And Now ... Showcase Showdown

I went to see Canada's National Ballet School put on their 2010 Spring Showcase at the Betty Oliphant Theatre. Luckily, at 30 minutes before showtime, there was 1 ticket left for the 2 pm show.

The first thing I noticed about the show is that the audience is primarily women. Thus any piece that featured mostly male dancers got noticeably louder applause. Secondly, most of the women were among the slimmest in their age group and some were probably in the lowest 10th percentile weight-wise with respect to the general population. In other words, if you are looking for slim women, get yourself to the ballet.

The second thing I noticed was the calibre of the dancing. Even from the first piece, the skill and talent of these young dancers were an order of magnitude better than the kids at Momentum 2010. It went up again in the 3rd act when the alumni took the stage. Astonishingly, most of the alumni were only in the corps de ballet of their respective ballet troupe with two attaining 2nd and 1st soloist positions. It was just a reminder that when it comes to some careers, like professional athletes, dancers are on a whole other level compared to the average person.

The 1st act started with Paquita by Marius Petipa. It comprised of dancers from grade 10, 11, and 12. A ballet in the classical style, it was meant to showcase the techniques of the mostly female dancers from the corps, to the demi soloists, to the principal dancers. After you marvel at their age, especially the tiny grade 10 female principal dancer, it became a little tedious to watch the footwork, spins, and so on with each repeated multiple times so you could see their control. Next came "That's What the Matter" from Yondering by John Neumeier. An old Americana song is played as 15 male dancers from grade 10 to the professional program danced, cavorted, and cart-wheeled as Union soldiers. As expected, the short piece got a rousing cheer from the audience.

The 2nd act began with "Excerpts from Sequentia" by Sabrina Matthews. This was an exciting piece and I would like to see the whole work. Lights projected a large white square onto the stage. Performers stood frozen around the edges of this space. A dancer began to move, soon joined by a 2nd. Together they performed an intricate pas de deux. Finally the 1st dancer ran off-stage and the 2nd dancer is joined by a 3rd. This sequence continued until all dancers did their steps. Then all dancers came back on, streaming from one side of the square to another, echoing each others' movement.

"5 views of the temple garden" by Peggy Baker was inspired by the Eastern influence of Japanese gardens, Asian temples, and so on. Various calligraphic strokes projected onto a transparent front scrim in front of the dancers while the backdrop had abstract shapes invoking mountains, trees, and other natural scenes. The dancers did 5 short pieces: some were frenzied, others meditative. My only complaint is that it's a little cliché: Eastern music invoking Eastern movement especially in the hand and arm gestures. I would like to see a piece incorporating Eastern music without Eastern "dancing" and vice versa.

"Excerpts from 30-Minute Beauty Makeover" by Matjash Mrozewski is a work that concentrates on the dance aspect of the parodic "30-Minute Beauty Makeover" which takes a playful poke at the classical ballet "Sleeping Beauty".

The 3rd act welcomed back some CNBS alumni in 4 pas de deux. I don't know if this happens every year or to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the school. In any case, it gave me an exceptional close-up of some professional ballet dancers. (And I thought I was sitting close during this occasion.) The first up was the "Bluebird" pas de deux (Rudolf Nureyev) from "The Sleeping Beauty" danced by Naoya Ebe, a corps member of the National Ballet, and Jillian Vanstone, 1st soloist of the National Ballet. The second piece was the "White Swan" pas de deux (Erik Bruhn) from "Swan Lake" performed by Brett van Sickle and Elena Lobsanova, both second soloists of the National Ballet. Both were exquisitely danced but, as commented on by a blue-haired maven sitting next to me, a little "old-fashioned".

The next work was my favourite of the evening: Trois Gnossiennes (Pianovariates III) with music by Erik Satie (Trois Gnossiennes) and choreographed by Hans van Manen. The dancers were Erica Horwood and James Stout, both corps member of the Dutch National Ballet. The piece used classical dance techniques in new and innovative ways, especially the interesting lifts. In one simple lift, James lifted a perfectly rigid Erica by her arms like a life-sized ballerina doll.

The evening ended with Peter Dingle and Kiran West, first soloist and corps of the Hamburg Ballet, performing Opus 100 - For Maurice (John Neumeier) with a music collage of 2 Simon and Garfunkel songs (Old Friends/Bridge Over Troubled Water). As expected again, the male dancers got rousing cheers, especially for their lifts and interactions with each other. The same maven gushed about the novelty of the work. I enjoyed it myself though I wasn't quite as blown away as the dance and thematic components of Opus was quite similar to Soudain L'hiver Dernier by Kudelka.

It was a great showcase highlighting the talent of the National Ballet School. Apparently the evening shows also included pieces with Stephanie Hutchinson, Xiao Nan Yu and Rex Harrington - all principal dancers. I am also of the opinion that women like ballet because the female dancers are front and centre while the men provide a manly but secondary role: lending an arm for balance, a quick spin of the waist, or a lifted boost. Finally, you will need to recalibrate your brain to readjust your expectations. Those slender women in the audience? They look positively gigantic after you've been watching ballet dancers for 3 hours.