Dance Victoria Footnotes 72 (Fall 2022)

Photos (clockwise from left): BalletX dancers Ashley Simpson & Richard Villaverde by Gabriel Bienczycki; Out Innerspace Dance Theatre's Tiffany Tregarthen & Renee Sigouin by Alistair Maitland; Dance Theatre of Harlem by Paula Lobo; Malpaso Dance Company by Rose Eichenbaum

A Season of Firsts

Welcome from Dance Victoria’s new Executive Director

Dance Victoria brings the World’s Best Dance to the Royal Theatre and supports the development of new dance for the international stage from its studios in Quadra Village. As a non-profit charitable society, Dance Victoria operates with the mission to promote the appreciation of dance by developing and presenting diverse local, Canadian and international artists, and by engaging the community in the celebration of dance. DanceVictoria.com

Dance Victoria Board: President: Susan K. E. Howard Vice-President: Robert Millar Treasurer: Julie Robinson Secretary: Kayleigh Harrison Directors: Maggie Bartold, Colette Baty, Frances Grunberg, Stacey Horton, Carrie Smart

Staff:

Executive Director: Gillian Jones General Manager: Bernard Sauvé Operations Manager: Shireen McNeilage Marketing Manager: Tracy Smith Studio Bookings Manager: Kiera Shaw Accounting: Wendy Mahon Production Manager: Holly Vivian Graphic Design: Rayola Creative Advertising Sales: Bonnie Light Advertising

If you’d like to volunteer for Dance Victoria please visit Dance Victoria and complete the online volunteer form.

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

Footnotes is written by Tracy Smith and Gillian Jones (unless otherwise noted)

This is my first Footnotes welcome, having joined Dance Victoria as its new Executive Director in July. In my three months here, I’ve been grateful for the warm welcome and generosity from our amazing staff and Board of Directors, enthusiastic supporters, and community organizations with which we’re so fortunate to partner. It’s clear that Victoria has a love for dance! I feel very lucky, and humbled, to take the reins from Executive Producer Stephen White after his 22-year tenure.

As I write this, Dance Victoria’s Marketing Manager extraordinaire, Tracy Smith, reminds me that my welcome “should focus on our 2022/23 theme: A Season of Firsts!” All four companies you’ll see in the Dance at the Royal Series are performing in Victoria for the first time, starting with BalletX in November. We also have several special projects, co-commissions and co-productions that represent important milestones for Dance Victoria. In January, Vancouver’s Out Innerspace Dance Theatre will perform Bygones, an imaginative new work co-commissioned by Dance Victoria, at the McPherson Playhouse. Our team is thrilled to co-produce Ballet Edmonton’s Music in Motion with the Victoria Symphony in April. It is the first such creative collaboration between our organizations (and not to be missed!)

There are those “firsts” and then there are the “firsts” behind-the-scenes. The first conversations, for example, I’ve had with Dance Victoria’s remarkable resident artists These thirteen artists and collectives in residence represent a diversity of disciplines, backgrounds, and perspectives, and are already developing new work at our Quadra Village Studios. Throughout the season, we’ll invite the public to experience these exciting works in person — starting with a soon-to-be-announced line-up of Rough Cuts (works-inprogress) in January 2023.

Last month, Dance Victoria held our first Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker auditions after two years of cancellations. We’re delighted that young dancers in our community — 72 this year! — will shine on the Royal stage. This production truly is a community effort. In addition to our young dancers, Nutcracker engages 27 dancers from RWB; 45 members of the Victoria Symphony; 35 backstage crew; and countless volunteers. We can’t wait to experience the magic of Nutcracker again, and to welcome our youngest audiences to what is often their very first visit to the theatre.

Yours sincerely, Gillian Jones

Ballet Edmonton by Nanc Price

Gillian Jones by Jo-Ann Richards Works Photography

Ballet Edmonton by Cooper & O'Hara

Welcome to our 2022/23 Season of Firsts!

FREE Pre-Show Chat

Sponsored by BalletX from Philadelphia Join us in the lobby from 6:50 to 7:15 pm for a chat with BalletX Artistic & Executive Director Christine Cox. BalletX’s mixed repertoire will be sure to generate an interesting discussion followed by a Q&A with audience members.

Welcome back subscribers! A big hello to all new subscribers! We’re looking forward to an amazing season at the Royal Theatre: four premieres in Victoria. That’s right, four dance companies that are performing here for the first time ever. We’re also excited to co-produce our first collaboration with the Victoria Symphony and Ballet Edmonton. It’s our first season with Executive Director Gillian Jones and we’re welcoming some new sponsors to Dance Victoria this year (more on that inside). We’re sure that many more firsts will evolve with the season. Below are some tips to help maximize your experience with Dance Victoria and while at the Royal Theatre:

Dance Victoria has a scent-free policy. Many patrons• are allergic or very sensitive to scents, experiencing immediate, severe, and potentially disabling reactions like respiratory difficulties, skin problems and neurological symptoms. Please refrain from wearing

scents of any kind (perfume, smoke, etc.) and consider alternatives that are scent-free and smoke-free.  Help us get your name right. If it is spelled incorrectly or• something’s wrong with your contact details, call 250-595-1829 or email info@dancevictoria.com. Please silence your cell phones. No photos or• recording of any part of the show is allowed in the theatre.

As a courtesy, please remain by your seat until the• dancers are finished taking their bows.

You can buy extra tickets to any show and get the• subscriber price (close to 20% off regular prices) anytime during the season. Just tell the Box Office you want the “Friend of Subscriber” price.

Our shows are recommended for audience members• who are 12 years of age or older (with the exception of Nutcracker). FN

Reducing Our Carbon Footprint

Pay Your Age

Sponsored by Your age. Your price. If you’re between 12 and 29 on the date of our Dance at the Royal or Out Innerspace Dance Theatre performances, you can purchase a ticket for the same price as your age plus a small theatre administrative fee. There are only a limited number of PYA tickets, and they always sell out before show time. Order in-person at the Royal or McPherson Box Office or over the phone (250-386-6121). Proof of photo ID required at ticket pick up.

We’re focusing on reducing our carbon footprint, saving on printing costs, and maximizing the fees that we pay artists. Part of our reduced carbon footprint will be offering Footnotes as an online-only e-newsletter moving forward. Please ensure that we have your email address so that you can receive Footnotes electronically. If you are unable to access Footnotes online, send us an email at info@dancevictoria.com or call us at 250-595-1829 and we will ensure that you receive a copy.

Providing your email also ensures that you receive regular communications about studio events such as Rough Cuts (intimate performances of new works), updates about pre-show chats for our Dance at the Royal series, and more. We will not trade or sell your contact information and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Dance Theatre of Harlem's Ingrid Silva & Company by Paula Lobo

Christine Cox

Bebe de Roland Eversfield in the musical Follow the Girls (Australia 1946).

Photographer unknown

New Scholarship Honours Bebe Eversfield

A highly respected, extraordinary woman, dancer and teacher

The dance community lost a dear friend in February 2022. Esme (Bebe) de Roland Eversfield passed away surrounded by her family at the age of 97. She was a devoted mother, a gourmet cook, and an avid gardener, with a unique sense of humour, innate sense of style, and zest for life. She was highly respected, admired, and recognized as an extraordinary woman, dancer, and teacher.

Bebe had a major influence on the dance community in Victoria. A recipient of Dance Victoria’s Community Award, Bebe’s dance career is highlighted in Dancing on the Island – Six Women Who Shaped Dance on South Vancouver Island, Canada, published by Dance Victoria with the support of the Victoria Foundation.

Bebe was accepted into Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at the young age of 14 even though war prevented her from going. At 17, she was prima ballerina in Lydia Kyasht’s Russian Ballet Company, reported to be the youngest prima ballerina in the world. When injuries sidelined her ballet career, she moved on to musical theatre and films, touring Australia and New Zealand. She eventually married

and moved to Victoria with her husband, Norman, where she ran the Victoria School of Theatrical Arts for 30 years, produced Butchart Garden’s Sunset Shows, and choreographed for UVic’s Phoenix Theatre, Victoria Operatic Society and Bastion Theatre. She was also choreographer, director, writer and costume designer for Jerry Gosley’s Famous Smile Show, and she taught at Stages School of Performing Arts and many other venues in Victoria.

The Bebe de Roland Eversfield Ballet Scholarship has been established for a ballet dancer that shows true passion and exceptional talent and will be distributed through The DanceWorks Scholarship Endowment Fund. Gifts can be made at www.victoriafoundation.bc.ca or by calling 250-381-5532. Dance Victoria extends its love and condolences to Bebe’s sons, Derek, Mark (Lydia and her children, Nick and Rachel) and Craig; her grandsons, Sean and Kai; and to her many friends in Victoria. She will be missed. You can learn more about Bebe’s extraordinary career on Dance Victoria’s Community Archives website at https://archives.dancevictoria.com FN

Bebe de Roland Eversfield. Photographer unknown

BalletX dancers Andrea Yorita & Richard Villaverde. Photo: Alexander Iziliaev

BalletX

Canadian-born choreographer

Archibald premieres EXALT on BalletX

“My movement is powerful in action and in effect, ferocious and vulnerable. I give dancers the freedom to develop their own ideas and demand independent expression. I want to expose the deeply complicated conversations of our bodies. I want my audience to cry, laugh, reminisce and recognize.” —

JENNIFER ARCHIBALD

Choreographer Jennifer Archibald is making waves. Over the past decade, she became the first Black female Resident Choreographer of a ballet company with Cincinnati Ballet. Her work has taken her everywhere from centre court at Madison Square Garden to the proscenium stages of the Kennedy Center. Her fusion of two seemingly opposite techniques, hip hop and ballet, are leaving audiences craving more of her work.

Born in Toronto, Archibald received her BFA in Dance from York University and went on to train at the Alvin Ailey School in New York. Her early choreographic opportunities came through hip hop and contemporary dance, yet she ended up in ballet as both are ingrained in her vocabulary and movement.

Jennifer says, “I put the music on and I just start moving. It comes from an emotional impulse, and I paint immediately. I am physically doing all the material; I do it on them and then I say, “Does that not feel good? Should you be going left instead of right?” However, nobody improvises material. I see how my material is interpreted and then I say okay, we’ll keep that — or not.

I don’t tend to change things once I see them unless I am trying to make sure the partnering is seamless. It is just an emotional and physical truth. I am also watching the dancers closely kinetically to see if there is something that seems strange. I don’t tend to push non-kinetic ways of operating. I do what feels stylistically good to the dancers who are in front of me.”

Archibald is the founder and Artistic Director of the Arch

Dance Company and Program Director of ArchCore40 Dance Intensives in New York. She has choreographed for Atlanta Ballet, Ailey II, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Kansas City Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Ballet West, Sacramento Ballet, Nashville Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet, and worked commercially for Tommy Hilfiger, NIKE, and MAC Cosmetics, as well as chart-listed artists. She is an Acting Lecturer at the Yale School of Drama and was appointed as Guest Faculty Lecturer to develop the hip hop dance curriculum at Columbia/Barnard College. She is also a guest artist at several universities.

Archibald premiered EXALT with BalletX in May 2022 at the Mann Centre for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia to a music remix of Black Coffee, Afro Brotherz and sound by Foremost Poets. The work incorporates all 10 principal dancers in the company.

“In a contemporary dance company, the way the dancers move in and out of partnering and weight sharing is very different than in a ballet company, just based on their training. In a ballet company, I want to see an attack in partnering, and to be honest, I want to push the dancers to explore different ways to touch each other.

This ties into the work that I’m doing at Yale. I do a lot of movement script analysis there — the emotions, sensitivity, and sensuousness of when and how two people interact with each other. This is something that I want to explore. I see it in acting and I want to make sure that my partnering work embodies that same heightened level of transmitting emotional energy.

Partnering in ballet can be predictable. I’m exploring how to break that down. I have women lifting men, men doing duets with men. I don’t just have the man walk around the woman. Do they always have to hold hands? Can they touch each other with different parts of the body?

And for me, being unorthodox is in my personality.” FN

Jennifer

BalletX in EXALT by Vikki Sloviter Photography

Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Yosuke Mino with RWB school students by David Cooper

Nutcracker

Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet + Victoria Symphony

Attending Nutcracker is a sign that the holidays are around the corner and a perfect way to get into the spirit. At the time of writing this, Dance Victoria is busy preparing for auditions at Dance Victoria Studios for students from local dance schools hoping for a spot in the Nutcracker Children’s Ensemble. Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s production has lots of opportunities for young dancers to be on stage in full costume with RWB’s professional dancers, as mice, Mounties, angels, party girls and boys, reindeer, and polar bears. The young dancers will learn their parts from repetiteur KerryLynn Turner, Bridge Program Director at Victoria Academy of Ballet. It’s fate that Victoria Academy of Ballet is also this year’s Children Ensemble Sponsor –another first for us and them in our Season of Firsts! Thank you, Victoria Academy of Ballet, for keeping this tradition alive, and KerryLynn, for training and preparing the young dancers so well for this production!

“Having grown up through participating in a variety of professional versions of The Nutcracker myself, I know just how magical and exciting it is for young dancers to have the opportunity to be onstage and dance alongside the professional company dancers, to be in awe of the incredible sets and wearing the beautiful costumes, and of course getting to dance to a live orchestra! Having RWB come to our city with Nutcracker brings our dance community closer together while working towards the common goal of presenting five beautifully presented

New Sugar Plum Party

Join us before each performance of Nutcracker in the Royal Theatre lobby for a Sugar Plum Party! There will be activities for children, an Instagram photo board, and other Nutcracker surprises for the whole family to enjoy!

performances. I am thrilled to be back working as the Children’s Ensemble Rehearsal Director for this year and to be welcoming RWB back to Victoria since 2018.”

KerryLynn Turner

Note: You will see children of all ages and abilities in our Nutcracker audiences. The noise level and enthusiasm may be higher than you are accustomed to in the theatre, but that is what makes these performances special. Thank you in advance for your patience! FN

Nutcracker Kids

Each $65 contribution brings disadvantaged kids to Nutcracker! The tickets are offered to families and their caregivers at Victoria Women’s Transition House, the Inter-Cultural Assocation of Greater Victoria, the Esquimalt Military Family Resource Centre, and Family Services of Greater Victoria. To help make a dream come true for local children, call us at 250-595-1829 or visit DanceVictoria.com and click “Support.” The kids will love you for it! All donors are recognized in the Nutcracker program.

Campaign

Nutcracker

Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Clara with RWB school students by Daniel Crump

Donate to Nutcracker Kids!

Photos (clockwise from left) Suddenly Dance Theatre, still from the Lucky Maybe film; InterdepenDanceCollective; Kayla Henry of Noble Riot Dance by Andrew Wierzbicki Realtor YYJ; and Kathy Lang of Third Canvas Dance

Resident Artists At Dance

Victoria Studios

Dance Victoria is best known for its Dance at the Royal series bringing the World’s Best Dance to Victoria, but the heart of what we do is at Dance Victoria Studios. Dance Victoria is providing more than $50,000 in fees and studio time for dance residences at various times through the year. In August, Dance Victoria welcomed Suddenly Dance Theatre, Noble Riot Dance Theatre, Third Canvas Dance and InterdepenDance Collective. Suddenly Dance Theatre is working with South Korean artists developing and filming the third installment in their trilogy Lucky Maybe Kayla Henry (Noble Riot Dance Theatre) received a 2022 Chrystal Dance Prize from Dance Victoria to work with Vienna-based dance artist Christina Medina on her work, Luminaries. She has been preparing for a public presentation of the work in May 2023. Dancemaker and

Night Moves

Curated for 30 to 45 year olds

Sponsored by

Row 1: Kathy Lang, Aiden Cass, Sarah Hutton, David Ferguson, Kelly McInnes, Luciana Freire D’Anunciação, Jordan Dalley

Row 2: Amber Downie-Back, Kiera Shaw, Constance Cooke, Kemi Craig, InterdepenDance Collective, Lee Ingram; Kayla Henry

Night Moves is an amazing night out of culture, conversations and cocktails with friends. Night Movers benefit from discounted ticket pricing and invites to special events throughout the year. Join us for our first Night Moves event: a pre-show Happy Hour at BalletX with YAM Magazine’s Lise Gyorkos (Friday evening) and Executive Director Gillian Jones. Proof of photo ID required at ticket pick up. Call 250-386-6121 or visit DanceVictoria.com

popular local studio owner, Kathy Lang of Third Canvas Dance, will continue her development of choreography that plays with light, casting one dancer in shadow while the other remains illuminated. She will also dig deeper into a solo she has been developing in recent months, while InterdepenDance Collective is preparing for a 360-degree video/screendance exploring multiple modes of access.

Watching these artists create in our studios is one way that Dance Victoria fulfills its mission of supporting the development of new dance for the international stage from its studios in Quadra Village and by engaging the community in the celebration and appreciation of dance. Look for announcements of when you can experience work by these artists during upcoming Rough Cuts FN

New Sponsors

We are so thankful for the support of local businesses. We couldn’t bring the World’s Best Dance to our community if it weren’t for the support of the region’s private sector. We welcome the following NEW sponsors this year:

Another Brick in Nepal Hughes Clothing Times Colonist (Christmas Fund) Turnabout Luxury Resale Victoria Academy of Ballet VictoriaNow

A big thank you to these folks and, of course, to our returning sponsors!

Supported by

BalletX dancer Stanley Glover by Gabriel Bienczycki

Register for Virtual Annual General Meeting

November 13, 2022

4:00 - 5:00 pm • Sunday

As a member in good standing, you are invited to join us at Dance Victoria Society’s virtual Annual General Meeting on Sunday, November 13, 2022 at 4:00 pm as we reflect on Dance Victoria’s 2021/22 season. Say hello to our returning Dance Victoria Board Members and we’ll be voting in new Board Members at this meeting.

If you have donated $10 or more to Dance Victoria Society since our last AGM (November 1, 2021), you are a “member in good standing” and can attend and vote at this virtual AGM. If you are unsure of your status, contact us at 250-595-1829 or info@dancevictoria.com. Memberships will also be discussed at the meeting.

Visit https://dancevictoria.com/event/annual-generalmeeting-2022/ to register. Sell

Choose a DFH realtor below and mention Dance Victoria when you buy or sell your property. Ten percent of the realtor’s commission helps bring the World’s Best Dance to our community.

John Melvin john@johnmelvinproperties.ca | 250-477-7291

Rosemary & Gary Victoria Homes Team homes@rosemaryandgary.ca | 250-477-7291

Katie Webb katie@dfh.ca | 778-677-0982

Dorothee Friese dorothee@shaw.ca | 250-477-7291

Terry Moore tlmoore@shaw.ca | 250-477-7291

Next Dance Days

It’ll Move You

January 13 to January 23, 2023

Dance Days is back for 10 days — when local studios offer free adult dance classes in all kinds of styles — ballet, ballroom, tap, barre, efunk and more. Start 2023 off right by trying something new and fun and get moving! Look for the complete online calendar of classes at DanceVictoria.com in January 2023. Plus, we will present a series of three Rough Cuts on Sunday, January 22, 2023 at Dance Victoria Studios. All Rough Cuts performances are free and accessible to the public, with a suggested donation of $10.

Dance at the Royal

BalletX CONTEMPORARY BALLET

November 18 + 19, 2022 • 7:30 PM Increasing Matthew Neenan Fancy Me Caili Quan

It’s Not a Cry Amy Seiwert Honey Jamar Roberts EXALT Jennifer Archibald

BODYTRAFFIC CONTEMPORARY

February 10 + 11, 2023 • 7:30 PM

A Million Voices Matthew Neenan The One to Stay With Baye & Asa SNAP Micaela Taylor PACOPEPEPLUTO Alejandro Cerrudo

Plus

Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet CLASSICAL BALLET + Victoria Symphony Nutcracker

December 2 + 3 + 4, 2022 • 7:00 PM December 3 + 4, 2022 • 1:00 PM

Out Innerspace Dance Theatre

CONTEMPORARY DANCE THEATRE

January 13, 2023 • 7:30 PM – ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Bygones

Ballet Edmonton CONTEMPORARY BALLET

Co-produced with Victoria Symphony

Dance Theatre of Harlem CONTEMPORARY BALLET

March 24 + 25, 2023 • 7:30 PM

Allegro Brillante George Balanchine When Love Helen Pickett Blake Works 4 William Forsythe Higher Ground Robert Garland

Malpaso Dance Company CONTEMPORARY

April 28 + 29, 2023 • 7:30 PM

Carrying Floor Abel Rojo woman with water Mats Ek Indomitable Waltz Aszure Barton Tabula Rasa Ohad Naharin

April 23, 2023 • 2:30 PM April 24, 2023 • 7:30 PM Music in Motion Sign up