No more results on this page
This was my first time attending a Ballet BC performance and I have to say I was absolutely enchanted by the power and expressive movements. They do not offer the usual dance fare. I look forward to next season.
The choreography, fantastic. The dancers, phenomenal. The children, inspirational. The set designs and craft, needs a bit of work. But, they tried.
A stunning production! The dancers were amazing & beautiful, gorgeous sets & costumes, and the orchestra was sensational!
The performance was everything I expected and more from a professional production
Rite was not so much dancing as repetitive flailing and shuffling with excessively loud noise that I suppose was to pass for music, but was more an assault on my body. It was less transcendent and spiritual than a self-indulgent exercise on the part of the co-conspirators. The second part of the program was salvaged by Stravinsky's wonderful music, but the choreography was so similar to the previous piece that it gave me a negative impression. All in all it was a disappointing evening, but I have no doubt of the dancers' energy and talent. I have seen better of Ballet BC.
Absolutely fabulous!!! Hope Miami City Ballet returns to Vancouver. Wonderful performance. Loved every minute.
This company shines. The corps works in beautiful synchrony. The principals are technically and esthetically brilliant. I am particularly fond of Balanchine choreography. This brought back memories of seeing the New York City Ballet of the 1960s. I hope this company returns to Vancouver soon.
See comment about seats below. I enjoyed the performance though
My Daughter have I have now seen the Nutcracker 4 times 3 of those times being this one and it is perfect every time. We lived the changes this year and the new additions of the Polar Bears.
This was the first ballet I have taken my 7yr. old granddaughter to. She absolutely loved the ballet. Her favorite moments were whenever the child ballerinas came on stage. She takes ballet lessons presently at a community centre but after seeing the Nutcracker she wants to enrol in a ballet school.
The dancers are incredibly talented, no doubt. However there was too much artistic licensing used by the producer that it turned into a display of modern dance with a hint of ballet. The first act really showcased the flexibility of the dancers and their abilities with a good emphasis on synching music with form. The second act was very romantic sounding but had too much of a contemporary feel. The last act was basically modern interpretive dance with a narrative of a poem.
I take my girls to see the Nutcracker Ballet every year, and if all the performance GOH had the best dancers although I prefer how the Royal Winnipeg Ballet tells the story.
A great experience, a new and refreshing take on ballet
Each of the three ensemble performances built up to the finale and the final pas de deux was incredible.
The Queen Elizabeth Theatre, conveniently located close to downtown Vancouver, is considered one of the finest performance halls in Canada. With nearly twenty-eight hundred seats, the design is such that every vantage point gives the viewer an unobstructed, clear view of the action on stage…except for where I was sitting; I’ll get to that later. I enjoy ballet and was looking forward to seeing the world premiere of Jose Navas’ new choreography of the well-established ballet, Giselle. I bought my tickets through Ticketmaster using their convenient website. Because of the popularity of this Ballet BC season finale, many of the seats close to the stage had already been reserved but I was extremely excited and pleased to find one seat still available in the first row of the center mezzanine section. I quickly selected the seat and made my purchase. I had never been to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, and I was immediately impressed; there was convenient, inexpensive parking in the theatre’s underground garage and the building’s architecture was contemporary. The building’s floor to ceiling windows equaled many of the other fine concert and performance halls throughout North America and nicely illuminated the inviting lobby. I attended the pre-show talk with Emily Molnar and Jose Navas (the artistic director and choreographer) where they shed some light on what we were to expect from the night’s presentation. I got increasingly apprehensive as both Molnar and Navas kept repeating, “we really want to challenge the audience and make them think.” Those words should always be a red flag to any “thinking” person. You should never have to defensively guard your production before anyone has had a chance to see it. It is like saying, “Well, if you don’t like the ballet, it probably has something to your limited capacity to understand the world around you.” After the “talk” I ventured to the lobby for a drink and a bit of people watching. The lobby was nicely laid out with plenty of room for the ballet’s vendors and there were even some interesting old black and white ballet photos on exhibition. The ten minute warning chimed and I made my way to my seat. At first, I loved my seat. It was set a bit further back than what I was expecting, but I had a nice direct view of the stage and I could really take in the beauty of the magnificent hall. My seat was directly behind the soundboard, but the theater had it discreetly shielded with black velvet. I would not even have known the soundboard was there until a bushy-haired cameraman with a video camera stood up directly in front of me!!! Seriously!!! The lights went down, the music began and here I was staring into the back of this cameraman’s head. To add insult to injury, I could clearly see the camera’s video monitor. I tried to ignore this obtrusion and focus on the music and what I could see of the stage. I guess I am a little spoiled because, apparently, Ballet BC does not have an orchestra and they simply played the easily available Decca CD. I drove two and a half hours, from Seattle, to sit behind a cameraman and listen to a CD I already own. Can this night get any worse? Yes. After the curtain rose the first thing I noticed was a giant fifteen foot tall by thirty foot wide screen with images of dark blobs, lips and wings moving about. Below the screen was the ballet troupe dressed in black. With this enormous, consuming video display and the fact that the house lights had to be dimmed so that the screen could be clearly illuminated, the ballet company was rendered virtually invisible. I momentarily forgot about the bushy-haired cameraman and was in awe of this monumentally distracting scenic faux pas. Costuming and scenery is a very important element of ballet, but it seems that Phillip Glass may have been an influence on Mr. Navas as there was no scenery (unless you want to consider a pile of chairs toward the rear of the stage a set) and no costuming; it was just a dark background with the dancers dressed entirely in black. If the giant video screen had been lowered about ten feet, we would have , at least, been able to see the dancers more clearly, but I guess black on black is fashionable (if it were the early nineteen-eighties). If I was still in college and this was a college performance, I would have been impressed, but this was Ballet BC. Once the performers started moving, it was clear this was no ballet; it was unmistakably modern dance. Torsos were whipping side-to-side as if the shark from the movie, Jaws, were tearing the dancers’ limb from limb. I have nothing against modern dance, but I bought tickets to the ballet. So, here I am, stuck behind Mr. Bushyhead and his video monitor. I can’t even close my eyes to enjoy the orchestra (BECAUSE THERE IS NO ORCHESTRA!!!) I am trapped staring into a small bright light, trying to make out the figures on the stage or (as I ended up doing) blankly mesmerized by the floating images on the house-sized video screen. If you know the story of Giselle, you know she kills herself at the end of the first act. In this performance she sits down in a chair at the front of the stage and takes out a dagger to cut her throat. As she brings the blade up to her neck, the cameraman decides to shift his position and he completely obscures my view of Giselle’s suicide. I missed the most dramatic part of the ballet!!! I was momentarily blinded by anger. After an hour the curtain mercifully came down and I bolted to find the house manager to demand my money back. I felt a bit sheepish because I never have done that before (before, I never had a reason to). I was directed toward the floor manager and I explained to her about the cameraman and his irritating video screen. She just looked blankly at me and said she was sorry, but if I wanted my money back I would have to contact Ballet BC. Apparently, Ballet BC simply rents the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. I suddenly felt bad for this, obviously fledgling ballet company. I am used to Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet and thought Ballet BC was going to be of the same caliber (the reality is that Ballet BC cannot afford an orchestra and probably can barely pay their dancers). I was saddened and decided to cut them a bit of slack. With my anger quickly extinguished, I asked the house manager if she could at least have the cameraman crouch down and cover his video monitor. I returned to my seat and I saw the house manage talk with the cameraman. He turned around and gave me a quizzical look. He then took a piece of paper and covered his monitor but he never did crouch down. The curtain rose and the cast were dressed in white. This was a nice contrast to the first act because I could now see all of the dancers’ movements clearly, albeit, there still was no scenery and no costume work, but there was that GIANT VIDEO SCREEN. At the end of the second and final act, the members of the ballet troupe disrobe the ballerina playing Giselle, raise her over their heads and the curtain lowers. Again, if this was the 80s, this scene, to me, would have been contemporary and original. But, who am I to say, the Vancouver audience seemed to love it. They gave the bowing cast a standing ovation and there was even some “Bravos” shouted. I just stood there behind the cameraman wondering what just happened. Was I transported back in time or has Vancouver been starved and deprived of culture for the last thirty years? I don’t have that answer, but a word of warning, do not sit first row-center in the mezzanine section at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre for a Ballet BC performance.
Was so looking forward to seeing this ballet, Even though we had been forewarned that it was not going to be traditional , it was still a shock to see how far this production veered from anything remotely close to the original. If we had wanted to see a completely abstract modern dance that is what we would have gone to see. By the conversation over heard in the restroom between acts it would definitely seem that we were not alone in these feelings. The second act was a tad better that act 1 but we were very disappointed as we left the theatre.
This was one of the worst dance performances I have ever seen & I have been watching dance for 45 years. The choreography offered no new vocabulary or ideas, using the same old classical moves with the occasional spasmotic gesture thrown in as a nod to modernism. At the same time it employed poor classical technique with rigid torsos & windmilling limbs. The costumes were inappropriate & puzzling (why were the "villagers" dressed as Nazi storm troopers? Why did the Wilis wear fencing masks?) The projected animations were appalling, with hearts, shiny red lips & words like "petals", "truth" & "death" underscoring the ham-fisted message of the piece. For instance, after pesky Giselle (finally!) offs herself, Albrecht does a celebratory solo while phallic, budding red poppies wave strong, erect & free on screen. The dancers did their best but were unable to surmount the choreography & design. I have been a BBC supporter and recent shows have been good, but my faith in the direction of this company has been shaken.
The performance was fabulous. Worth five stars but needed an orchestra! Huge disappointment not to have live music, otherwise the costumes and dancing were perfection. I would like to have seen the dance of the dying swan and prefer that ending.
Enjoyed tremendously the classic version of Swan Lake put on by the National Ballet of China. The Odile had the most marvelously flexible arms - fluttering like a bird, truly. The ensemble work was lovely - I was quite moved by the swans in Act III, knowing their fate was sealed.
Encore was like nothing I'd ever seen before- three unique and creative pieces of art. I danced myself for a long time, but still have the vision of flowing technical classic ballet. Not so here. All of the dancers were strong and expressive, very technical, very professional- but watching Gilbert Small dance is like watching a soul breathe, or a heart beat- so breathtaking you can't quite believe what you're seeing.
