April 19, 2006 -

Season includes exclusive Canadian engagements of the Kirov Ballet in Swan Lake and the world-renowned Forsythe Company

OTTAWA -- Cathy Levy, Producer of Dance Programming at the National Arts Centre, today released details of an amazing new season of dance. Two major highlights of the season include the exclusive Canadian engagements of Russia’s Kirov Ballet (under Artistic Director Valery Gergiev) with The Kirov Orchestra in five performances only of the world’s most popular ballet, Swan Lake. Another Canadian exclusive is a rare appearance by Germany’s The Forsythe Company, under American-born Artistic Director William Forsythe. Known for radical imagination, choreographic innovation, and sublime theatricality, Forsythe has virtually changed the way audiences see dance. He resides comfortably in the dance pantheon alongside George Balanchine and Pina Bausch.

The 2006-2007 season is literally a world of dance in Ottawa! Featuring the best dancers, choreographers, and designers from around the world, the line-up includes artists from 10 countries: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

There are 41 performances of 19 separate dance events from 19 different companies (presented in four distinct series). The season includes 5 NAC co-productions, as well as 4 exclusive Canadian engagements, 3 North American premieres, 2 Canadian premieres, and 4 events associated with the NAC’s Quebec Scene in spring 2007.

The 2006-2007 Dance season is an embarrassment of riches, featuring the biggest names in dance from across Canada and around the world. From opulent and traditional classical ballet to the edgiest frontiers of contemporary dance, this season presents them all. Only in Ottawa and only at the National Arts Centre can dance lovers enjoy, among others, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and new work by Sankai Juku, Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Vincent Sekwati Koko Mantsoe, Philippe Decouflé, La La La Human Steps, Compagnie Marie Chouinard, and Les Ballets C. de la B., with choreography by Koen Augustijnen.

The 2006-2007 season also features three Special Presentations, including perennial favourite
The Nutcracker, Kodo Drummers (a co-presentation with NACO), and Remix, the fourth NAC—CGI Youth Commission for Dance, a partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts, created for youth and adult audiences by Montréal Danse with guest choreographer Martin Bélanger.

CANRIL BALLET SERIES

The NAC is delighted to welcome Canril Corporation for the sixth year of their sponsorship agreement. In honour of their generous support and profound commitment to the performing arts, the classical ballet series was re-named for Canril Corporation in 2001. Headquartered in Canada’s Capital, Canril Corporation is a leading commercial property developer. For more than 15 years, Canril has proven its ability to analyze and act on development opportunities of all sizes and levels of complexity.

• The dance event of the season -- 5 performances only! In their first appearance in Ottawa since 1989, Russia’s world-renowned Kirov Ballet shines in a unique production of Swan Lake, set to the famousTchaikovsky score performed by the Kirov Orchestra. This ravishing romance is brought to life by the exceptional artistry and impeccable technique of a company renowned for classical purity and grace since 1783
• Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet brings snap and sizzle to classical ballet with a glam retro re-telling of A Cinderella Story, set during the Fabulous Fifties, with a live jazz orchestra
• Under acclaimed new Artistic Director Karen Kain, The National Ballet of Canada displays energy, beauty, and versatility in a triple-bill choreographed by three of the best dance-makers of the 20th century. A Footstep of Air by Eliot Feld, Opus 19/The Dreamer by Jerome Robbins, and Voluntaries by Glen Tetley all feature live music performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra

SERIES A

• Hypnotically beautiful and intense, Japan’s neo-Butoh troupe Sankai Juku performs KAGEMI -- Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors, anexploration of the desire to extract sense and beauty from our presence on earth

• Dazzling, kinetic, powerful – American superstar company the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater bring their signature passion and explosive energy to the NAC for the first time since 1985!
• Germany’s The Forsythe Company, under Artistic Director William Forsythe, builds on a stunning 20-year reputation earned with Ballett Frankfurt. The world’s most daring and influential creator of contemporary ballet, it has been said that “There is nobody to compare to Forsythe. He will be remembered as ballet’s Mozart.”(Dance Europe)
• Perennial favourites Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal return with TooT and Noces, two dramatic new works -- created especially for the company -- which are visually stunning and vividly theatrical

• Working together for the first time, two of the world’s hottest dance artists -- Akram Khan (from the UK) and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (from Belgium) -- combine contemporary Kathak and European tanztheater in a riveting search for the source, the ‘0’, at life’s core
• Russell Maliphant Company, from the United Kingdom, performs Push, Transmission, and One Part II -- contemporary dance with a unique thrust of flow and energy and an enviable genius for swirling, expressive movement and dazzling lighting and music
• Soweto-born Ottawa favourite Vincent Mantsoe returns with Men-Jaro, an exploration of friendship. Mantsoe and four international dancers explore the vibrant connection between traditional African music and contemporary African dance -- with the Traditional African Orchestra, performing live
• A charismatic conjurer, France’s Philippe Decouflé performs Solo – le doute m’habite, a playful phantasmagoria of stunning visuals and flamboyant theatricality. A puppeteer pulling invisible strings, Decouflé is a chameleon, merging perfectly into his video environment
• Montreal’s electrifying Édouard Lock and La La La Human Steps expand the limits of physical, vertiginous, and sensual movement. His new creation unites ten dancers and four musicians in a radiant display of demanding technique, intricate structure, and breakneck speed
• In bODY_rEMIX/gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS, Montreal’s high priestess of dance Marie Chouinard explores the stark erotic beauty of emotional extremes. An interpretation in movement of Bach’s Goldberg Variations (performed by Glen Gould, distorted by Louis Dufort), bODY_rEMIX weds dancers to bizarre and provocative prosthetic devices

SERIES C

• Belgium’s Les Ballets C. de la B., performs IMPORT/EXPORT, with choreography by Koen Augustijnen. This theatrically volatile combination of dance, performance, acrobatics, music, and plastic art features countertenor Steve Dugardin, six dancer/acrobats, and a live all-female string quartet
• In Puzzle Danse 2007, four audacious choreographers from France and Canada create a quartet of clever and intriguing duos. Ginette Laurin and Estelle Clareton (Quebec), and Jean-Claude Gallotta and Isira Makuloluwe (France) explore the theme of ‘leavetaking’ with vibrant and exploratory creative voices
• Two women, two acclaimed dancer-choreographers, two compelling stories told through dance. Sarah Chase Dance Stories (Toronto) fuses words, music, and movement in Bird – The Passenger, while Brazil’s Cristina Moura delights with like an idiot, performed to music ranging from Mozart to Lauryn Hill

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: LES GRANDS BALLETS CANADIENS DE MONTRÉAL’S THE NUTCRACKER
Celebrate the holidays with Clara, the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the Nutcracker-turned-Prince. This spellbinding fantasy of enchantment is highlighted by Tchaikovsky’s memorable music, Fernand Nault’s brilliant choreography, magnificent sets, and over 200 opulent costumes. The Nutcracker is a classic holiday treat for the whole family!

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: SOMEWHAT LIKE YOU BY MONTRÉAL DANSE WITH GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER MARTIN BÉLANGER
Remix is the fourth NAC-CGI Youth Commission for Dance, a partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts. A new dance work aimed at both adult and youth audiences, Somewhat like You uses the language of hip-hop music videos – raucous, lightning fast, scorching changes of subject and focus – to turn that world on its ear. Montreal’s Martin Bélanger deconstructs the hip-hop form, exposing the dance within to alternative types of music, inviting audience interaction, and using seduction as a weapon.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: KODO DRUMMERS
This co-presentation with the National Arts Centre Orchestra is guaranteed to be a huge favourite with dance audiences! Excitingly varied, marvelously theatrical, Kodo Drummers explore the limitless possibilities of the traditional Japanese drum. Clad in sweatbands and loincloths, these percussion kamikazes redefine performance art, where the discipline, speed, and dexterity are as impressive as the muscular endurance and physical tenacity. The New York Times said that “Kodo can raise the roof, but the group can also show extraordinary finesse.”

Subscription packages to the 2006-2007 Dance season are on sale now. Dance subscribers save up to 20% on regular ticket prices when choosing two or more series and 15% on regular ticket prices when choosing one series. Subscribers may also create their own Designer Series by choosing at least four subscription performances (excluding Special Presentations such as The Nutcracker) and save up to 10%. Full-time students save 50% when purchasing subscriptions. Subscribers also save 10% on extra tickets for dance performances throughout the year, as well as 10% on regular price tickets to concerts with the NAC Orchestra, and English Theatre or French Theatre productions. Subscription information is available at the NAC Subscription Office now with new extended hours from Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 21:00. Visit the Subscription Office newly located in the Main Foyer beside the Box Office, call (613) 947-7000, x 620 or online: www.nac-cna.ca/subscribe.

Photos for all dance events can be viewed and downloaded at: www.nac-cna.ca/media/

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Information:
Gerald Morris
Marketing and Media Relations,
NAC Dance Department
(613) 947-7000, ext. 249
gmorris@nac-cna.ca


NAC DANCE 2006-2007
FACTS AT A GLANCE

• A WORLD OF DANCE IN OTTAWA! Only at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa is such a variety and concentration of companies available in one season

• NAMES, NAMES, NAMES: the 2006-2007 Dance season features some of the best-known and most influential companies in the world, including The Kirov Ballet, The Forsythe Company, Sankai Juku, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Akram Khan, La La La Human Steps, and Les Ballets C. de la B.

• The NAC dance season is one of the top in North America, incorporating 19 events: there is something for everyone, aficionado or novice, regardless of taste in dance. The NAC season is an important cross-section of the finest classical and contemporary dance, something to move, excite, and transport audiences

• 4 exclusive Canadian engagements Swan Lake by The Kirov Ballet, One Flat Thing, reproduced by The Forsythe Company, Men-Jaro by Vincent Mantsoe, and zero degrees by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Akram Khan

• The NAC presents the best in Canadian and international dance: 41 performances, 19 events, 19 companies, 10 countries -- Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States

  Numerous premieres: 3 North American premieres (KAGEMI – Beyond the Metaphor of Mirrors by Sankai Juku, Push, Transmission, and One Part II by Russell Maliphant Company, and new work by La La La Human Steps), 2 Canadian premieres (zero degrees by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Akram Khan, Men-Jaro by Vincent Mantsoe)

• 3 Special Presentations The Nutcracker by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal; Remix by Montréal Danse with guest choreographer Martin Bélanger, the NAC-CGI Youth Commission for Dance, a partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts; Kodo Drummers (co-presentation with NACO)

• NAC strategic goal: emphasize NAC’s national role: 5 NAC co-productions, with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Akram Khan, La La La Human Steps, Compagnie Marie Chouinard, Puzzle Danse 2007, and Montréal Danse with guest choreographer Martin Bélanger. The NAC maintains and strengthens ties to Canadian dance artists and partners with other presenters in coordinating tours

• NAC strategic goals: artistic expansion and innovation and commitment to youth and education: the NAC presents the world premiere of Montreal Danse’s Remix, choreographed by Martin Bélanger, the fourth NAC-CGI Youth Commission for Dance, and maintains the tradition of presenting special student matinees. In February 2006, the NAC launched the exciting ArtsAlive.ca Dance website aimed at young people and teachers

• The NAC is happy to welcome returning sponsor Canril Corporation for the Canril Ballet Series

• The NAC is seen by dance artists as one of the finest places in the world to perform