Ballet BC Danse Danse – January 22-24, Theatre Maisonneuve

Ballet BC – Danse Danse

Triple Bill

Artistic director Emily Molnar has made Ballet BC a highly sought-after dance company. In three works by renowned contemporary ballet choreographers from Europe, she presents three very different aesthetics and celebrates the multiple talents of her 18 dancers.

Since her appointment as Artistic Director of Ballet BC in 2009, Emily Molnar has rejuvenated and expanded the Vancouver dance company, which has been praised by the media as one of the most exciting and versatile companies on the scene today. The young choreographer was named one of Canada’s “new generation of ballet sensations” by Maclean’s Magazine, and voted  2013 Dance Artist of the Year by the Globe and Mail.

Having abandoned the classicism of narrative ballets in favour of more innovative, creative and collaborative dance, she presents works by Canadian and international choreographers ranging from William Forsythe, Johan Inger, José Navas and Crystal Pite to Jorma Elo and Jacopo Godani. She has enjoyed unparalleled success with triple bill programs that offer audiences the opportunity to discover contrasting styles of choreography in the works featured (including her own pieces), while extolling the talent and versatility of the company’s 18 brilliant dancers. For her presentation in Montreal, she will be offering a panorama of up-and-coming contemporary dance works from Europe that feature movements in perfect unison as well as dazzling duets, theatrical sequences and individualized solo pieces.

“Molnar’s vision for the 18-member company is to make Ballet BC a lean, mean, contemporary-ballet machine.” (The Globe and Mail, Toronto)

“Fun but not frivolous, the new Ballet BC is physically rigorous, dramatically solid, and truly contemporary.” (Dance Magazine)

A.U.R.A.

Jacopo Godani

The Italian-born dancer-choreographer Jacopo Godani sets his work to a score composed and performed by the German electro-acoustic duo 48nord, presenting a tribal ritual from an unknown planet in his strange and piercing A.U.R.A. (Anarchist Unit Related to Art).

“A.U.R.A. is a take-no-prisoners work in which the dancers operate at the extremes of physicality. It presses from beginning to end with relentless intensity, making out of the company a precision unit of virtuosic, dance cyborg.” (Seedance.com, Los Angeles)

Walking Mad

Johan Inger

To Ravel’s mythical Boléro and music by Arvo Pärt, the Swedish choreographer Johan Inger orchestrates an energetic and heartbreaking war of the sexes in the award-winning Walking Mad.

“Walking Mad is one of those rare unforgettable dance pieces that make you sorry the party’s over.” (straight.com, Vancouver)

Petite Cérémonie

Medhi Walerski

Surfing between dance, comedy and theatre, French choreographer Medhi Walerski examines the differences between men and women and the effects of confinement in the zany and sophisticated piece Petite Cérémonie.

“Throughout Petite Cérémonie I kept wondering what was coming next. I felt a constant sense of surprise and discovery…” (The Vancouver Sun)

Post-performance talk with the artists: Friday, January 23, 2015