In the Winter programme of Romeo and Juliet I was given the wonderful chance of performing the role of Tybalt. In the companies I have worked with in my career, this will be the third time I have been able to take on the persona of this character. In developing Tybalt over the years, I feel that there is something new I learn about him every time. In approaching the role, I always try and keep in mind that the story of Romeo and Juliet needs to have the balance of good and evil, love and hate.

Tybalt may not have a big dancing role in John Cranko’s version of the ballet, but he must have great impact onstage in order to complete the story. I always try and challenge myself with the work I do and with this character, I have created someone who is proud, loving, spontaneous and, to the best of my ability, very Italian. It does help a great deal that I am Italian and have visited all of the historical sites in Verona over the years. I hope that audiences fall in love with the story but also with the dancers and their characters.

[Jonathan Renna will reprise his role of Tybalt on Saturday April 18 when the National Ballet tours to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.]

[Photos: Jonathan Renna. Photo by Sian Richards. Artists of the Ballet in Romeo and Juliet. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.]

Elena Lobsanova, 22, of The National Ballet of Canada and Cory Stearns, 23, of American Ballet Theatre won The Eighth International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize on Wednesday, March 18 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto. They each received a cash prize of $7,500 and a sculpture by Jack Culiner. Canadian choreographer Matjash Mrozewski won the new Choreographic Prize for his work, Dénouement, and also received sculpture by Jack Culiner and a cash prize of $2,000.

Elena Lobsanova, a member of the Corps de Ballet with the National Ballet, danced a pas de deux from Le Corsaire for the classical section and the newly commissioned work, Dénouement, by Matjash Mrozewski for the contemporary section of the competition with Noah Long.

Cory Stearns, a soloist with American Ballet Theatre, danced the Black Swan Pas de Deux from Act III of Swan Lake for the classical section and End., a new work by Marcelo Gomes, for the contemporary section with Isabella Boylston.

[Photos: Cory Stearns, Elena Lobsanova and Matjash Mrozewski at The Eighth International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize. Photos By Bruce Zinger.]

National Ballet competitors Noah Long and Elena Lobsanova have been preparing for months to compete in tonight’s Eighth International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize. Dancing both a classical and a contemporary piece, both dancers are eligible for the prize, awarded to one female and one male dancer. Choreographer Matjash Mrozewski is also eligible for the new Choreographic Prize for his newly commissioned work Dénouement.

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Of this new work, Noah Long says: “It’s really hard because there is so much movement - it is really fast and really intricate. It keeps your eye moving… Mat did a really good job of showcasing both my and Elena’s strengths.”

After a strenuous rehearsal schedule in tandem with rehearsals for the National Ballet’s Winter Season, Elena Lobsanova manages her schedule by making sure that “taking care of my body is the top priority. This includes epsom salt baths, massages, physiotherapy and taking multi-vitamins. Maintaining a positive attitude is also essential.”

See these two up and coming stars at tonight’s competition at 7:30 pm at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

[Photos: Elena Lobsanova and Noah Long. Photos by Sian Richards.]

Christa Lochead is a second year MA student in dance at York University.

A gloomy pall has been cast on Verona in The National Ballet of Canada’s Romeo and Juliet, and it’s wonderful.

Susan Benson’s grim design serves as a constant reminder of the sinister nature of this classic story. Storm clouds build and threaten, decaying architecture frames each scene, action takes place behind shimmering black curtains and devil horns abound. Even the balcony scene is awash in a murky mysteriousness, lending an otherworldly feel to the lovers’ sojourn.

Against this muted background the story is brought to the forefront and the characters shine through. Cranko frees the dancers to display their versatility as actors as well as movers, and Prokofiev’s powerful score resonates all the more as a result of the clean, crisp choreography. Benson’s opulent costumes provide a counterpoint to the sinister undertones of the design, weaving the production together into a rich, resplendent tapestry.

Sonia Rodriguez’s Juliet is sprightly and charming, and the pleasure and sorrow of her journey to womanhood is palpable. Zdenek Konvalina’s Romeo is strong and svelte, and Piotr Stanczyk’s Mercutio is a rambunctious, rough-and-tumble joy to watch.

Romeo and Juliet is pure storytelling at its best and most enjoyable. The luminous costumes, ingenious design and versatility of the dancers combine to create a unique yet thorough realization of Shakespeare’s classic love story.

[Photo: Piotr Stanczyk with Artists of the Ballet in Romeo and Juliet. Photo by Sian Richards.]

Candice Pike is a first year MA student in dance at York University.

Theatrical performances of Romeo and Juliet use Shakespeare’s dynamic verbal dialogue to show a flirtation between the title characters quickly transforming into unwavering devotion. However, dancers of The National Ballet of Canada rely on John Cranko’s more universal language of movement in their Winter 2009 production to portray a satisfyingly realistic relationship between the ill-fated couple in their two most famous love scenes.

In the balcony scene, the coy and youthful Juliet lingers in the background. She is a demure and graceful accessory to Romeo’s bold and debonair movements. She delights in watching him show off in a breathtaking sequence of powerful jumps and turns. Hearts in the audience begin to flutter as the dancers share the nervous excitement of immature infatuation.

Yet, in the bedroom scene, on the morning after their wedding night both the lovers’ dance vocabularies and emotional sensibilities blossom. Unlike the wide spaces of tension created in the balcony scene their touches are no longer just hands or lips but rather full body contacts with inseparable arms, legs, torsos and eyes. Juliet runs to Romeo whenever they are separated and exchanges her childish frolicking for more sensual and womanly movement as she begs Romeo to stay.

In a performance full of foreboding music, haunting sets, and fiery costumes, complete with undercurrents of violence, hatred, and death, the love story of this narrative could easily be neglected without Shakespeare’s poetry. However, through an insightful interpretation of choreography that evokes a realistic progression of love, the National Ballet’s dancers highlight the real theme of this timeless dramatic work.

[Photo: Sonia Rodriguez with Artists of the Ballet in Romeo and Juliet. Photo by Sian Richards.]

At 5:30 pm I am rending my clothes and tearing my hair out. No, it’s not another typical day at the office, it is my rehearsal as Lady Capulet in Tybalt’s death scene from Romeo and Juliet. Almost exactly nine years after the date of my retirement as a dancer, I will return to the stage to reprise my favourite acting role.

My transition from a 14 year career as a professional ballet dancer to member of the National Ballet’s administrative staff in March 2000 was relatively seamless, though, as you might imagine, included a certain amount of anxiety around embracing the unknown. One day I was on stage, the next I was at a desk. As a professional ballet dancer, you have many years to come to grips with the inevitability of abandoning the artistic achievements which you spend decades nurturing and perfecting. The sense that you are missing a piece, rather like a phantom limb, is simply something you expect to carry along for the rest of your life.

Since the casting was announced, I have had many moments of doubt about dusting off my artistry to bring the necessary level of dramatic intensity and nuance to this role. The sensation of surrealism on the first rehearsal day was soon replaced by the feeling that I have never left, that the character of Lady Capulet might still be close by. It is a strange thing to be between these two worlds, to go back to my desk after rehearsal with a scene still shadowing me like a ghost.

This opportunity to submerge myself again in the drama and glory of Romeo and Juliet, along with the exceptionally talented dancers of The National Ballet of Canada, is an incredible gift. As a child, I saw Celia Franca as Lady Capulet and as a company member, I witnessed the incomparable artistry of Victoria Bertram, Gizella Witkowsky, Dominique Dumais and Karen Kain in this magnificent acting role. I am both thrilled and humbled to be included once again.

[Photo: Artists of The National Ballet of Canada in Romeo and Juliet. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.]

Susan Lee is a dance student at York University.

Peter Quanz’s IN COLOUR is a dance work that sees colour through the lens of emotion and conflict. Anton Lubchenko’s powerful music score reinforces the aggressive and technically challenging movement that darts, sweeps and slashes through space.  A textured backdrop, artfully lit by Christopher Dennis, transforms the stage in each of the eight sections. Each section represents a different colour and the corresponding state or emotion of that colour. The red and green sections are very fierce, with those soloists slicing the air with the force of their movements against the phalanx of the Corps de Ballet. The chartreuse section is striking. The strutting and sinuous angularity of the three soloists brings to mind sirens or harpies. They are aggressive and enticing, pushing and caressing the air with flexed hands or fluttering fingers.

The Corps de Ballet, dressed in grey, is used effectively - at times defining the space with straight lines or activating the space with bold extensions and lifts. The complex design of their angular gestures creates a mobile architectural counterpoint to the free flowing virtuosity of the soloists. This work highlights the superb technique of The National Ballet of Canada’s Soloists and Corps de Ballet. Although there is aggression in this ballet, Quanz doesn’t leave us with only tension and conflict. IN COLOUR begins a state of purity, with dancers clad in white stepping in and out of pools of light. It ends in transcendence, with a white costumed ballerina ascending high into the air against the continuous movement of the Corps de Ballet.

[Photo: Artists of the Ballet in IN COLOUR. Photo by Cylla von Tiedmann.]

Samantha Mehra is a PhD student in Dance Studies at York University.

In the National Ballet’s triangular Innovation programme, Crystal Pite’s Emergence stands out as the choreographic apex. Inspired by the naturally-occurring egalitarian behaviour of bees, Pite takes 38 company members and transforms them into a writhing, flitting commune of humanity. Set against the backdrop of an abstract, cavernous hive, the dancers operate as an insect-like network which kinesthetically finds function, form, and movement in a non-verbal, organized chaos. These normally upright dancers move in exciting new ways which showcase the diversity of their physicality; broken-limbed, knock-kneed, and spasmodic, Pite’s choreography draws us into the spaces unseen in traditional ballet.

Suddenly, the spaces behind the back, the inner elbow, the ribs, and the scapula become tools of virtuosity and points of ecstatic articulation. The floor becomes an exciting new territory, and stillness replaces quickness as the aesthetic point of interest. The torso, normally upright and singular, is broken down into a mosaic of expressive possibility. Spatially, Pite has choreographed a non-hierarchical tapestry where each dancer is a piece of a grand visual spectacle; it is a zig-zagging, ever-changing co-operative that could not function if one member was made central. Instead, the movements themselves are centralized; spasmodically diffusing through the bodies, the choreography becomes the guiding language behind the dancers’ corporeal communication. Thought-provoking and truly innovative, Emergence allows audiences to discover the untapped potential of the National Ballet and the fresh creativity of Canadian choreographers like Crystal Pite.

[Photos: Greta Hodgkinson and Aleksandar Antonijevic in Emergence. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.]

Cheryl LaFrance is an MA student in Dance at York University

Sabrina Matthews’ DEXTRIS provides the audience with the thrill of not only ten dancers drawn from the best in the company - Principal Dancers, Soloists, and an outstanding Corps dancer - but also dynamic choreography eliciting spectacular dancing from all of them.

The movement embodies the musical tapestry woven by the “live” orchestra, choir and its soloists performing Vivaldi’s oratorio Dixit Dominus, RV 594. Matthews’ use of movement canon gives visual texture to the music with layer upon layer of different movement threads developed through the partnering. She constantly changes the lifts to highlight the geometry of leg extensions and torso shapes. The lifts flow into vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines, as well as signature diamond-shaped leg patterns. Pirouettes are tightly spun. Strong arms and hands create momentum while pulling away, reaching, sliding, and embracing. The complexity of the overall vision keeps shifting like a kaleidoscope as echoing movements play off each other in reconfiguring trios and pas de deux.

Palpable joy builds with the speed of the choreography and the use of momentum to transition into each following movement. The men and women are equally powerful and strong partners. Clearly the men are required to do incredibly athletic lifting, but the athleticism required of the women as well, leaves none looking classically delicate, and all looking like contemporary women. DEXTRIS makes a rousing end to an exciting evening of three innovative choreographies. It takes one’s breath away.

[Photo: Sonia Rodriguez and Jonathan Renna in DEXTRIS. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.]