Owen Belton News

The National Ballet of Canada has returned to New York City Center for the first time in 15 years and we give the troupe an enthusiastic welcome.

Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, announced the casting for the tour to New York City Center. The company will present the US premiere of Crystal Pite’s Angels’ Atlas, the New York premiere of David Dawson’s Anima Animus and Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto, March 30 – April 1, 2023.

Knight Theater should have been abuzz last Friday night. Yet somehow, a year after Charlotte Ballet's 50th-anniversary celebration - celebrated a year after the company's actual 50th anniversary - my own excitement wasn't reflected by the community at large. A night after Opera Carolina opened its 2022-23 season at Belk Theater to an empty upper balcony and a disappointing crowd, the curtain went up on Ballet's new era with a similarly sparse turnout.

Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced the company will tour to New York City Center March 30 – April 1, 2023. The company will present the US premiere of Crystal Pite’s Angels’ Atlas with David Dawson’s Anima Animus and Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto.

Back by popular demand, DanceHouse will present Kidd Pivot's internationally-acclaimed dance/theatre hybrid Revisor, on stage March 30 to April 2, 2022 at 8pm at the Vancouver Playhouse.

Barry Hughson, Executive Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced the principal casting for the long-awaited return to live performance. The 2021/22 season will open with Angels’ Atlas by Crystal Pite and Serenade by George Balanchine, onstage November 11 – 27, 2021 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

Harbourfront Centre, in partnership with Digidance, announced the exclusive Canadian film premiere of Body and Soul, from internationally-lauded choreographer Crystal Pite and performed by Paris Opera Ballet - streaming online February 17-23, 2021.

DanceHouse, in partnership with Digidance, announce the exclusive Canadian film premiere of Body and Soul, from internationally-lauded choreographer Crystal Pite and performed by Paris Opera Ballet — streaming online February 17-23, 2021.

To honour Vancouver's vibrant artistic community during this challenging time, the 2020 Jessie Theatre Award Nominations were announced virtually, for the first time, on Monday, June 8th, hosted by the mother daughter duo Amanda Sum (seen this season in Chicken Girl and East Van Panto) and Linda Leung.

At an online media announcement - pre-taped in front of Meridian Hall with physically distanced protocols in place - streamed June 8 on the Dora Awards YouTube channel, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 243 nominations for the 41st annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, and Barry Hughson, Executive Director, today announced that the world premiere of Angels' Atlas by international choreographic sensation Crystal Pite surpassed box office projections, bringing in over $1 million in ticket sales with 14,528 people in attendance. The highest grossing mixed programme in the company's history since West Side Story Suite in 2007, Angels' Atlas was presented with Wayne McGregor's electrifying Chroma and the company premiere of Marguerite and Armand by Frederick Ashton and received a rapturous response from audiences and critics alike.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's upcoming Summer Series program will feature highlights from the company's recent repertoire, including work by acclaimed choreographers Brian Brooks, Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo and Crystal Pite. The program will premiere at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park (205 East Randolph Street) on Thursday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m., followed by performances Saturday, June 8 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 9 at 3 p.m.  Tickets are now on sale.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, under the direction of Glenn Edgerton, is one of the most accomplished dance companies in the United States today. After an international career with the Joffrey Ballet and later at the Nederlands Dance Theater 1, both as dancer and artistic director, Edgerton brings unique skills to his position. It shows in his company's performances--serious, accomplished and professional--a real mark that the company is a cut above the rest.

DanceHouse will present the world premiere of Kidd Pivot's Revisor, February 20-23, 2019 at 8pm at the Vancouver Playhouse (now sold out). In their third collaboration, Kidd Pivot Artistic Director Crystal Pite and Electric Company Theatre Co-Founder Jonathon Young join forces to create a wildly innovative dance/theatre hybrid, mixing classic farce and the forces of radical change to craft a fizzing concoction that confounds expectations and inverts the official order. The bold physicality of Pite's choreography for eight dancers embodies the eviscerating wit of Young's script, recorded by some of Canada's finest actors.

Having taken Moscow and Saint Petersburg by storm Diana Vishneva's CONTEXT Festival starts its international tour in London in spring 2019. The audience will have a unique and extremely rare opportunity to see Diana Vishneva perform on a London stage. CONTEXT Festival will perform at Sadler's Wells Theatre on Tuesday 12th March 2019.

DanceHouse will present the world premiere of Kidd Pivot's Revisor, February 20-23, 2019 at 8pm at the Vancouver Playhouse (now sold out). In their third collaboration, Kidd Pivot Artistic Director Crystal Pite and Electric Company Theatre Co-Founder Jonathon Young join forces to create a wildly innovative dance/theatre hybrid, mixing classic farce and the forces of radical change to craft a fizzing concoction that confounds expectations and inverts the official order. The bold physicality of Pite's choreography for eight dancers embodies the eviscerating wit of Young's script, recorded by some of Canada's finest actors.

New Work New Music, a programme of six world premieres to contemporary music never before used for dance, is presented by The Royal Ballet in the Linbury Theatre this February, accompanied by London Sinfonietta, conducted by Jonathan Lo.

Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced the principal casting for the company's upcoming tour to Hamburg, Germany with an all-Canadian programme featuring The Dreamers Ever Leave You by Choreographic Associate Robert Binet, James Kudelka's The Man in Black and Emergence by Crystal Pite. The National Ballet will perform as part of the 44th Hamburg Ballet Days, a two-week festival of dance, for two performances July 3 - 4, 2018 at Großes Haus. This will be the company's first appearance in Hamburg since 1994.

Margaret Selby, President of Selby Artists Management, announced today that Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) will join her roster of internationally acclaimed dance companies.  Selby said, “I have long admired Peter Boal for the artistic vision he has brought to Pacific Northwest Ballet and for his ability to train dancers to develop their technique and the passion necessary to perform at the highest level.  This company deserves to be seen by more audiences who are certain to embrace the diversity of its repertoire and the skill of its exceptional dancers.”

Back in December of 2017, I wrote a glowing review for BWW DanceWorld of Julliard's New Dances Celebrating the Legacy of Lawrence Rhodes in honor of his retirement after 15 years as artistic director. I am delighted to report that since then, Taryn Kaschock Russell as acting director of Juilliard Dance has kept the program's excellence alive and even judged it a notch upward in terms of superb dancing and choreography. This was evidenced on the afternoon of Saturday, March 24th 2018 during an almost completely satisfying performance of 'Spring Dances' at Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater.