The National Ballet of Canada Announces 2021/22 Season
The season will feature three world premieres and more.
Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced the 2021/22 season, marking the company's 70th anniversary and return to the stage after more than 20 months. It will also be the final season programmed by Ms. Kain before she steps down as Artistic Director on June 30, 2021, as previously announced. Ms. Kain will continue her relationship with the company as Artistic Director Emerita.
"The pandemic has been devastating for individuals, economies and industries worldwide, not least of all the performing arts, which thrives on in-person gatherings. But it is my deep and sincere belief that the arts can help to assuage the grief and loneliness of this time, and that dance in particular has the power to connect us once more. I have programmed the 2021/22 season from this place of hope and conviction," said Ms. Kain. "Although this is the last season I will program, it feels like a new beginning, one that will see us welcome a new Artistic Director to continue our path forward."
The 2021/22 season will open with Sharing the Stage, a residency at Harbourfront Centre from August 9 - 29. The programme includes performances by the National Ballet, presentations of works-in-process from guest companies as well as an outdoor studio with open rehearsals, free dance classes and panel discussions. The National Ballet will present four socially distanced outdoor performances on the Concert Stage, August 25 - 28, featuring highlights from the Spotlight Series and a world premiere by Vanesa Garcia-Ribala Montoya. More details will follow.
In November, the National Ballet will perform Crystal Pite's Angels' Atlas, a work that seems to stop time with its beauty and one that expresses so much about human connection and the ephemerality of life. The ballet fittingly captures the loss, longing and collective strength of the past year. Angels' Atlas will be performed with George Balanchine's Serenade in a moving and timely mixed programme.
The National Ballet is committed to sharing the holiday magic of James Kudelka's The Nutcracker as we do every December and will announce a performance schedule at a later date once more details are known about required protocols. One of the most lavish and complex productions in the repertoire, The Nutcracker features 233 performers onstage for every show, including 98 students who usually begin rehearsals in September.
In March, the company will present world premieres by Choreographic Associate Alysa Pires and newly appointed Principal Dancer Siphesihle November, the company premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's beautiful After the Rain and Sir Kenneth MacMillan's colourful and energetic Elite Syncopations. The Winter Season also features two dramatic full-length story ballets: John Neumeier's A Streetcar Named Desire and Rudolf Nureyev's The Sleeping Beauty.
The 2021/22 season will conclude in June with the long anticipated world premiere of Ms. Kain's new staging of Swan Lake, originally scheduled for her 50th anniversary with the National Ballet last year. Swan Lake features sets and costumes by renowned designer Gabriela Týlešová, lighting by Toronto designer Bonnie Beecher and projection designs by Sean Nieuwenhuis. Additional choreography will be created by Christopher Stowell and Robert Binet.
Due to the pandemic, 2021 was the first year, since the opening of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in 1969, that the National Ballet was forced to cancel its annual visit to our nation's capital. The company looks forward to its return to the NAC in 2022 and details will be announced at a later date.
Safe Return to the Theatre
Subscriptions for the 2021/22 are now on sale. The return to live performances will be in strict adherence to Ontario Public Health guidelines.
More on the Safe Return to the Theatre >
The National Ballet of Canada's 2021/22 Season
Outdoor Residency, Harbourfront Centre
Sharing the Stage
August 9 - 29, 2021
Details to be announced at a later date.
Fall Season
Angels' Atlas & Serenade
November 11 - November 21, 2021
Holiday Season
The Nutcracker
Performance schedule to be announced at a later date.
Winter Season
A Streetcar Named Desire, A Ballet by John Neumeier
March 2 - March 6, 2022
The Sleeping Beauty
March 11 - March 20, 2022
Elite Syncopations
& New Work by Alysa Pires World Premiere
& New Work by Siphesihle November World Premiere
& After the Rain Company Premiere
March 23 - March 27, 2022
Summer Season
Swan Lake World Premiere
Directed and Staged by Karen Kain
June 10 - June 26, 2022
Venue: Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto
Education and Community Engagement
Each season, The National Ballet of Canada reaches over 100,000 students and community members through its educational and community engagement programming.
YOU dance, the company's flagship community engagement programme, has reached more than 300,000 students in the Greater Toronto Area and across Canada since its creation in 2007. Due to the pandemic, the National Ballet switched to online programming in 2020/21, reaching over 7,100 students with free virtual visits and workshops. A record breaking 25,400 students across Canada tuned into watch the interactive YOU dance livestream on May 27, 2021. In 2021/22, the company will continue to inspire a love of dance and movement virtually with plans to return to in-person educational programming as soon as safety protocols from Ontario Public Health allow.
More About Education and Community Engagement >
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
The National Ballet recognizes the historical and present inequities of our artform. Through thoughtful and meaningful action, the company strives for greater diversity, equity and inclusion in work amongst our artists, volunteers, staff, partners, audiences and community. The company recently launched new webpages outlining commitments and work to date.
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