On Monday, February 8, Artistic Director Karen Kain announced The National Ballet of Canada’s 2010/11 season. Highlights of the media conference included special guest, British choreographer Wayne McGregor who spoke about the North American premiere of his work Chroma, which is set to music by The White Stripes, and a special performance by the Artists of the Ballet.
New this year, the National Ballet streamed the entire conference live online which was viewed by over 100 people. Viewers responded in real time via Twitter and Facebook, and the conference itself generated a large amount of media coverage including articles in the National Post, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Toronto Sun.
Next season also brings the company premiere of Russian Seasons by Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky and a brand new full-length ballet, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, which will be co-produced with The Royal Ballet, (UK).
“I greatly admire these three brilliant choreographers who honour the framework of classical ballet, who don’t need to deconstruct the form completely to be interesting but who can respect tradition and still be creative,” says Ms. Kain.
Watch video of the full announcement and performances here.
[Photos: Top, Edward Watson and Alina Cojocaru of The Royal Ballet in Chroma. Photo by Johann Persson. Second, Sofiane Sylve of San Francisco Ballet in Russian Seasons. Photo by Erik Tomasson. Third, one of John Tenniel’s original woodcuts from the Alice books. Above, Wayne McGregor. Photo by Johann Persson. Alexei Ratmansky. Photo by MIRA. Christopher Wheeldon. Photo by Bruce Zinger.]
