2010
Learn more about Ballet Kelowna and our dancers in the Fall 2010 Madeleine feature and from Paula Citron, Globe & Mail Reviews "Masters'Play".
Gillian Lockitch, ReView from the House:
"I do know when a performance leaves me as happy and satisfied as did this one. It is always a pleasure to see artists putting heart and soul into their work and as one of the dancers said after the show, "we're out there doing what we love". I hope to see them back "doing what they love", in Vancouver next year." Read the full article about Ballet Kelowna "Master's Play"...
Ballet Kelowna “Master’s Play”
A Review by Odea Crawley
From The Barre Facts published by the Vancouver Ballet Society
I didn’t know what to expect as we sat waiting for the Ballet Kelowna performance to begin at the Roundhouse on April 17th. I was surprised to find out that the company was made
up of only six dancers, three women and three men. All of the dancers were young and four of the six were from B.C. Tiffany Bilodeau is from Fort St. John, Christina
Cecchini Kamloops, Cai Glover-Prince George and Raelynn Heppell from Vancouver Island .The other two dancers are also Canadian, Eloi Hornier from Quebec and Davin Luce from
Alberta.
The pieces that were presented were all by Canadian choreographers. This was my first time seeing these chorographer’s work; some of it recent and others were a part of Canadian Dance history.
The evening began with “Etude” by Vancouver teacher and choreographer Kay Armstrong. This piece was my Mom’s favourite and must have been very unusual when it was first danced back in the 40’s. The lines were clean and strong with simple costumes. Also presented were Gymnodies by Nesta Toumines and Butterfly Affect by Joe Laughlin. My favourites were Double Quartet by Choreographer Brian Macdonald and Donizetti Variations by David LaHay. In Double Quartet the dancers, three men and one woman, wore unitards and wove themselves together and apart, creating intricate body designs. It was a very emotional piece and the dancers seemed very connected both physically and emotionally.
I also liked Donizetti Variations. It was the most classical of the pieces that night. Mr LaHay called it “a series of finales” to Donizetti’s music. I really liked it because it was very upbeat
and the dancers were not holding anything back. I also really enjoyed the way in which the dances were presented. Each piece was introduced by Artistic Director David LaHay with a bit of history and background. This was fun because Mr. LaHay was very funny and it was also educational. It was too bad there were not more young dancers in the audience to learn more about Canadian dance and choreography.
At the end of the evening the dancers came onstage and answered questions from the audience; this was also interesting and inspiring for me as a young dancer to hear young professionals speak about their lives as dancers.