By Colin Asuncion
As Canada's local ballet company, we are always happy to present a variety of programs and performances in our nation's capital. During the holiday season, we presented The Nutcracker: a Canadian Tradition at both Centrepointe Theatre and the Shenkman Arts Centre. In the spring, we returned to Centrepointe Theatre to present our 25th Anniversary production of Swan Lake. Both productions included young local performers on stage, making each performance a personal experience for the Ottawa community.
In addition to our full-scale productions, we also held Ballet 101 events (ballet talks and demonstrations) at eleven libraries in the Ottawa area. At these special events, company dancers present excerpts from our various ballets to demonstrate how dancers are storytellers through movement. This season featured excerpts from The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and our children's ballet A World to Shake. There is often an element of audience participation at Ballet 101s, which is always a unique experience for dancers and audience members alike. We also held master classes at the Shenkman Arts Centre and various auditions for our numerous education and training programs (company auditions, Summer Intensive programs, and George Brown Dance). Education is a huge part of what we do at BJC and we are always thrilled at the opportunity to see and train dancers from across the nation and abroad.
A number of Ottawa libraries played host to our Swan Lake photography exhibit. We shared images from the rehearsal process, costume and set design, as well as from our promotional photo shoot. During our performance season, we partner with a number of talented photographers from across the country and we love to to share their art with our audiences.
Our Ottawa season would not be possible without the support and generosity of many people. BMO is the proud sponsor of our Ottawa performances. We also receive strategic support from the Trillium Foundation in order to develop community and education programming. Special thanks go out to our passionate Ottawa volunteers Michelle Brawley and Marina Kotchetova who assisted us in countless ways.
This coming season, we are pleased to announce that we will be presenting Romeo and Juliet at Centrepointe Theatre on March 29, 2014. We will also be increasing our performances of The Nutcracker: a Canadian Tradition to six shows from December 14th to the 17th. And, of course, there will be plenty of community programs and special events so stay tuned for more details on how you can get involved.