The National Ballet of Canada’s 2025/26 season is off to a strong start with a pair of contrasting productions that showcase the company’s range and up-and-coming stable of talent, though one is far more inspiring than the other. First at bat was what’s sure to be the season MVP (I saw it the night […]
I wanted so badly to like this multi-disciplinary piece from the thoughtful duo of Devon Healey (writer/performer) and Nate Bitton (performer/co-director with Mitchell Cushman). The show is produced by their company Peripheral Theatre alongside unconventional space pioneers Outside the March and the National Ballet of Canada whose apprentices appear as a beautiful but confounding supporting […]
Though Karen Kain, Christopher Stowell, & Robert Binet’s choreography (after Erik Bruhn, Lev Ivanov, and Marius Petipa) is challenging and technical throughout the whole of the National Ballet’s overall excellent update of Swan Lake, the indoor passages lag with slow storytelling and traditional bow breaks that pause the action and break the fourth wall. It’s […]
The National Ballet of Canada’s 2024/25 season is off to a strong start with a varied and ambitious mixed bill that showcases the strength and diversity of the company’s up and coming talent while honouring the legacy of their iconic leading man as he enters his final season. The evening kicks off with Body […]
Designed to be performed as a three-piece bill but able to be pulled apart and presented in pieces, George Balanchine’s Jewels is a clever and beautiful work (set of work?) that showcases the full company of the National Ballet of Canada from the dancers to the designers to the orchestra through three distinct styles and […]
Three Sisters (Soulpepper & Obsidian Theatre Company) For Inua Ellams’ adaptation of Three Sisters set during the Nigerian Civil War, two of Toronto’s most prestigious theatre companies and acclaimed director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu (also the Artistic Director of Obsidian, one of said prestigious companies) have assembled the all-starriest of all-star casts, bringing together an incredibly […]
My love of the National Ballet of Canada started when I saw them dance Onegin. It was a very different company back in 2010 when this production made its debut with Santo Loquasto’s rich and moody redesign and the starriest of all-star casts for opening night, but the Onegin magic is alive and well even […]
The opening production of The National Ballet of Canada’s 2023/24 season pairs two short ballets about passion. Ironically, it’s Passion that is the least passionate of the pair, feeling disjointed and overly busy. The world premiere of Emma Bovary, on the other hand, is a cohesive triumph that led me and my guest to turn to each other towards […]