With the National Arts Centre Orchestra
Chamber by Medhi Walerski (32 minutes)
Intermission (20 minutes)
Silent Tides by Medhi Walerski (18 minutes)
Intermission (20 minutes)
BOLERO X by Shahar Binyamini (15 minutes)
In this remarkable triple bill program, the NAC Orchestra accompanies Chamber, one of artistic director Medhi Walerski’s most acclaimed and elegant ballets, and BOLERO X, created by Shahar Binyamini for the company in 2023, a masterful reading of Maurice Ravel’s Bolero.
For Medhi Walerski, the rhythmic momentum and discordant tensions in Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring make it one of the most vibrant compositions of all time, and he describes the creation of Chamber as an echo of what the score provokes in his imagination. Performed to original music by the eminent British composer Joby Talbot, Walerski centralizes the performers in a ritualistic dance that seeks to strike a balance between order and chaos, charging the theatre space with a darkened, absorbing energy. Magnificent and absolutely riveting.
Silent Tides is an intimate work for two dancers that reflects our relationship to one another and to ourselves—the infinite gates where our bodies receive nourishment and otherness, vibration and energy. Touch, time, eternity, love, death, infinity, low tides, high tides.
BOLERO X, set to Ravel’s beloved score that builds gradually on a simple theme towards its hypnotizing crescendo, showcases the dancers of Ballet BC at their absolute best. Choreographer Shahar Binyamini has created an ode to unity and a celebration of the power of dance. Its language of sensual gestures and grand, pulsing group movements is breathtaking to witness. An extraordinary work for 50 dancers that fully exploits the power of repetition to create a layered, sweeping expression of joy.
Ballet BC creates works that are visceral, provocative and transformative. Founded in 1986, the company's distinctive approach and style have made a significant contribution to the evolution of dance and the accessibility of ballet.