Ballet Kelowna Launches 2025/26 Season With COUNTERMOVE Triple Bill Of Canadian Choreographers

Ballet Kelowna will open its 2025/26 season with Countermove, an adventurous triple bill of contemporary works by Canadian choreographers, on stage November 7 and 8, 2025 at the Kelowna Community Theatre.

The program features the world premiere of still before by Alexis Fletcher and Sylvain Senez of Vancouver’s Belle Spirale Dance Projects, Artistic Director Simone Orlando’s Doppeling, and Cameron sinkʷə Fraser-Monroe’s reimagined The Cowboy Act Suite.

“We are delighted to welcome new and returning audiences to experience our 2025/26 season with this exhilarating program, featuring a trio of works that showcase Ballet Kelowna’s artistic versatility,” said Simone Orlando, Artistic Director and CEO of Ballet Kelowna. “It’s a joy to reunite with Alexis Fletcher and Sylvain Senez, both of whom I danced with at Ballet BC, and to celebrate the visionary work of Ballet Kelowna’s Associate Artist, Cameron sinkʷə Fraser-Monroe.”

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Countermove opens with Orlando’s acclaimed Doppeling, a witty, gender-bending commentary on conformity and individuality set to Bach’s Double Violin Concerto. Originally created for Ballet BC in 2009 and last performed by Ballet Kelowna in 2019, the piece features an ensemble of dancers in matching gold unitards and bobbed wigs, described by The Georgia Straight as “a vision of doppelganger ballerinas breaking loose.”

The program continues with the world premiere of still before, a multidisciplinary collaboration by Alexis Fletcher and Sylvain Senez exploring the fleeting nature of time. Set to an original score by Ben Waters, the work embodies the tension between past and present through physically charged, emotionally resonant choreography and sand-filled hourglasses that mark the passage of time.

Rounding out the evening is Fraser-Monroe’s The Cowboy Act Suite, a satirical take on Western mythology featuring music by Mohawk singer-songwriter Tom Wilson and Cree Métis artist iskwē. With a life-sized chuckwagon and vivid theatrical imagery, the work follows an Indigenous photographer on a humorous and poignant journey to uncover the “real” cowboy.

ABOUT THE CHOREOGRAPHERS

Alexis Fletcher and Sylvain Senez, Co-Artistic Directors of Belle Spirale Dance Projects, both danced with Ballet BC for over a decade. They co-founded The Dance Deck, a long-running outdoor dance series, and established Belle Spirale in 2023 to pursue new choreographic collaborations.

Cameron sinkʷə Fraser-Monroe, a member of the Tla’amin First Nation, served as Ballet Kelowna’s first Artist in Residence (2022/23) and Choreographer in Residence with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet (2023/24). His works for Ballet Kelowna include taqəš, ʔɛmaxwiygə, and payɛčot yɛχət, alongside The Cowboy Act Suite.

COMPANY AND PERFORMANCE DETAILS

Ballet Kelowna’s 2025/26 company features McKeely Borger, Avery Grierson, Riku Hirakoba, Naomi Kawamura, Donaldo Nava, Samuel Ramos, Kurt Werner, and MacKye White, with apprentices Shae Jones, Lacey Park, and Emily Webb, and trainee Thealla Dach.

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