Ballet B.C. unleashes dance flower power
Friendraiser lets enthusiasts get up close to dancers
The lobby and outdoor patio at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre is usually home to show goers waiting for the bells to ring them into the house, but for one night those areas will take centre stage.
On Aug. 12, dancers from Ballet B.C. and some of the city ’s top florists come together for Babylon. Named for the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the event has attendees getting up close and personal with the dancers and the decorations. The evening begins with members of the Ballet B.C. company dancing (improvising) their way through the crowd using the stunning floral arrangements and installations as backdrops. Then dancers will take to the outside stage for a sneak peak at the company’s fall schedule.
Resident choreographer Cayetano Soto will be on hand, and working with the dancers. But while seeing the curtain pulled back on a company as it creates is a cool curiosity, it seems the fun is in the intimate free-form performances.
“We got the instructions we were going to improv within a crowd. It was like, ‘wow this is going to be a completely new experience,’ ” said Scott Fowler a dancer with Ballet B.C. about last year’s inaugural Babylon event.
“You had to infiltrate through these people, and find places to dance and hook up with your colleagues and dance with them. It was very different than anything I have ever done.”
Fowler who has been with the company for six years, said the proximity to people is only one part of the nerve-racking equation.
“You are wanting to express yourself but you are in a confined space with, of course, fragile things around you. You have to keep your wits about you but still try to embrace the same amount of expression that you normally would. So it’s kind of cool that way,” said Fowler. Fowler sees this intimate opportunity as not only a chance to inform his larger stage work but also to rise up against his inner introvert.
“I believe whether you are conscious of it or not, there’s always something you take or can take or you will take from something like that, and it will be in your body forever,” said Fowler. Ballet B.C. is a full partner in the event with The Social Concierge, a Vancouver-based event branding and marketing agency that specializes in event creation. So while the ballet company makes money, artistic director Emily Molnar sees benefits beyond the immediate bottom line.
“We call it a friendraiser instead of a fundraiser,” said Molnar. “It’s this beautiful kind of creation of earthly delights, I suppose. It’s just a beautiful moment for people in the community to have a drink, to be in the theatre in a different way.
“It’s about having a good time. It’s about enjoying ourselves.”
It’s also about re-stocking the fan base. So enter The Social Concierge with its wide database and you have a great coupling, a pas de deux. “It’s really about exposing Ballet B.C. to whole generation of young philanthropists and business professionals. People who enjoy the arts in general,” said The Social Concierge’s Tyson Villeneuve.
“It’s also fun because it gives regular Ballet B.C.-goers a chance to experience and re-experience the ballet in a way they are not accustomed to, and also offer a little teaser of next year’s program.”
Last year’s event was a sellout with 500 tickets. Villeneuve says the number of tickets has been increased to 800 this year.
Ten florists and landscape artists will be creating the one-off pieces of floral art for the event.
“It is very fun — but to be truthful, for a florist, we have a lot of events and weddings going on at the same time. But we kind of do it for the love of the ballet,” said Gloria Henry co-owner of The Flower Factory, and the floral co-ordinator for Babylon.
“It also gives (us) an opportunity to have a blank canvas, well a little theme, but you can kind of create whatever you can envision. It is an introduction to high-level floristry.”
In 2016, Henry built a large floral wall. This year, she plans on doing a ceiling chandelier-style installation, and freezing flowers into blocks of ice measuring one square metre. “I want to freeze in a pre-set bouquet, to kind of watch it melt as the dance progresses. It’s really fun,” said Henry. A fundraiser, a friendraiser or just a chance to enjoy a drink in a cool creative setting aside the event is entertaining for the guests and creatively expanding for the artists. It’s a win-win.
“They love it,” said Molnar, of the dancers. “They can’t get enough of it. It’s just different. It is immediate in a certain way, and they have to deal with space in a different way. It’s just a whole different conversation.
“The more we can keep changing and being flexible in where we perform and what we perform, then the more diversity we have as a company in what we do and
how we meet people.”
We got the instructions we were going to improv within a crowd. It was like, ‘wow this is going to be a completely new experience.