni Television and CityTV. This year, we have had the opportunity to tour nationally and internationally during which we Thank you for being here tonight; your support means so are honoured to serve as cultural ambassadors much to us at Ballet BC. We look forward to seeing you next for British Columbia. In the next few months, season. Enjoy the performance! we will be showcasing our work to audiences in Des Moines, New York City, Beckett (MA), —Emily & John Barcelona, Stuttgart and other cities soon to be announced. Be sure to visit our website for more details! 3 About Ballet BC An internationally acclaimed collaborative and Performing at Vancouver’s Queen creation-based contemporary ballet company Elizabeth Theatre and touring 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, Adi Salant, Crystal Pite, Johan Inger, Residence Program and Emerging Emanuel Gat, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Jacopo Godani, Artist Program, in addition to the Company 605, Jorma Elo, Wen Wei Wang, Itzik Galili, Summer Dance Intensive, which is Serge Bennathan, Walter Matteini, José Navas, Emily presented in collaboration with Arts Molnar, Lesley Telford, Nicolo Fonte, Fernando Hernando Umbrella. Magadan, Kevin O’Day, Shawn Hounsell, Gioconda Barbuto, Simone Orlando, Robert Glumbek and Aszure As a cultural institution, we bring value Barton, 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 It’s wonderful to have you being—and then marry this poetry with the physicality of the collaborate with Ballet BC again. work. I don’t want their minds to consciously think about the process of interpretation. Rather, I want the dancers to go within I have been blessed to have a long relationship themselves to embody that energy and then let their bodies with the company that goes back to when Reid speak. I may begin with a certain structure to the choreography, Anderson was the artistic director. Each time I but I don’t mind if that transforms as we work. What needs have witnessed the emergence of extraordinary to remain is the essence of why we are doing the movement. artists, and right now the company is spectacu- lar. I had quite a profound experience working For the dancer, my work is physically very difficult because with all of them for this creation. you have to be in the present moment all the time. You cannot anticipate what is coming because when you start to act on How did this creation begin? anticipation, your movements will appear fake. You have to When Emily Molnar approached me to work find the strength to keep pushing, to keep the presence alive. with the company, the question in my mind was: how do I leave my poetry in a society that How do you guide the dancers to achieve this? is so codified, so structured.