DANCE NEWS: NBOC's diamond season to shine
7 FEB/11

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency

To celebrate the National Ballet of Canada’s diamond anniversary season, artistic director Karen Kain is polishing off some of the company’s heirloom jewels, resetting others and adding a few new brilliants, just for good measure.

The NBOC 2011-12 season announced by Kain Monday will kick off with the world première of a spanking new production of ROMEO AND JULIET, choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky, designed by Richard Hudson and set to the enduring score of Sergei Prokofiev. It will replace the beloved John Cranko version which has enchanted audiences for 46 years. The new edition will play for 14 performances in November.

Following the annual Christmas presentation of THE NUTCRACKER in December, the ballet’s winter season launches in late February, 2012, and will include three full-length ballets — Sir Frederick Ashton’s LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE and John Neumeier’s THE SEAGULL, bracketing a run of Rudolf Nureyev’s THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, a work that figures prominently in both the company’s history and Kain's own.

Much of Kain’s international reputation as a prima ballerina is woven around Nureyev’s classic work and it was Kain who, as artistic director, oversaw the work’s refurbishment and restoration for the move to the Four Seasons Centre in 2006, ensuring that it can still be enjoyed in its original splendour.

The 2012 summer season kicks off in early June, with the North American première of Kevin O’Day’s HAMLET, a work which premièred at the Stuttgart Ballet in 2008. Set to music by John King, it will feature set and costume design by Tatyana van Walsum. The summer season concludes with an evening of mixed programming, comprised of Wayne McGregor’s CHROMA, which premièred with the company to great acclaim in 2010, teamed with Maurice Béjart’s enduring SONG OF A WAYFARER and Kenneth MacMillan’s celebrated ÉLITE SYNCOPATIONS.

Kain also announced that the company will undertake a tour of Western Canada this fall, performing William Forsyth’s 'the second detail', Jerome Robbins’ OTHER DANCES and Crystal Pite’s EMERGENCE for audiences in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria and Winnipeg. A jaunt to Ottawa featuring the same program is planned for spring 2012.

Kain also spoke of the late prima ballerina Lois Smith, who passed away in late January, and her importance to the company and the world of dance. Calling Smith “a beautiful, unique talent,” Kain announced that the first performance of the upcoming run of DON QUIXOTE, opening at the Four Seasons Centre March 9, will be dedicated to Smith’s memory.