‘FARM-TO-TABLE DANCE’
Citie Ballet focuses on originality
PREVIEW
Citie Ballet presents Illuminate Where: Timms Centre, University of Alberta
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 and matinee 2:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 29 Tickets: $35 to $45 with discounts for children and students — season subscriptions from $95. Available from Citie Ballet (780 472 7774 or online at citieballet.ca)
The show titles for Citie Ballet’s intriguing new season — Illuminate, Intersect, and Ignite — hint at some of the company’s loftier creative ambitions — but their overall goal is more down to earth.
“We are here to focus on original, made-in-Edmonton contemporary ballet,” said artistic director Jorden Morris. “We’re crafting farm-to-table dance here and it’s great to work with younger dancers, to watch them maturing and becoming a part of that.”
That was easily apparent during a recent glimpse into rehearsals at the company’s studios, from the focused excitement on the dancer’s faces to the awe-inspiring, kaleidoscopic permutations of movement that they brought to upbeat, rhythmic music from a local composer. These nine young professionals, aged 18 to 23, have come from across Alberta and Canada, from France and China, to perfect their art.
“They work super-hard long hours but it’s such a joy. Every show they do, they’re better and better, and the audiences are growing with the dancers.”
As Morris invites the curious to embrace Citie Ballet’s offerings, he’s hoping to change a few myths people may have, to take you beyond stereotypical notions of what ballet is about. First, contemporary dance doesn’t have to rest on a long or unwieldy story.
“George Balanchine taught us that beautiful bodies in beautiful shapes and geometric patterns are a pleasing way to watch ballet in its own right. It doesn’t have to be a story. I was a principal dancer for many years in big classical companies doing story ballets and you can only do Romeo so many times before you go ‘ick.’ That doesn’t mean contemporary dance can’t have a storyline or a theme or a thread to it, but there’s no rule book that says you have to follow a narrative.”
He points out that ballet doesn’t have to spring from epic, orchestral music. It can have a groove.
One new example in the Illuminate show opening Friday is a work from guest choreographer Alysa Pires, which draws on the songs of jazz-blues great Nina Simone.
“Alysa has a really keen eye for translating those elements, for bridging the best of the music into the movement. One song to the next might use a solo or a duo or a trio of dancers.”
Morris’ own work Recherche (or search) opens the show, with nine different vignettes about people searching for something, from the concrete to the spiritual. They’re “on pointe” or on their toes in his piece, but more grounded when it comes to adapting Simone. Again, there’s no rule book.
“Some choreographers work out the movements first and find the backing music. I always like to find the music first, because the music is what suggests the shapes and textures and density of the movement.”
One final part of Citie Ballet’s mission comes in helping dancers to find their own identity.
“Every dancer is different. We’re encouraging them to bring out their individuality, their forte.”
Ditto for choreographers. Heading into his third season with the Citie Ballet, Morris tries to program a “cohesive mix” between his own pieces and works from guest dance designers like Pires.
“We are bringing in and fostering and mentoring these younger choreographers, who have a totally different approach to the architecture and structure and vocabulary of how to put ballets together. It’s exciting for me to still create, to watch this new generation put a twist on things. We’re the only ballet company in Western Canada to focus on new original works for three years now.”
The Citie Ballet season continues in February with Intersect, Morris’s “young guns show” highlighting new works by emerging choreographers. Toronto’s Brett Taylor is a former dancer with Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal, while Edmonton’s Kiera Keglowitsch will collaborate with visual artists.
Next April the season closes with Ignite, celebrating the return of spring with new works by Morris and two of the company’s dancers, Lydia Redpath and Matthew Klippenstein.
Born and raised in Banff, Morris came to dance by chance when his school gymnastics coach suggested students consider taking a ballet class at the Banff Centre to improve their flexibility and coordination. The young athlete was one of the few who stuck with it.
“It was like gymnastics with live music. I realized this is how you put athleticism and art together.”
At age 12 he was offered a full scholarship to study at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and before long he was a principal dancer there, taking on both traditional and new contemporary works. But even good careers come to an end early in dance.
“By my early thirties I had had six knee operations and the surgeon was telling me, ‘You better think about something else.’ That’s when I delved into teaching and coaching, and took all my teacher training and learning about the roots of dance. That got me interested in choreography.”
Morris guested with too many dance companies to name here but he credits three years with Boston Ballet for giving him a new perspective on the dance world.
“That’s when I stopped watching it as a dancer and started asking questions. I worked a lot with the prominent European choreographers of the 1970s and ’80s, groundbreaking choreographers who took classical ballet out of tutus and started stretching it, adding new angles and making it different. Now I’m trying to bring those contemporary qualities to how Canadian dancers look.”
His debut as a choreographer came in 1999 with The Three Musketeers and then with a full-length Peter Pan, both of which are still being performed. His ballet Moulin Rouge became a bestseller for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and was even filmed for screenings at Cineplex-Odeon. Morris was working in Cincinnati when Citie Ballet asked him to guest here and then asked him to stay.
“There’s a special energy that comes with new works and from being at a creative company.”