The show is set to play from May 5th through May 7th.
Concluding the 21.22 season, Canadian Stage and TO Live present the astonishing multi-media dance creation CRYPTO. Created and directed by National Ballet of Canada Principal dancer and Choreographic Associate Guillaume Côté, with story and libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Royce Vavrek, this bold new production runs May 5th to May 7th, at the Bluma Appel Theatre.
Moving between raw contemporary form and classical ballet, and bound by theatre and technology, CRYPTO explores the changing dynamic between an eroded romantic relationship and the human need to control and transform beauty. This bold new work is brought to life on stage by a stellar cast of dancers including Greta Hodgkinson, Natasha Poon Woo, Casia Vengoechea and Guillaume Côté himself. Voice actors include Ben Davis, Christopher Fitzpatrick and Lauren Worsham. CRYPTO features epic music from Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson and stunning visual effects by the award-winning Montreal multimedia company mirari, with whom Côté previously collaborated on the riveting and complex creations, Frame by Frame, Le Petit Prince, and the recent TOUCH."We are thrilled to be presenting this spectacular and thoroughly innovative large-scale dance piece from Guillaume Côté, one of the most electrifying and in-demand dancers of his generation," comments Canadian Stage Artistic Director Brendan Healy. "CRYPTO offers an inspired synthesis of narrative storytelling, classical and contemporary dance, original score, and multimedia production design. But at its heart is the opportunity to see two of the greatest dancers in Canada - Guillaume and Greta Hodgkinson - dancing together at the height of their careers. We are also pleased to be in partnership with TO Live for the second time this season."
Inspired by the idea of working with a libretto as the spine for a piece of choreography, Côté contacted Vavrek, a Canada-born, Brooklyn-based librettist and lyricist who has been called "the indie Hofmannsthal" (The New Yorker) a "Metastasio of the downtown opera scene" (The Washington Post), "an exemplary creator of operatic prose" (The New York Times), and "one of the most celebrated and sought after librettists in the world" (CBC Radio). His opera "Angel's Bone" with composer Du Yun was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Vavrek's libretto gently gives voice to the story and characters in CRYPTO while working in concert with Côté's language of movement.
Joining Côté, Vavrek, Karlson, and Thomas Payette and Mylène Chabrol of mirari, the creative team also includes lighting designer Simon RossiterVideos