>>PREVIEW
AN EVENING WITH GERSHWIN AND OTHER WORKS
Alberta Ballet
Runs February 10 and 11
Jubilee Auditorium
If you’ve always wanted to go to the ballet and haven’t done so yet, Alberta Ballet’s upcoming evening of mixed repertoire is an opportunity to sample a variety of dance styles.
"The evening will present three short works and will challenge the audience with a completely different mix of esthetics and different eras," says Alberta Ballet artistic director Jean Grand-Maître.
The show opens with a classical ballet choreographed by 20th-century dance master George Balanchine, created to Mozart’s Divertimento in B-flat Major. In the tradition of pointe shoes and tutus, the choreography is one of pure classical lines and elegance. "Divertimento is a masterpiece. Only Balanchine could bring this magnificent musical piece to movement," says Grand-Maître.
Leigh Allardyce, a Columbus, Ohio native now in her third season with Alberta Ballet, has danced a variety of Balanchine pieces in the past and is quite familiar with the power of Divertimento.
"Balanchine was all about the music. If you turned off the music, you’d still be able to hear the music by watching the dancers dance because every movement is so perfectly choreographed to the music," says the 25-year-old ballerina.
Apart from his great musicality, Balanchine revolutionized dance as we know it in North America and developed new standards for dancers. "Nobody made dancers dance faster and bigger than Balanchine," says Grand-Maître. Although Balanchine died in 1983, his legacy lives on through the Balanchine Trust, which owns his choreographies. A dance company wanting to perform one of his pieces has to be assessed for its capabilities and company size first before the trust will grant it permission.
Alberta Ballet received its approval to stage Divertimento three years ago. Elyse Borne, repetiteur (rehearsal queen) from the Balanchine Trust, came to Calgary and set the piece on the company at that time. She recently returned to conduct further rehearsals prior to its performances. "I’m working with the dancers to fine-tune the steps, the musicality and other little details," she says.
Borne worked with Balanchine for 11 years and has danced the majority of his creations. She now travels the world teaching and setting Balanchine’s works for dance companies. "
"Last year I was in Argentina and South Africa setting Who Cares?," she says. "What amazes me is how this piece is loved everywhere." She set the same work, danced to the songs of George Gershwin, at Alberta Ballet last August for the upcoming show. "It was such a pleasure teaching (Alberta Ballet’s dancers) Who Cares?. I think the dancers love this piece, they seem to enjoy it and they learned it very quickly," says Borne.
The work is a series of jazzy and dynamic en pointe dance numbers set to 17 of Gershwin’s most popular tunes. "The movements in Who Cares? are new to my body," says Allardyce. "It’s one of the most demanding pieces I’ve ever performed, but it’s a lot of fun."
While the evening begins and ends with these two very different and established Balanchine ballets, the centrepiece of the program, losing ground, is a contemporary ballet created by Sabrina Matthews, former Alberta Ballet dancer and now a full-time choreographer. Matthews’s piece was commissioned by The Banff Centre and premièred as part of its Festival Dance show in 2005.
According to Grand-Maître, Matthews is unique in her choreography and has the courage to develop her own voice and a new dance vocabulary.
"I see very few young choreographers who have something to say. The envelope is beautiful, you open it, but it’s empty. Sabrina’s envelope is so full, sometimes you have to tell her one question in a ballet is better than 10. She has a lot to say," says Grand-Maître.
Losing ground is Matthews’s seventh ballet and her best work so far, says Grand-Maître. "This piece is very lyrical and dancers are like colours of emotions moving onstage," he claims. Winner of the Clifford E. Lee Award, Matthews recently moved to Montreal to explore her talents in Canada’s hotbed of contemporary dance.
"Moving to Montreal was a smart move – she’ll get her work seen a lot more. I did the same at that age. I starved for seven years, but that’s also when I created my niche and contacts," says Grand-Maître.
An Evening with Gershwin and Other Works promises to be very entertaining, compelling and uplifting. "You’ll go out singing and dancing yourself," says Borne. |
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