Ballet Kelowna performances celebrate winter

A world premiere and a couple of fan favourites will be on the program when Ballet Kelowna presents its winter show at the Kelowna Community Theatre on Feb. 1.

The appropriately titled Winter features the tangoinspired world premiere of from Ballet Kelowna’s artistic director and CEO Simone Orlando.

Encore performances of Wen Wei Wang’s

commissioned for Ballet Kelowna’s 15th anniversary season in 2017, and Orlando’s contemporary dance piece inspired by country legend Johnny Cash’s 1968 concert at Folsom Prison will also be on the bill.

is set to a moving, minimalist recomposition of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons by composer Max Richter, with dancers dressed all in white.

A karaoke night in Merritt was Orlando’s inspiration for Studies of Cash. A snowstorm forced Orlando and her mother to stop in Merritt for the night, where they attended karaoke night in a local hotel. A patron’s rendition of Ring of Fire inspired Orlando to pursue her own interpretation of Cash’s songs through movement, she said.

is inspired by and set to composer Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. Piazzolla’s compositions revolutionized the traditional Argentine tango by incorporating elements of jazz and classical music into a style known as neuvo tango.

Orlando partnered with Kelowna’s local tango expert, Sharon Sebo. Sebo offered Ballet Kelowna’s company of dancers lessons in tango to prepare for this world-premiere presentation.

Showtime is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available through balletkelowna.ca and Kelowna Tickets.