The National Ballet of Canada has just announced a virtual fall season that includes five new commissions. Three are by the company’s choreographic associates under the title Expansive Dances, while the Spotlight Series features two highly regarded Canadian choreographers making their debuts with the National.
Expansive Dances
Beginning September 10, and released weekly thereafter, are new digital dance films by the National’s choreographic associates, Robert Binet, Guillaume Côté and Alysa Pires. These solos have been shot on location by film director Ben Shirinian and are co-produced by Jared Cook of Lookout.
Shirinian garnered international acclaim for his two Lost in Motion films done in collaboration with Côté. The first Lost in Motion attracted worldwide media attention when the film premiered at TIFF, while Lost in Motion ll was given Best Cinematography Award by the Canadian Society of Cinematography. Cook’s Lookout is an adventurous live action and animation production company.
Binet’s Lake Maligne revisits a work he created for Company Wayne McGregor in 2012, inspired by Canadian Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris. Performed by first soloist Spencer Hack, Lake Maligne is deeply connected to the symbolism of the natural world, and is set to music by Arve Henriksen and Smog.
Lulu features Côté’s wife, principal dancer Heather Ogden, and is set to music by Max Richter. The film tells the story of a woman who is starting anew as she lets go of her tainted past.
Pires has adapted excerpts of her existing work In Between to create a solo for second soloist Christopher Gerty, with original music by Adam Sakiyama. Her theme is the sense of restlessness and yearning that we feel during these uncertain times.
The backdrop for the Binet and Pires films is the open expanse of the Evergreen Brick Works. As the National announcement says: “The works present dancers moving boldly through space in direct contrast to our present confined existence due to the pandemic, heralding hope for a brighter future.”
Spotlight Series
This series features two BIPOC choreographers.
Jera Wolfe, an associate artist with Red Sky Performance, is one of the most-in-demand Indigenous choreographers in the country. His works for Red Sky have captured wide acclaim when they were presented by Jacob’s Pillow, Canadian Stage, Fall for Dance North and the Venice Biennale. He has also created dances for the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and Canada’s National Ballet School. Wolfe’s work is currently in rehearsal.
Award-winning Kevin Ormsby, artistic director of KasheDance, is a choreographer and arts strategies consultant, whose career spans three decades, and includes performing with prestigious companies in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. He is also program manager for Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario, professor of dance performance at Centennial College, and an adjunct artist with Dance Exchange in Washington D.C. Rehearsals for his new work begin in mid-September.
Like many other performing arts organizations, the National is taking a cautious approach when it comes to season announcements. Details of the 20/21 season do not go beyond the fall. The Ford government in Ontario has not announced when theatres, opera houses and concerts halls will open, so companies are in limbo when it comes to making plans.
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