On June 1st, 23-year-old American ballet dancer, cellist, and classical choreographer Nicholas Rose filmed himself in front of the Walter Carsen Centre to declare, “I have a love for the National Ballet of Canada, but for me to maintain this love I have to let you know when you have failed us.” It started with a belief—deeply entrenched and rarely questioned in either country—that Canada would be an escape from the well-known racism of the United States.
Read MoreThe theatre’s energy changed as the orchestra went dark for the third and final part of the night’s mixed program, sizzling with an electricity that transcended your usual World Premiere static. Since her first piece for the National Ballet of Canada, Emergence, premiered in 2009, Crystal Pite has become globally renown and sought after.
Read MoreA grandly chosen champagne-soaked farewell role for esteemed principal dancer Xiao Nan Yu, The Merry Widow is a rare piece that gives a company the chance to show off while managing to unite comedy and drama. This effervescent world of forgivable excess is studded with moments of sincere, rapturous yearning between the two leading couples.
Read MoreWith a mind called mad and a body that was described as the vessel of a god, fin-de-siècle superstar Vaslav Nijinsky elevated and expanded what ballet as an art form could be in the 20th century. And if Neumeier’s pressurized depiction of this man’s life is incorporated into more ballet companies’ repertoires, then he’ll be that transformative once-in-a-century voice for the 21st.
Read More
