2024 Contemporary Showcase

Featuring the Students of the Professional Division

Wed. March 20 at DJD

Performances at 6:30 pm and 8:00 pm

Graham McKelvie, Head of Contemporary Dance

Welcome to the Contemporary Showcase of 2024

This performance marks the end of our third term of the school year, a very busy time for the students and faculty. I am in awe of all our students have accomplished!

The contemporary dance world is so very diverse that it is difficult to know what ground you stand on. An important aspect of what we strive to achieve is in the conversations that are engendered by the works that were created for you tonight. They may range from creating metaphors or the value of abstraction. They might revolve around different shades of physicality or counting music that has a structure that is difficult to perceive. Art and artistry.

In the end, the hope is to encourage wonder in diverse forms of expression and to assist in creating a dancer with imagination and agency. Thank you for joining us for this journey!

 

Performance Schedule

Welcome Speech, Ashley McNeil, Director of Alberta Ballet School

  • Choreographer:
    Helen Cox and Students

    Class 4M

    Over the past two months, the students have learned a solo by award-winning Israeli choreographer, Hofesh Shechter. They have spent time practicing his unique grounded style of movement and improvisation in order to create their own solos, which you are seeing snippets of as part of the piece tonight. With Shechter's work at the core of our creative process, 'Assemble', embodies a sense of gathering, determination, and a relentless pulse of energy that is each of these unique and beautiful dancers.

    ‘We dance to know what it feels like, not just to live, but to be alive.’ - Hofesh Shechter.

    The original solo by Hofesh Shechter is a Rambert Grades performance solo.

    Music
    Hofesh Shechter

    Level 4 MK
    Arnold, Ava
    Engauchi Aoi
    Hasunuma, Tsuzuri
    Hayter Evia
    Hirosuke Nakai (M)
    Kawaguchi Rio
    Koslowsky Sarah
    McGilvery Georgia
    Okabe Mako
    Poirier, Emma
    Robichaud Eden
    Sakabe, Yuzuki
    Savouillan, Emma
    Summerville Lily
    Tsunomachi, Tamaki

2 Minute Break

  • Choreographer
    Kaitlyn Seibold and Students

    Class 3ES

    Already Seen invites audiences into a surreal and dystopian realm where the boundaries between reality and recollection blur. In this enigmatic landscape, dancers navigate a space that feels both familiar and alien, evoking a sense of déjà vu and prompting introspection on the nature of memory itself. Drawing inspiration from the intricate workings of human cognition, the choreography delves into the labyrinth of our minds, exploring how we create, recall, and sometimes distort memories. Each movement is a vignette, a fragment of experience that unfolds and transforms, mirroring the fluidity of our own recollections. Through a mesmerizing fusion of compositions layered with snippets of ambient sounds captured from various locales, the auditory landscape mirrors the complexity of memory, as whispers of conversation intertwine with melodies, echoing the voices of the past. As the dancers guide audiences through this journey, the choreography embraces a cyclical structure, with motifs and sequences revisited and reshaped, challenging perceptions and evoking a sense of disorientation and liberation in equal measure.

    About the Music
    The Soundscape for Already Seen features compositions by three composers intricately layered to create a rich and immersive sonic landscape. Interwoven with these melodies are snippets of ambient sounds, captured by the choreographer, adding depth and texture to the auditory experience.

    Attestupan - Bobby Krlic

    Safe Space - Snorri Hallgrímsson

    Solo? Repeat! - Anne Müller

    We invite you to join us on this captivating exploration of memory, identity, and the power of movement. The students have been working so thoughtfully throughout this choreographic journey and I am so proud of all of their hard work and creativity. - Kaitlyn

    Level 3
    Amemiya, Miku
    Dobson, Brooklyn
    Avinou, Olivia
    Blanco Paulina
    Denkema, Lindi
    Doppelreiter, Raíssa
    Evans Analise
    Fox Eva Marie
    Hobbs, Tyneshia
    Honjo, Saki
    Jane, Rylaarsdam
    Moran, Sofia
    Ngan, Charie
    Santos, Maria
    Sato Koh
    Townsend Greer

2 Minute Break

  • Choreographer and Coach
    Graham McKelvie

    Class 4SM/5/6/PGAMN

    Hero Life is a study of the notions we have about what a hero is. I delve into archetypes and stereotypes and attempt to show humour and pathos. My training goals are to enhance contemporary partnering skills and navigating space in the context of the large group which is so rare in these times. It is my hope that this work also encourages the dancer and the viewer to reflect on their ideas of what is heroic, however grand or humble. I provide vignettes to provoke questions and wonder. What is a hero’s life and from whence does a hero emerge? Maybe it is an aspect latent in all of us. Maybe it is community that is its author.

    HERO LIFE…

    The standing and the fallen

    The sufferer and the steadfast

    The visionary and the witnesses

    The raucous

    The righteous

    I finish the work with three vignettes in the last section, that I’ve entitled The Righteous; Jacobs Ladder, The Prayer Wheel and The All Seeing Eye of Providence to give a suggestion of the esoteric nature and spiritual aspect of the hero.

    Music
    Sigur Rós

    Level 4 SM/Level 5/6/Post Graduate
    Arnold, Ava

    Addiscott, Florian

    Blair, Ashley

    Benson, Esther

    Banka, Nadia

    Bryce, Matt

    Collins, Ian

    Clark, Willa

    Cruz, Sophie

    Ditchburn, Emily

    Eisler, Brynn

    Ellis, Avery

    Hills, Miriam

    Hayter, Evia

    Hasunuma, Tsuzuri

    Hashimoto, Anri

    Honoka, Karatsu

    Hortia, Yoshino

    Hosoi, Shizuka

    Hugo, Danica

    Jenkins, Naomi

    Janzen, Sophie

    Kreft, Hannah

    Kawakami, Aya

    Kim, Lucy

    Kirschbaum, Kaili

    Kawaguchi, Rio

    Mano, Haruhi

    Masaki, Hitomi

    McIntyre, Mia Zoe

    McGilvery, Georgia

    Nakai, Hirosuke

    Oates-Johnson, Maggie

    Okabe, Mako

    Parish, Sydney

    Pelletier, Anna

    Quintina,Anai

    Robichaud, Eden

    Robinson, Georgia

    Sekiyama, Riko

    Sakabe, Yuzuki

    Stolar, Simone

    Savouillan, Emma

    Summerville, Lily

    Takahara Hinata

    Tsunomachi, Tamaki

    Watanabe, Kairi

    Watson, Kiera

    West, Dylan Poirier

2023/24 GOVERNMENT FUNDERS AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS

ALBERTA BALLET BOARD OF DIRECTORS

  • CHAIR

    Chair Heather Rae, HRJ Consulting (Calgary)

    Vice Chairs

    Heather Klimchuk, Advocacy, Connections & Communciations Consulting (Edmonton)

    Sarah Palmer, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Calgary)

    Corporate Secretary Frank Molnar, Field Law (Calgary) Treasurer

    Jana Neal, SFG Investments (Calgary)

  • Denise Clark, One Yellow Rabbit (Calgary)

    Melissa Cook, Field Law (Calgary) Peggy Garritty, PG Communications Ltd. (Edmonton)

    Lawrence Gervais, Phoenix Energy Services Inc. (Calgary)

    Wendy Gnenz, MNP (Edmonton)

    Alyssa Kim, Finning Canada (Edmonton)

    Agnieszka (Aggie) Mikulski, TIPP Consulting (Edmonton)

    Noël Papadopoulos, Papas Group (Edmonton)

    Ellie Siebens, EPL Consulting Ltd. (Calgary)

    Gregory Stirling, Alberta Court of Justice (Calgary)

    Eric Toker, Modern Flowers (Calgary)

    Bob Willows, Willows Construction (2001) Ltd. (Winfield)

    Noel Xavier, Edmonton Community Foundation (Edmonton)

  • CHAIR/PRESIDENT
    Alfred Sorensen

    SECRETARY/TREASURER
    Peter A. Johnson

    DIRECTOR
    Chandra Henry

    DIRECTOR
    Heather Rae

    DIRECTOR
    Jana Neal