Dance Victoria Footnotes 49 (Fall 2015)

Footnotes Dance Victoria’s subscriber newsletter

ISSUE 49 • FALL 2015 • Ballet BC + The Nutcracker + Studio News + more

Footnotes Sponsor

Season Sponsor

, Videos + s o phot fo more in eb w on the

Dance at the Royal

Ballet BC | 30 Special 30th Anniversary Presentation

November 13 + 14 • Fri + Sat • 7:30 pm Royal Theatre Running Time: 1 hour 45 minutes (incl. two intermissions)

Alberta Ballet + Victoria Symphony

Alexis Fletcher and Gilbert Small in Twenty Eight Thousand Waves. Photo © Chris Randle

The Nutcracker

December 4 + 5 • Fri + Sat • 7:30 pm December 5 + 6 • Sat + Sun • 2:00 pm Royal Theatre Running Time: 2 hours (incl. intermission)

Outreach and Communications Sponsor

2 Footnotes • Issue 49 • Fall 2015

Dance Victoria brings the world’s best dance to the Royal Theatre and fosters the development of new dance at its studios in Quadra Village.

Dance Seen

Dance Victoria is a non-profit charitable society.

BY STEPHEN WHITE

The Sport of Dance

Dance Victoria Board: President

Paul McNair

Vice Presidents Mariann Burka Dr. Allana Lindgren Treasurer

Regan McGrath

Secretary

Kari McLay

Directors

Mary Desprez René Peloquin Lynda Raino John B. Shields

Staff: Executive Producer

Stephen White

General Manager

Bernard Sauvé

Operations Manager

Shireen McNeilage

Marketing & Development

Tracy Smith

Technical Director

Holly Vivian

Graphic Design

Rayola Creative

Advertising Sales

Bonnie Light

Trips Coordinator

Bill Hamar

If you’d like to volunteer for Dance Victoria please call 250-595-1829

IF I HAD CLOSED MY EYES, I would have sworn I was at a Blue Jays game, or maybe a professional boxing match. Nothing about the experience would have made me think I was at a dance performance.

I’m talking about the inaugural Fall for Dance North event at Toronto’s 3,200-seat Sony Centre that took place at the end of September. Spanning three evenings, FFDN borrowed its programming template from the very successful New York City Center event that recently celebrated its twelfth season. Short works by a variety of dance companies were presented each evening — companies like Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The National Ballet of Canada, Ballet BC, Dance Brazil and many more. The kicker is that tickets to the events were only $10.

All three nights sold out and the theatre was jammed to the rafters with patrons young and old — many who had never been inside the Sony Centre, let alone at a dance performance. I garnered this from the snippets of conversation I heard around me.

After each short performance, the curtain would fall and the audience would erupt into cheers and applause — like you might expect at a sporting event. In the three to five minute pause between the pieces, the auditorium was abuzz with excited conversation. As the house lights faded and the curtain rose on a new act, a hush fell across the room and for the next ten minutes you could hear a pin drop. Next curtain, next crazy burst of hooting and hollering.

Hats off to the Toronto organizers. While there are a few rumbles in Toronto’s dance community that Ballet BC turned in a flawless FFDN presents a new challenge because it is “giving performance of Cayetano Soto’s dance away,” my feeling is different. Having experiTwenty Eight Thousand Waves at enced the excitement first hand, I’d say FFDN Fall For Dance North and received reached a whole new audience and it got them very over-the-top hoots, hollers and excited about what’s happening in the dance world. fist pumps in response.

Studios and Office: 111 – 2750 Quadra Street Victoria, BC V8T 4E8 250-595-1829 DanceVictoria.com for trailers, tickets and more information

Racheal Prince & Scott Fowler in Twenty Eight Thousand Waves. Photo © Michael Slobodian

Footnotes is written by Stephen White and Tracy Smith (unless otherwise noted) and proofed by Anne Moon.

DanceVictoria.com • 3

Welcome (Back) to Dance Victoria!

We truly appreciate your patronage and support, and look forward to having you with us this year. Here are a few tips to help maximize your experience with Dance Victoria: 1. Please don’t wear scented products at the theatre. Several of our patrons are sensitive to perfumes or even allergic to the chemicals that are combined to make scents.

2. Help us get your name right. If it is spelled incorrectly or something’s wrong with your address, call us or send an email to info@dancevictoria.com and we’ll correct it right away.

3. At any time during the year you can buy extra tickets to any show and get the subscriber price (20% off). Just tell the box office you want the “Friend of Subscriber” price.

4. No babes in arms in the theatre. Just like you, we love them, but they are unpredictable little bundles.

Pre-Show Chats Presented by

Throughout the year we will notify our subscribers about special Dance at the Studio events, such as Rough Cuts, dance cabarets, intimate performances of new works or updates about casting and pre-show chats for our main stage series. To minimize marketing costs and maximize the fees we pay artists, we’d like to tell you about them by email.

Take a moment to email us at info@dancevictoria.com and tell us that you’d like to be included in updates. We will not trade or sell your contact information and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Our Branding Refresh You may have noticed our fresh new look. We figured it was time (after nearly ten years) to freshen up and pull together all of things we do at Dance Victoria. Over the course of the year you’ll notice programs like Dance Days, Rough Cuts, The Chrystal Dance Prize and more, are all part of the same family.

The only thing that changes with each iteration is the colour of the bolt. Thank you to Rayola Creative for their smart and efficient work helping us come to this new look.

If you haven’t been to DanceVictoria.com for a while, please pay us a visit. We worked to make our site more user-friendly.

Join us in the lobby at 6:50 pm for a chat about the evening’s performance throughout the season.

Ballet BC | 30 Join us in the lobby from 6:50-7:15 pm for a chat with Ballet BC Artistic Director, Emily Molnar. Emily will discuss the evening’s program and take any questions you may have.

Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker Join us 45 minutes (1:15 pm for the matinees and 6:45 for the evenings) before the show for Nutcracker Story Time. Professional storyteller Jim Leard will recount the tale of Klara’s magical evening.

Klara’s Closet In the Royal Theatre East Lobby, we’ll be opening Klara’s closet full of Nutcracker costumes and props so your children can play dress-up prior to the performance.

Pay Your Age Dance Victoria is brought to you by…

Marketing and Development – Tracy Smith Tracy earned her Honours BA in Dance and MA in Language and Professional Writing from the University of Waterloo. She has several years of experience in marketing and is a freelance business and creative writer for clients of all sizes from large corporations to not-for-profits. Tracy is excited to bring her experience and passion for dance to Dance Victoria this season and we’re very excited to welcome her to our team.

Sponsored by

Our popular Pay Your Age program is open to anyone aged 12 to 29.

We’re grateful for support from Toes ‘n’ Taps Dance Shoppe for this initiative. Do you have a young friend who would like to attend a Dance Victoria performance but can’t afford to? Tell them you can Pay Your Age. Pay Your Age tickets are limited, so act quickly. “Like” us on Facebook or follow our Twitter feed @dance_victoria.

4 Footnotes • Issue 49 • Fall 2015

Ballet BC Celebrates 30 Years November 13 + 14 • 7:30pm tinction Award in Vancouver, and was named Artist of the Year in Dance by The Globe & Mail in 2013.

A graduate of The National Ballet School of Canada, Emily is a former member of the National Ballet of Canada and the Frankfurt Ballet, where she created and performed an extensive ballet repertoire under Director William Forsythe. She was also a principal dancer with Ballet BC. She is an internationally critically acclaimed artist who has worked and toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Mexico, Canada and the U.S. She has created and performed several works as a choreographer and solo artist, including commissions for Alberta Ballet, Ballet Mannheim, Ballet Augsburg, Ballet BC, Cedar Lake Dance, Pro Arte Danza, and Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company.

Emily is passionate about nurturing artists and choreographers, educating and supporting the research and development of dance and artistic leadership, and exploring the role of the artist and dance in society. You can watch our conversations with Emily through a series of videos on our website and Facebook page. Unfortunately she’s sitting down in the videos, so you won’t see how tall she is. FN

Company artists. Photo © Michael Slobodian

When I first met Emily Molnar, the year was 2001. She stepped off a Helijet flight in Victoria to spend the day with me, being whisked from one media outlet to another. Ballet BC was bringing The Faerie Queen to town and Emily was dancing the role of “Puck.” She was Ballet BC’s principal dancer at the time: Artistic Director John Alleyne’s muse.

I was immediately struck by how tall she was — unusual for a ballet dancer. That was the talk about Emily in those days. It seemed that everyone who met her remarked on her height (5 feet, 11 inches). But when they saw her dance, all anyone could talk about was her strength, prowess and presence. She was a gorgeous dancer.

It has been remarkable, watching her growth from a celebrated interpreter to a leading force in the Canadian dance scene today.

She’s been noted by Maclean’s magazine as one of Canada's "new generation of ballet sensations.” Since she took the reins as Ballet BC’s Artistic Director in 2009, she has been steering the company into a new era of innovation and collaboration. Emily was recently appointed Sessional Artistic Director of Dance at The Banff Centre, where she guides the centre’s dance initiatives in collaboration with the dance community. She received the 2015 YWCA Women of Dis-

DanceVictoria.com • 5

Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker December 4 + 5 • 7:30pm // December 5 + 6 • 2:00pm Dance is in a constant state of renewal. Because it’s performed live, it’s never the same twice. That’s what is so special about a work as traditional as The Nutcracker. We may be familiar with the music, the story and even the choreography, but there is always something new to discover.

Alberta Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker is a popular sell-out for a reason. This dazzling production, choreographed by Edmund Stripe and designed by Emmy Award-winning designer Zack Brown, sets The Nutcracker in turn-of-the-century Imperial Russia, an era noted for its opulent grandeur, extravagant fur-lined fashions and stunning architecture. Audience members are transported back to a magical land of dancing white wolves, rats dressed as Cossack soldiers, and snowflakes adorned like Russian princesses.

Over 150 artists and technicians come together for the production: 36 Victoria Symphony musicians; 30 professional dancers; 60 children from local dance schools and 35 backstage crew. This production also tours to Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Every second year, it plays Ottawa’s National Arts Centre.

Nutcracker Ensemble

Nutcracker Kids

Sponsored by

Sponsored by Supported in part by

KerryLynn Turner is teaching this year’s large ensemble of local children from many different dance schools in the region. KerryLynn is a former dancer with Ballet BC. Her creative teaching style has been instrumental to the success of Victoria Academy of Ballet’s Post Secondary Bridge Program. KerryLynn has been putting the party boys, party girls, pages, rats, soldiers and mice through their paces so they are ready for the big show!

$60 from you buys two tickets for disadvantaged kids to attend The Nutcracker.

Every year, we ask the community to help us send kids to the opening night of The Nutcracker. The tickets are offered to families at Big Brothers Big Sisters and Women’s Transition House.

For many kids, The Nutcracker is their first experience of a professional dance performance accompanied by live musicians.

To help make a dream come true for local children, call us at 250-595-1829 or visit DanceVictoria.com and click “Support Us.” The kids will love you for it!

6 Footnotes • Issue 46 • Winter 2014

Dance Victoria Hosted Tours Dance Victoria’s Trips Coordinator Bill Hamar crafts amazing itineraries that are very popular with our subscribers and their friends. Our tours are filling up fast so act quickly to avoid being disappointed. For more information or to book your tour contact Bill at 250-595-1803 or tours@dancevictoria.com.

Visit Dance Victoria.com for the full itineraries.

Dance Victoria is grateful for its partnership with Vision Travel. These tours are fundraising events for Dance Victoria Society. A charitable tax receipt for a portion of the tour price is provided to each traveller.

An Argentine Tango

Broadway, Big Ben & Brie

16 Nights in Buenos Aires, Mendoza and Santiago, Chile April 9 – 27, 2016

New York, London and Paris May 12 – 28, 2016

Culture, wine and tango in three captivating South American cities beginning with eight nights in bustling Buenos Aires: walking tours of historic neighbourhoods, opera and dance performances, an evening at the milongas (tango clubs), and a day in historic Colonia, Uruguay. Fly to Mendoza for winery tours, tastings, and exquisite culinary experiences. Cross the Andes in a private motor coach to stunning Santiago, Chile, where you’ll enjoy more performances at historic venues and be a part of the vibrant nightlife in the charming barrio, Lastarria.

Sixteen nights in three exciting world capitals rich in culture, history and architecture. Highlights include performances at Lincoln Center

by New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater, a tasting tour of Greenwich Village restaurants, and a picnic on the Highline. Fly to London where you’ll be treated to a scotch tasting, performances of the Royal Ballet and walking tours of Old London. Then it’s the Chunnel to Paris to your charming hotel on the Left Bank at the foot of Pont Neuf. A cooking class, wine tasting, tour of the fashion district and a visit to Monet’s home and gardens in Giverny are topped by a performance of the Paris Opera Ballet. Options to travel to New York only or London and Paris only are available.

TOUR PRICE: $5,245 pp (double occupancy) Includes flights, internal travel and transfers, 16 nights’ accommodation, full daily breakfasts, 4 lunches, 2 dinners, tours and events as listed. Land only and single supplement pricing available on request.

TOUR PRICE: $7,395 pp (double occupancy) Includes airline flights, transfers and Chunnel. 16 nights’ accommodation. Daily breakfasts, 4 lunches, 2 receptions, wine and whisky tastings. Tours and events as listed. Land only and single supplement pricing available on request.

Scotia Wealth Management is proud to sponsor Dance Victoria.

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We are delighted to support the Arts and wish Dance Victoria an inspiring season.

Newsletters & Calendars

www.ScotiaWealthManagement.com

Brochures & Flyers

1321 Blanshard Street, Suite # 402 Victoria, B.C. V8W 0B6 Tel. 250-953-2600

®Registered trademark of The Bank of Nova Scotia, used under licence. ™Trademark of The Bank of Nova Scotia, used under licence. Scotia Wealth Management™ consists of a range of financial services provided by The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank®); The Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Company (Scotiatrust®); Private Investment Counsel, a service of 1832 Asset Management L.P.; 1832 Asset Management U.S. Inc.; Scotia Wealth Insurance Services Inc.; and ScotiaMcLeod,® a division of Scotia Capital Inc.

Rack Cards & Post Cards

609 Dunedin St., Victoria BC V8T 2L7 250-590-2998 www.fastracprinting.com

DanceVictoria.com • 7

New Sponsors Dance Victoria has always relied on support from the private sector to bring the best dance to Victoria as well as foster the best dance created in Victoria. Thank you to both our returning and new sponsors. We welcome the following new sponsors this year: • Bespoke Design Receptions Co-Sponsor (BJM) • BLINK Victoria Receptions Co-Sponsor (Ballet BC)

Night Moves Culture. Conversations. Cocktails.

• Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites Accommodation Sponsor (Fall)

Sponsored by

Night Moves is back for another fantastic season! Designed for 30 to 45 year olds, Night Moves is an exclusive after-party of culture, conversations and cocktails at a unique location, following Dance Victoria’s presentations.

Meet the dancers from each of the Companies. Sample inventive cocktails and appetizers. Experience exhilarating dance!

Our reduced price, four-show subscription package is an incredible deal that includes your invitation to after-parties and other social events. Go to DanceVictoria.com or “Like” our Night Moves Facebook page to learn more.

Canada’s Chrystal Dance Prize Canada’s Richest Prize for International Collaboration Dance Victoria offers two Chrystal Dance prizes annually to advance the careers of dance artists living in western Canada (MB, SK, AB, BC, YK). A committee of dance professionals considers: • Proposals from independent dance artists working with an international partner on a new work (deadline: Nov 16) • Applications from dancers completing their training at a recognized international dance institution (deadline: mid-March).

The prize can include a two-week residency at Dance Victoria Studios and a potential presentation in an upcoming Dance Victoria season. To learn more, visit our website DanceVictoria.com

• Breathe Athletic Dance Days Dancewear Sponsor

List Your Property with Dance Victoria is very happy about a program launched by DFH Real Estate in 2013. Ten per cent of the agent’s commission on any listing and/or sale that results from a Dance Victoria patron referral is paid to Dance Victoria. Thus far, three sales have brought significant new revenue to us. If you’re in the market to buy or sell, we would love you to call DFH at 250-477-7291 and mention Dance Victoria. Visit the DFH table at all Dance at the Royal events for more information.

Annual General Meeting

• D’Ambrosio Architecture + Urbanism - Creative Development Sponsor • Fort Properties Ltd. Receptions Co-Sponsor (Kidd Pivot + Electric Company Theatre) • hughes clothing Receptions Co-Sponsor (RWB) • Jones Emery Hargreaves Swan LLP – Nutcracker Ensemble Sponsor • Luxe Home Interiors – Presenting Sponsor: Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet • Oak Bay Business Improvement Association Find the Nutcracker Sponsor • Rayola Creative Presenting Sponsor: Kidd Pivot + Electric Company Theatre • Scotia Private Client Group Communications & Outreach

Sunday, November 22 • 7:00 pm Dance Victoria Studios (Milne Studio) • 2750 Quadra Street Join us as we celebrate a successful year and join us in a discussion about our plans for the future. If you have donated $100 or more to the Society since July 1, 2014, you are a member in good standing. If you’re unsure of your status, call the office at 250-595-1829 or email info@dancevictoria.com. Memberships will be available at the meeting.

Followed by a reception in the studio’s newly re-furbished lobbies.

RSVP@dancevictoria.com

8 Footnotes • Issue 49 • Fall 2015

Next DANCE VICTORIA DANCE DAYS

OUT INNERSPACE DANCE THEATRE // Vancouver WORLD PREMIERE! Group Work January 29 + 30, 2016 • 7:30 pm Metro Studio Theatre (Quadra at Johnson) Tickets: $25 + $3.50 Service Charge Box Office: 250-386-6121

Now on sale!

You may recall David Raymond and Tiffany Tregarthen of Out Innerspace Dance Theatre from their duet entitled Me So You So Me, an audience favourite at the 2014 Dance Days Festival. When it played in Toronto a few months later, Globe & Mail critic Martha Schabas said “Both Raymond and Tregarthen are captivating… It’s a treat to see this talented and boldly imaginative company touring Canada. Lucky for us, they’re planning another national tour in 2016 to debut a new ensemble piece.” Dance Days is thrilled to have the premiere of this new ensemble piece, right here in Victoria.

David Raymond and Tiffany Tregarthen. Photo © Wendy D Photography

About the New Work At the time of the printing of this newsletter, the work remains untitled. The group work has seven dancers including Dave and Tiff. Dance Victoria is proud to have supported this project with two residencies and commissioning support. At a recent Dance Victoria Rough Cuts, Tiff and Dave shared some insights about their evolving work.

“We’re interested in exploring conflicts between the self and the crowd. We’re asking, ‘how do we want to be seen, heard, and understood in the world as a group, a generation, a people? What do we protest, what do we promote, and what are we up against?’”

Alongside their exploration with how groups thrive or suffer inside social taboos, the creation process also focuses on technical experimentation with microphones, video projection and camera flashes. Out Innerspace is working alongside project mentor Crystal Pite.

This new work is commissioned by the CanDance Network and a group of presenting partners that include Live Art Dance Productions (Halifax), Dance Victoria, Firehall Arts Centre (Vancouver), L’Agora de la Danse (Montréal), and the Brian Webb Dance Company (Edmonton).

January 22 – 31, 2016 It’ll Move You Ten days of free dance classes. Hard to dance away from! The complete guide to free classes, workshops, studio showings and performances will be available online at DanceVictoria.com, January 11.

OUT INNERSPACE January 29 + 30 • 7:30 pm Metro Studio Theatre World Premiere – New Group Work

Dance at the Royal Subscribers can buy additional tickets to Dance Victoria any time of the year and save 20%

LES BALLETS JAZZ DE MONTRÉAL February 26 + 27 • 7:30 pm Royal Theatre Triple bill

KIDD PIVOT + ELECTRIC COMPANY THEATRE March 11 + 12 • 7:30 pm Royal Theatre Betroffenheit

ROYAL WINNIPEG BALLET April 1 + 2 • 7:30 pm Royal Theatre Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation