Arts Umbrella, Goh Ballet bring talents to Playhouse

Students from two of Vancouver’s main student dance schools are heading to The Playhouse on successive weekends with two very different programs.

First up is Arts Umbrella with three performances, Friday and Saturday evening at 8 p. m. and again Saturday afternoon with a 2 p. m. matinee.

The school’s apprentice and senior programs will be performing works by a diverse range of 13 contemporary choreographers ranging from Simone Orlando, Wen Wei Wang and Martha Carter to James Kudelka, Stephen Shropshire and Aszure Barton.

Arts Umbrella’s relationship with Ballet BC continues to grow beyond sharing choreographers and workshops. Scott Fowler, Kiera Hill and Emily Chessa are three of the school’s new graduates who have selected for apprenticeships with Ballet BC.

The following weekend, at 7 p. m. on June 1 and 2, Goh Ballet students will be presenting a more traditional evening of dance with its production of Coppelia, a three- act ballet originally performed in 1870 with choreography by Marius Petipa.

The Goh’s Coppelia features choreography by faculty members Vera Solovyeva and Nikolai Levitsky along with new divertissements by Fiona Smith, Ken Guan and Tanya Phelps.

Students from Goh Ballet have won awards in dance contests around the world, including second at the Tanzolymp International Competition in Berlin.