Review: (Dance / Vancouver) No. 29

White Act (photo: Michael Slobodian) 

From Athletics to Cerebral

by Jay Catterson

The Ballet BC 2014-2015 season launched on Thursday night with No.29, a bold collection of works from choreographers Jacopo Godani, Fernando Hernando Magadan, and Lesley Telford, which commemorates the 29th anniversary of the company as well as the 29th original work since the renewal of the company in 2009. 

Review: (Vancouver) Grace-Symmetry

Rachel Meyer, Darren Devaney (photo by Michael Slobodian)

Light/Dark
by Jay Catterson

The exploration of the intersection between music and dance was on glorious display at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre for Ballet BC's Grace-Symmetry, which featured a re-staging of 2011's In Motion'by Wen Wei Wang and two world premieres, Prelude'by Medhi Walerski and Here On End by Kevin O'Day. All of these extremely athletic pieces were complemented by live music performed immaculately by Turning Pointe Ensemble, led by conductor Owen Underhill. 

Wang's In Motion was an impressive and uplifting piece that focused on lines, shapes and form, and showcased Turning Point Ensemble's musical prowess by featuring the orchestra on stage with the dancers. The piece effectively blended the lines between Underhill's music and dance, particularly during a mesmerizing pointe sequence that featured the percussive quality of the dancers' movements, breathing and whispered counting. Another highlight of the piece was an extremely athletic, yet seemingly effortless and touching pas de deux between Gilbert Small and Peter Smida. (It's important to note that Smida apparently fell sick and had to bow out of the other two pieces that evening, leading to a last minute re-staging of both Prelude and Here on End.)