KISMET World Premiere And EMMA BOVARY Encore Set for National Ballet Of Canada Summer Season

The The National Ballet of Canada will open its summer season with the world premiere of Kismet by choreographer Jera Wolfe, presented alongside the return of Helen Pickett’s Emma Bovary. Performances will take place May 29 through June 4 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

The National Ballet of Canada Summer Season will open with the world premiere of Kismet by Canadian choreographer Jera Wolfe on a programme that includes the return of Helen Pickett's Emma Bovary at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts May 29 to June 4. 

An award-winning performer and choreographer, Wolfe reunites with The National Ballet of Canada for his first mainstage commission. A choreographer of great emotional depth and athleticism, this work follows Wolfe's 2020 ballet, Soul, for the company's digital season and was later performed at Harbourfront Centre. 

In Kismet, Wolfe works with a much larger ensemble to explore the concept of fate, in context of our relationship with nature, merging his rich influences in classical ballet, contemporary movement and Indigenous expression. Set to two movements from Ezio Bosso's Symphony No.2, the work follows a central character on a personal journey that is both beautiful and destructive.

Kismet shares a double bill with Pickett's Emma Bovary, which premiered in 2023 and returns with further exploration and additional scenes. Inspired by Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary and co-directed by James Bonas, Pickett delves inside Emma's restless yearning for life beyond her mundane marriage, exploring desire, betrayal and the search for personal fulfilment. With this searing, yet compassionate portrayal, Pickett cements her status as a leading choreographic storyteller.