Contemporary ballet company to visit Kelowna
Hailing from San Francisco, Alonzo King Lines Ballet will perform in the Okanagan on March 7 at the Kelowna Community Theatre.
Fresh off the stage after a triumphant appearance at Vancouver International Dance Festival 2017, the innovative ensemble will travel to the Interior to share two performances of Sand and Shostakovich from acclaimed Ballet Master and founder Alonzo King.
“The work of Alonzo King has been a revelation and inspiration to me for many years and I cannot wait for Kelowna to experience his visionary creations,” says Simone Orlando, Ballet Kelowna’s Artistic Director and CEO.
“Audiences will not only have the opportunity to witness choreography conceived by one of the great minds of our time, they will also see it executed with breathtaking beauty and athleticism by some of the world’s most highly trained and accomplished ballet artists. This will be a rare and unforgettable evening of ballet.”
Hailed by William Forsythe as “one of the few, true ballet masters of our time,” Alonzo King is a visionary choreographer who has changed the way the world looks at ballet.
Understanding the form as a science rooted in universal, geometric principles of energy and evolution, his singular approach has seen him create work for the repertories of such institutions as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Ballet Bejart, Frankfurt Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and more.
Renowned for technical brilliance, hyperphysicality, and exquisite extensions, Alonzo King Lines Ballet is the choreographer’s primary home for innovation and creation.
Founded in San Francisco in 1982, the company collaborates with noted composers, musicians, and visual artists from around the world to create works that draw on diverse sets of deeply rooted cultural traditions. In doing so, the company infuses classical ballet with new expressive potential.
Ballet Kelowna alumni member and Canadian dancer Robb Beresford will return to Kelowna to perform with Lines Ballet. He is also known for his previous work with Vancouver’s Joe Ink and Ballet Victoria. Hailing from Elmira, Ont.,, Beresford trained at Canada’s National Ballet School, graduated from The Quinte Ballet School of Canada, and joined Lines Ballet in 2013.
In Kelowna, the company will share two exquisite and contrasting performances: Shostakovich (2014) Shostakovich takes ballet to extreme dimensions with its explosive athleticism. Set to four Shostakovich string quartets, the company is pushed to the limit, moving at fast, frenetic paces: one minute performing triple and quadruple pirouettes — tossed and spun into upside down lifts — the next, effortlessly balancing on pointe in gorgeous, long limbed poses.
The music wavers in a state of suspension, pushing the dancers’ strength to the limit as they revel between harmony and discord. Sand (2016) Having enjoyed critical success at its world premiere in April 2016, SAND is touted as “transformative” – a sophisticated spectacle performed to the original, masterful score of tenor saxophonist Charles Lloyd and jazz pianist Jason Moran. The trailblazing jazz duo, who brought their partnership to the dance stage for the first time with SAND, amplifies the virtuosity of King’s incredibly talented company of dancers.
Tickets to Alonzo King Lines Ballet are available online at: balletkelowna.ca/lines-ballet.