September 1, 2010

After 12 years of performing with The National Ballet of Canada, I am now sharing the joy that came from performing with young audiences through YOU dance, the company’s celebrated outreach programme. During my time as a dancer, I was given the opportunity to work in the many different education programmes the National Ballet offers. One of my favourite experiences was teaching Kids Corps movement workshops, based on the ballets we were performing, to five to 12 year olds. I also went to schools across the GTA to host Dance About, the in-school lecture demonstrations. During this time, it became apparent to me that I LOVED teaching kids about dance. To see them embracing movement through dance and the thrill they were experiencing reminded me of my youth.

I had seen The Australian Ballet School’s touring company in my hometown of Mount Gambier, South Australia as a child and this inspired me to become a professional dancer. Now, I am in the fortunate position to work with the National Ballet’s YOU dance and to inspire the next generation with ballet and dance.

Check out the YOU dance website to watch new videos and see more images at http://www.youdancecanada.ca/

[Photos top to bottom: Lisa Robinson with Kids Corps, photo by Sharon Vanderlinde; Lisa instructing the Kids Corps members, photo by Adrienne Nevile; and Lisa backstage at her final performance of Onegin (June 2010).]

August 25, 2010

I have performed on many stages around the world during my 50 years as a professional dancer. This past May, I had the performance of my lifetime on a different stage.

My wife Susan invited me to join her on a trip to celebrate five years her being cancer free. This trip was different from any trips I have ever dreamed of. I spent a few months preparing and training for it. We flew to Kathmandu, Nepal. After a couple of days of sightseeing and negotiating historical sights, people and traffic we flew on a Twin Otter plane to our starting point in Lukla. Our small group of 15 met our 46 Sherpas, cooks, porters and 8 yaks. We got on the way on our 10 day trek to Mount Everest Base Camp. It was not a “walk in the park” since we were going to walk over 100 km and climb about 25,000 feet. For me everything was new since I have never done anything like this before. I don’t think I have had a knapsack on my back more then a dozen times in my life. I took it one step at a time, literally. We walked between six to nine hours a day. We had a couple of days off. That meant going on a 1,000 to 1,500 foot climb and back, just to let our bodies get used to the altitude. We had medical check-ups twice daily just to make we were retaining enough oxygen and all the rest of our bodily functions were in order.

The scenery was changing all the time as we were climbing higher and higher. We walked through some beautiful rhododendron forests in bloom (some were 20 to 30 feet high). When ever we took time to stop and look up (mostly we had to look where we were walking) the scenery was indescribably beautiful. Often we found ourselves surrounded by the tallest and most beautiful mountains of the world. It was a panorama of 360 degrees of monumental beauty.

During our trek, we stopped in some very picturesque villages, visited Sir Edmund Hillary’s schools in the village of Kumjung at 12,475 feet, visited Buddhist monasteries, talked to many ‘real’ mountain climbers on their way down from summiting the peak of Mount Everest and met some beautiful local Nepalese people.

We were spending some 6,000 to 10,000 calories a day and so eating and drinking water was of utmost importance. We drank about 3 liters of water daily and the cooks made sure our diet was loaded with carbs. I tolerated the altitude to about16,000 feet very well. Then it hit my stomach to the point that I couldn’t even think of food without feeling nauseated. That didn’t stop me from persevering. On day ten, we arrived at the Base Camp, all 15 of us. We were at 17,600 feet. We all hugged and cried from feeling of accomplishment, satisfaction and happiness. We were all in ecstasy. We made it! We had lunch there though I didn’t really feel like eating but I had to force myself. No champagne though, alcohol is not good at high altitude! After lunch we made our 3 to 4 hour trek down to Gorak Shep for the night. For the ten days on the way up, we had been extremely lucky with the weather. It was just gorgeous. The following morning we woke up for our trek down to find it had snowed all night. We could see no mountains or even 30 feet ahead of us. We walked nine hours in that weather and eventually changed into rain. The next morning, the sun was out again and the rest of our descent for four days was difficult but beautiful.

I am still on a cloud (so to speak). I feel energized; even at 66 years old I can do anything. This really was one of my greatest performances of my life and on a world stage.

Tomas Schramek will next appear onstage in Cinderella, November 11 to 20, 2010.

[Photos top to bottom: Tomas Schramek defying gravity (15,000 feet), village of Namche Bazar (11, 306 feet) and Tomas and wife, Susan at the Memorial to the fallen climbers at Khumbu Glacier (16,500 feet).]

On June 19th, I returned to the stage in Onegin as Prince Gremin. It has been six years since I stopped dancing so I hired a trainer and got into great shape by adding muscle and losing 20 pounds! I wanted to do Gremin with Nan [Yu] as I was her first Onegin and thought it would be poignant to return all these years later as her husband.

When I came onstage, I was overwhelmed by the applause. It was moving and made me a little nervous for Act III where the big pas de deux for Tatiana and Gremin takes place in the ballroom. I had always wanted to do this pas de deux as it is quite moving and is actually just as hard, or even harder than, the pas de deux with Tatiana and Onegin. In rehearsal I had to build back stamina but the hard work paid off. The pas de deux went very well and it was a night I will cherish forever.

As for returning to the stage in the future… never say never!

[Photo 1: Rex Harrington by Sian Richards. Photo 2: Onegin by Cylla von Tiedemann.]

After a very busy yet incredibly rewarding year of YOU dance shows and company performances as an Apprentice with The National Ballet of Canada, I am so grateful to be joining as a member of the Corps de Ballet for the 2010/11 season. I am particularly excited for the wide range of repertoire planned for this season and can’t wait to start rehearsals in August for Wayne McGregor’s Chroma, which I will be understudying. I’m also looking forward to start working with the new Apprentices on a Hip Hop piece I choreographed for YOU dance.

Ever since I was little, I remember hearing people talk, always quite favorably, of the National Ballet. So when I came here last August, I had built up this image of the company as an ideal place to be, solely in terms of my dance career. What I did not know then, was how close everyone in the company is with one another. They are truly like a huge family. The relationships that everyone has developed offstage are not only visible onstage but they make the dancing so much more meaningful for both the audience and the dancers. For me, what makes the National Ballet’s performances unique is that they are not focused on what the dancers can do but rather who they are. I am looking forward to becoming a part of this family next year and I can’t wait to start the new season!

Additional dancers who will be joining the company as members of the Corps de Ballet are: Adji Cissoko, Allynne Noelle, Joseph Steinauer, Ji Min Hong, Jaclyn Oakley and Giorgio Galli.

[Photo by: Sian Richards.]

While surrounded by the beautiful Rockies here in Banff where I am performing this summer at The Banff Centre as part of the Professional Dance Program, I can’t help but think back at what an extraordinary year this has been for me.

It’s just like reading a book where you are taken to new places and introduced to so many wonderful new characters. Whether I was a fairy giving the gift of a beautiful voice to Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, acting as the notes of music in 24 Preludes by Chopin at the 2010 Cultural Olympiad, an Italian Princess trying to win the heart of a Prince in Swan Lake or giving a little Puerto Rican/New York spice as Anita in West Side Story Suite, I loved every moment. But the icing on my wonderful cake had to be at the season closing party. I’ve never needed waterproof mascara more than at the moment I heard Karen Kain say that I was being promoted to Second Soloist. It was a dream come true. It’s a good thing I’ll be performing up in the mountains because I am still on “cloud nine.”

I couldn’t ask for a better year and for the next three weeks, I will be making even more amazing memories working here at Banff with Lindsay Fischer, Artistic Director of YOU dance/Ballet Master, Mandy-Jayne Richardson, Senior Ballet Mistress, and Jean-Yves Esquerre, Assistant to the Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet, who have been so wonderful helping me shape myself into the next level of dancer that I want to be. And now… on to Le Corsaire!

[Photo 1: Jordana Daumec by Sian Richards. Photo 2: Rockies by Jordana Daumec. Photo 3: The Nutcracker by Bruce Zinger.]

After months of rehearsal and countless hours of preparation, I made my debut in the title role of Onegin on Thursday, June 24. It was a special time for me. My mom, dad, and grandmother had come all the way up from South Carolina to see me perform.

The night before the show I must have had only 3 hours of sleep. I have to say that I was more excited than nervous, but sleepless none the less. I had butterflies in my stomach all day until I finally put my costume and makeup on. I looked at myself in the mirror and all of my nerves went away. I was ready to get this show on the road!

The performance itself was a journey on its own. After finishing the first act (which I must say is the most grueling act for Onegin with it’s adagio solo and high flying “mirror” pas de deux), Principal Dancer Jiří Jelinek walked up to me, gave me a high five, and with his Slovak accent jokingly said, “All right man! Now you can enjoy the rest of the ballet.” And enjoy it I did. All the way up until the final curtain call.

When the curtain finally came down, I broke down with it, relieved and exhausted – emotionally and physically. I felt like I had climbed to the top of Mount Everest and won the Super Bowl all at the same time. It is a feeling that is very hard to explain. It was also such an honor to share my debut with Heather Ogden, my Tatiana, Bridgett Zehr, who played Olga, and Brett van Sickle, who was Lensky. I could not have done it without them!

McGee Maddox is a Second Soloist at The National Ballet of Canada.

[Photo by Sian Richards.]

That afternoon some of the ladies had been performing in West Side Story Suite, set in New York City during the 1950s, and just a couple of hours later, we were with our favourite gal pals in the New York City of 2010 (which included a detour to Abu Dhabi!).

Sophie was under the impression that she was seeing the movie with a few of her bridesmaids at the Varsity theatre. Instead, when she arrived she was escorted into the VIP theatre along a red carpet and was totally surprised to find the theatre full of all her own T.O. gal pals and all eight of her bridesmaids, including her sister Claudia who flew in just for the night from Québec City.

Wearing our best SATC outfits the ladies socialized for a bit prior to the movie. With cosmopolitans and girly pink cupcakes in hand, we settled into our seats to revisit the always entertaining (and frequently outrageous) foursome.

After the movie, the party continued up on the 51st floor of the Panorama Lounge. With its spectacular crystal clear north and south views of the city, Toronto certainly gave the Big Apple a run for its money that night.

All in all, the evening was a great way to help Sophie celebrate the new life ahead of her with her very own “Mr. Big.” And who knew cosmos and popcorn went so well together?

Amber Armstrong was a former dancer of The National Ballet of Canada (1985-97).

[All photos by Jennifer Kropac.]

Etienne’s day:

4:45 am: I think my son knows today is the gala. He is wide awake, looking at me like I’m supposed to juggle for him or something. Maxime is 5 ½ months now and this will be the first time we won’t be there to put him to sleep. I guess he has my sense of humor and thinks it’s funny to make me pay by keeping me up for an hour. He’s lucky he’s so cute…

9:00 am: I wake up, shower, get ready and organize my tuxedo for tonight. I come downstairs to find Greta [Hodgkinson] with Maxime outside on our deck. They have been up since 7:30 am or so enjoying this beautiful morning. This is going to be a long day but it’s nice to have a little quiet time, just the three of us, before we head out.

11:15 am: Class as always with Rex Harrington teaching. The girls from Musings already have their hair done since we don’t have that much time between class and the dress rehearsal. I have no intricate hairdo to worry about, an advantage of being a male dancer. Let’s not get into the pointe shoe issue because it will look like I’m rubbing it in!

1:30 pm: Dress rehearsal starts with us in Musings. It kind of feels weird doing this beautiful soft ballet a day after the all out energy of West Side Story Suite so I am a little uncomfortable. The shoes are very slippery, which also doesn’t help my comfort level. I’m reminded by Piotr Stanczyk that I can be the crappiest dancer ever in the dress rehearsal, as long as I am good in the show. The man is a poet…

3:30 pm: Physio. Half hour to make sure my knees can bend. From the sight of the swelling, I might want to book longer next time.

4:15 pm: I’m starving! I get some Japanese food to go. It’s really quite close to the show to be eating that much but I really am hungry. I am living on the edge here… might regret it later.

5:30 pm: Back in the studio to warm up. I muse on the fact that on my death bed when I look back at my life, I’ll realize that I’ve spent most of it warming up.

6:30 pm: The audience sounds excited behind the curtain. Karen [Kain] is nervously pacing the stage going over her speech and looking gorgeous in her dress as always. It is difficult for us dancers to perform in ways other than by moving and I guess that never changes. I feel good, ready to go, warm of course.

6:35 pm: I walk onstage for my first entrance, put my right foot down for my first step, slip and come as close as you can to biting the floor heavy. I have no idea how I stayed vertical but I seem to be all right and keep dancing. After that first entrance, I laugh at the whole thing and realize that the worst is over. I manage to enjoy myself very much after that and I think I have danced a good show. I watch Aleksandar [Antonijevic] and Nan [Yu] dance the main pas de deux of the ballet beautifully. I danced that part with Jennifer Fournier a few years ago and it was one of my favorite moments onstage. So fleeting are these moments. Next thing you know, you’re warming up again!

7:30 pm: I am watching Greta dancing the Mirror pas de deux from Onegin with Guillaume. This is the first time since finding out that we were pregnant that Greta is onstage. I have been affected in many ways by Greta’s dancing; I have been amazed, baffled and downright pissed off that she is showing us off like that. But seeing everything that she has been going through in the past 14 months and watching her again at the top of her game on stage where she belongs, I have never been so proud of her.

8:30 pm: Having a drink with patrons and friends in Jackman lounge. The place is packed and the excitement of the evening is palpable. I find Greta who is doing an interview and we slowly make our way back on the stage, which is now sumptuously decorated and packed with tables.

9:00 pm: Jay Onrait and Bev Thomson are hosting the evening. I am used to seeing him behind the desk of SportsCentre but seeing him stand up behind the mike – it turns out the man is a giant. Who knew? The meal comes and my Japanese food is but a memory so I’m starving again. Chef Mark McEwan from North 44˚ has prepared the meal and it doesn’t disappoint.

The Russian theme of the evening is present everywhere from the cabbage roll to the vodka martini and the décor is quite spectacular. We are sitting with Karen Leggett and the folks from RBC and have a very pleasant dinner. I see Jennifer [Fournier] and she says she was also thinking of that great moment we had onstage together in Musings. I’m glad it was good for her too.

11:00 pm: Dancing starts and that’s our cue to go. The evening usually gets kind of wild and ends in the wee hours but I leave the partying to my fellow dancers (and Rex of course) and come back to my sleeping baby boy.

12:00 am: Just 45 minutes of icing and then I’m finally off to bed. Tomorrow Maria and Tony must get their groove back on in West Side Story Suite again. A great day all around though and a very successful gala again this year.

4:45 am: I think my son knows yesterday was the gala. He really is lucky he’s so cute… Jennifer Zimmerman is Manager of Special Events at The National Ballet of Canada.

Jennifer’s day:

6:00 am: Wake up with that “first day of school” feeling in the pit of my stomach. The night before I dreamed of potential gala disasters like serving guests grilled cheese sandwiches instead of McEwan or putting the wrong date or address on the invitation.

8:00 am: Load in begins. Armed with my XXXL coffee, Blackberry and trusty sidekick Kristina [Evans], we join the ranks of the IATSE crew in the loading dock at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts starting to unload décor, tables, linens, props, place setting and all sorts of gala goodies.

9:00 am: Stage set up. Set up is similar to a challenge you might see on Survivor with the exception that we don’t vote anyone off the stage or make them wear the same clothes for a month. About 25 staff and volunteers are in the ready position waiting for the Stage Union (IATSE) to set the tables down. The 25 person team then feverishly attack the tables with linens, centrepieces, place settings, flowers, candles, napkins, table numbers and over 700 matryoshka dolls. We do this 54 times.

Our Development team has an intimate knowledge and expectation of tasks like undoing over 700 matryoshka dolls, putting a little scrap of paper in each with a Russian word on it, finding that doll’s other half (we learned to keep the other halves close by pretty early on) and then setting one at each dinner table.

11:30 am: We finish the bulk of the tables. Our crew heads to the front of the house to start décor and execution. We are going for a “Russian Outdoor Festival” feel.

1:00 pm: Break for lunch or better known as a sprint to the Eaton Centre to purchase all the items you forgot to bring with you that morning – contact lens solution, hairbrush, gala dress, etc.

2:00 pm: Meet the DJ to do sound check front of house. Meet the Russian dancers who will perform during the reception. Learn that your décor truck has broken down and is parked right in the lane reserved for your valet guests.

3:00 pm: Back onstage – finish bars and any last minute touches – this is the last opportunity we have to make sure our tables are correct, set and ready to go.

4:30 pm: Kristina and I take a half hour shift each to get dressed and ready.

5:30 pm: Showtime. The guests begin to arrive and everyone looks gorgeous! It’s a full house tonight and the space quickly fills up despite the early start time.

6:30 pm: Gala performance begins. Kristina and I joke that we’ve never seen the gala performance – this holds true for this year again as we are racing around in the front of house areas making sure signature cocktails are made, the wine is chilled, the food stations are being set up and the DJ and our Russian dancers are cued up and ready to go.

7:43 pm: The performance ends and guests begin to fill the front of house area for a cocktail reception. I don’t see this part of the event because what we call “The Hour of Power” is happening on stage. We have about 45 minutes to transform the stage from a performance area to a Russian palace! The IATSE crew begin immediately by hanging 5 huge crystal chandeliers above the centre stage and then we quickly start placing table, setting up the bars, DJ, centrepieces, giant gold lions and statues, a gallery of portraits of Russian Czars and Czarinas with the faces of our top donors on them and draping them around the perimeter of the stage.

8:39 pm: We are set! Mark McEwan is ready to serve his first course, the stage is prepared. I make the call on the radio to Kristina and the staff front of house to start to bring the 540 guests joining us for dinner to the stage. The procession of guests including all of the dancers begin to make their grand entrance into our “Russian Palace”.

9:10 pm: After everyone is seated, our hosts Jay Onrait and Bev Thomson introduce our fabulous Gala Chairs Lina Gagliano and Clara Mathur who say a few words of thanks and recognize our tireless Gala Committee.

9:15 pm: Dinner is served! Raffle ticket sellers dressed in Russian headpieces (borrowed from The Nutcracker) make their last rounds selling tickets to the guests.

10:30 pm: We draw the raffle winners – one of our dancers, Brett van Sickle, wins one of the top prizes!

10:45 pm: Everyone’s favourite part of the night and our “signature” – DANCING! This event is the only event where the second the music starts we have a full dance floor of dancers and guests.

12:30 am: Last call! Our donors want to keep dancing until the wee hours of the morning and so do the dancers.

12:45 am: Last call! Again.

1:00 am: Change into flat shoes and comfy clothes. Round up whatever troops are still standing, start tearing everything – and I mean EVERYTHING – down. All of the rentals, décor, everything needs to come out of the theatre before 3:00 am. We’ve got a performance to get ready for tomorrow!

3:30 am: Kristina and I make the last load to the Walter Carsen Centre. We fantasize about having cots in our offices. We also receive our customary middle of the night email from our biggest gala supporter, David Banks, congratulating everyone on a wonderful evening.

4:00 am: Finally, time for bed… dreaming of next year’s gala on June 21st!

Lead sponsor: CIBC

Media sponsors: CTV, The Globe and Mail

[Photo 1: Etienne Lavigne by Etienne Lavigne. Photo 2: Jennifer Zimmerman and Kristina Evans by Gary Beechey. Photo 3: Greta Hodgkinson and Maxime Lavigne by Etienne Lavigne. Photo 4: Desserts by Gary Beechey. Photo 5: Greta Hodgkinson and Guillaume Côté by Sian Richards. Photo 6: Mary Murphy and Karen Kain by Gary Beechey. Photo 7: Bob Hope, Xiao Nan Yu, Sonia Rodriguez, Sophie Letendre, and Kurt Browning by Gary Beechey. Photo 8: Rex Harrington by Etienne Lavigne. Photo 9: Table setting by Gary Beechey. Photo 10: Dinner plate by Etienne Lavigne. Photo 11: Russian stage by Gary Beechey. Photo 12: Dancing by Gary Beechey.]

Growing up in Nova Scotia I always knew I wanted to be a ballerina… or Madonna.

Last week, thanks to West Side Story Suite, I got to be a bit of both.

I was so excited last month when the casting for West Side Story Suite went up and I got the part of Anita. I understudied it last time and was hoping to get a chance to perform it this time around. It’s not often, being in the Corps de Ballet, that one gets a chance to be a lead in a ballet and I was really excited to show what I could do.

As for singing experience, I had very little. I was part of a garage band with two other dancers in the company a few years back but after a cold winter and a busy Nutcracker season, we returned to our practice space only to discover everything gone. Even our couch was stolen! But I still had my voice.

We received a few singing lessons from David Briskin, Music Director and Principal Conductor, but for the most part, practice was my biggest teacher (I never did learn to roll my r’s). I needed to get comfortable performing in a new medium. I was so nervous singing in front of my colleagues for the first time. However, I slowly became more and more comfortable after each rehearsal and began opening up. I have quite a loud and powerful voice, so it took some time to feel uninhibited enough to really let it out.

All in all it was one of the best times I have had onstage. Anita was such a fun personality to portray and immerse myself in. My family came over from Nova Scotia to watch my shows and was very proud. It takes a lot out of you to sing and dance and act all at the same time but it gives you so much more in return. It was such a rush! I’d love to do more of it in the future.

Olé!

Tiffany will next perform in Onegin, which runs June 19 to 25, 2010.

[Photo 1: Tiffany Mosher by Sian Richards. Photo 2: Artist of the Ballet in West Side Story Suite by Bruce Zinger.]

This month’s cover of Dance Magazine features our very own Principals Bridgett Zehr and Zdenek Konvalina.

Below is an excerpt from Michael Crabb’s article about the pair and their smashing debuts in Swan Lake:

“A roof-lifting roar reverberated through Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre opera house at the end of a Swan Lake that fans had been anticipating with huge expectations. The March 13 event marked the local Swan Lake debuts of two much-admired National Ballet of Canada principals: American Bridgett Zehr and Czech-born Zdenek Konvalina. This was their first time dancing the leads together in a major full-length classic since joining the company almost four years ago.”

Read the full story.

Watch a behind the scenes video shot at the cover photo shoot in New York City.

Watch footage of them dancing in Swan Lake.

Zdenek is Tony in West Side Story Suite and Bridgett will dance the lead in Opus 19/The Dreamer. The mixed programme opens Friday, June 4. They will also dance in Onegin as Lensky and Olga, which runs June 19 – 25, 2010.

Zdenek Konvalina is sponsored through Dancers First by Gretchen Ross.

Bridgett Zehr is sponsored through Dancers First by Diana Weatherall.