Hi it’s Christopher here and I’m the Resident Lighting Designer for The National Ballet of Canada. As Resident Lighting Designer, I’m responsible for recreating the lighting design for the different productions the ballet performs. I also design the lighting for some of the company’s new ballets. Some of my other responsibilities include working with guest designers who visit the National Ballet when we’re performing their works. Whenever possible, the guest designers visit us for a few days to recreate their existing lighting design. This means that when the National Ballet performs a work originally created by New York City Ballet (like Glass Pieces, West Side Story Suite and In the Night), our production will look almost identical to the original production.
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My name is Jeff, I’m one of two or three Stage Managers who work for The National Ballet of Canada. This is the Stage Manager’s console at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. It is in the downstage left corner of the stage, or if you are sitting in the audience, just out of the view on the right-hand side of the stage. During performances, the Stage Manager sits here and wears a headset that allows them to communicate with and call cues to the Lighting Board Operator, Follow-spot Operators, Stage Carpenter, Head of Flys, the other Stage Manager or Assistant Stage Manager and other members of the crew. Read the rest of this entry »
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Well, my ankle surgery came and went with only minor drama (I won’t go into the gory details). It’s a huge relief to finally be done with it. Most welcome of all though, was the confirmation by way of hard physical evidence that surgery was absolutely necessary. Because of the extremely subjective nature of the pain, I had this paranoid fear that the surgeon would slice me open, find nothing and I would wake up to him saying, “There was no bone chip after all, get back in the studio you wimp!” As it turns out, there were three separate items to “clean up” inside my foot, so it was well worth the ordeal. I’ve been considering some alternate explanations for my scar and slight limp that sound a bit more exciting than “flexor hallus longus”, such as, “I was in this knife fight that landed my opponent in the ICU – all I have is this small scar on my ankle.”
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Hi, it’s Barb here. “Barb from the ballet” is how I identify myself. “Barb from the ballet wardrobe” to be exact. Barbara de Kat, wardrobe co-ordinator for The National Ballet of Canada. That means my department is in charge of all the costumes of the National Ballet, after they have been built. My department is me and Grant Heaps. Grant is mostly in charge of all the men and their costumes and I look after all the women and their various wardrobe needs. We give and take a little depending on the repertoire. Tutu ballets always have more women!
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And now for something completely different!
Having been involved in ballet a little less than 20 years, 10 of which as a professional, I have accrued quite a bit of ballet terminology. Every profession has its own jargon and, like all codified systems, ballet terminology is rife with controversy and is in a constant state of flux. Ballet derives its terms from French (because they invented it) but there are 3 sects or syllabi: RAD (which stands for the Royal Academy of Dance) is the French/English; Checcetti is the Italian; and Vaganova is the Russian.
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I’m a First Soloist with the company, and have been dancing here for 11 years. This has been a big year for me. I gave birth to my first child, Charlotte, in early September. Since I’m going to be performing in West Side Story Suite next week, the past few weeks have been a blur of feedings, rehearsals, voice lessons and enjoying my amazing new baby.
From Dancer to Teacher
A Performance on the World Stage
Taking the Stage, Again
A New Member of the Family
Living the Life of a Fairy Tale
