April 06, 2004 -

OTTAWA -- Cathy Levy, Producer of Dance Programming at the National Arts Centre, today released details of an extraordinarily exciting season of dance. The 2004-2005 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: Germany, Japan, Argentina, France, Belgium, Russia, Spain, the Netherlands, the United States, and Canada.

There are 40 performances of 20 separate dance events from 20 different companies (presented in four distinct series). The season includes 3 NAC co-productions, as well as 3 world premieres and 3 Canadian premieres.

A highlight of the season is the exclusive Canadian engagement of Germany’s brilliant dance icon, choreographer Pina Bausch. One of the most important and influential creative forces of the 20th century, Bausch returns to Ottawa for the first time in almost twenty years. Having inspired two generations of choreographers, dance theatre makers, and opera directors, Bausch is renowned for her brilliant artistry and for lush, emotionally charged  -- and sometimes controversial – productions. Applauded worldwide, Pina Baush leaves audiences and critics in raptures. Pina Baush Tanztheater Wuppertal will perform the sensual and lighthearted Masurca Fogo on November 26 and 27, and the event is expected to attract dance lovers from across the country – and sell out quickly!

The 2004-2005 season also features four Special Presentations, including perennial favourite The Nutcracker; monumental, the second NAC—CGI commission created for youth audiences by one of Canada’s hottest dance troupes; and Dulcinea Langfelder’s theatre/dance extravaganza, Victoria.

Other highlights of the season include a special Dutch Dance Focus, showcasing the work of six Netherlands-based choreographers from different generations, including three with The Dutch National Ballet on their first Canadian tour. This window on Dutch dance is scheduled to coincide with the 60^th anniversary celebrations of the Canadian liberation of the Dutch at the end of World War II.

CANRIL CORPORATION BALLET SERIES

The renowned National Arts Centre Orchestra is featured at all performances in this series. The NAC is delighted to welcome Canril Corporation for the fourth 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.

• Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet inaugurates this series with their spectacular Carmina Burana, choreographed by Mauricio Wainrot using the striking and monumental Carl Orff score
• The National Ballet of Canada performs their brand new family-friendly production of Cinderella, choreographed by Artistic Director James Kudelka
• Het Nationale Ballet from the Netherlands makes their Canadian with an evening of mixed repertoire highlighting the work of three marvelous Dutch choreographers

SERIES A presented by Casino du Lac-Leamy

• Spain’s contemporary-dance troupe Compañía Nacional de Danza performs a triple-bill of mixed repertoire (including a very sexy Carmen) that throbs with searing Iberian passion
• A newly invigorated Hubbard Street Dance Chicago returns to the NAC with an evening of mixed repertoire which showcases their exuberantly athletic eclecticism
• Russia’s Eifman Ballet Theatre performs La Giselle Rouge, a theatrical tour de force and a showcase for the acrobatic classicism and dramatic choreography of Boris Eifman.
• Rounding out the season, the steamy and provocative Les Liaisons Dangereuses will be performed by the acclaimed Alberta Ballet; a showcase for sexual tension, lust, and treachery

SERIES B

• New York’s Stephen Petronio Company has an explosively raw kinetic style, shown to advantage in his ‘New York’ triple bill, with music by Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed
• Ultima Vez returns to the NAC from Belgium with Blush, a sexy, provocative, confrontational and intensely physical avalanche of images, live action, film, and music
• Canadian dance diva Louise Lecavalier performs with a stellar group of dancers in a new work choreographed by Tedd Robinson and others
• The show must go on, by France’s experimental Jérôme Bel, uses wall-to-wall pop music, a cast of 18, and an onstage disc jockey to outwit audience expectations with radicalism and humour.
• Suspended in the air by ropes and harnesses, Argentina’s Brenda Angiel Aerial Dance Company readily fuses art and adventure as the dancers effortlessly twist, hang, tumble and soar in mid-air.
• Italian-born choreographer Emio Greco and Dutch theatre director Pieter C. Scholten are Emio Greco | PC and their Rimasto Orfano (Abandoned Orphan) is a provocative vision of duality, synchronicity, time and place, set against the prospect of abandonment.

 SERIES C

• Vancouver’s Kidd Pivot (a collaboration between Crystal Pite and Richard Siegal features duets which showcase dark wit, dramatic choreography, and vibrantly theatrical visual sensibilities
• Internationally renowned Japanese dance artist Min Tanaka, obsessed with time, catastrophe and the body, gazes unflinchingly at the terrifying, the despairing, and the absurd
• Netherlands-based choreographers André Gingras and Dylan Newcomb perform a daring double bill of their newest works, CYP₁₇ and Breath

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: DULCINEA LANGFELDER IN VICTORIA

This spellbinding dance/theatre performance blends past and present, theatre and dance, celebrating life's small victories in a tribute to living in the moment. Stretching the tension between comedy and tragedy to new extremes, Victoria is a tender and loving look at aging.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: MASURCA FOGO  BY PINA BAUSCH TANZTHEATER WUPPERTAL

THE dance event of the season! Sure to be SOLD OUT! One of the most important and influential creative forces of the 20th century, choreographer Pina Bausch returns for the first time in almost 20 years. Bausch is renowned for her brilliant artistry and for lush, emotionally charged productions. Masurga Fogo is an exuberantly playful extravaganza for 22 dancers that is comic fantasy and tropical holiday rolled into one – it features Portuguese fado, tango, samba, jazz, and pop songs; there is also dialogue, movie projections, and exceptional costumes and effects. The choreography is dazzling and seductive: energetic, ecstatic, and extraordinary.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: LES GRANDS BALLETS CANADIENS DE MONTRÉAL IN 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: monumental BY THE HOLY BODY TATTOO

Monumental is the second 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, it is choreographed by co-Artistic Directors/choreographers Noam Gagnon and Dana Gingras of Vancouver's acclaimed The Holy Body Tattoo. monumental is an urban, edgy, and very contemporary investigation into alienation and fitting in. With The Holy Body Tattoo's signature raw energy, monumental explores the physical anxiety of urban culture and the overwhelming human need for intimacy. In an ever-accelerating climate of greed and ambition, personal relationships -- at any age -- are subjected to group identity and human connection becomes increasingly difficult.

Subscription packages to the 2004-2005 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, (613) 947-7000, x 620 Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 17:00 or online: www.nac-cna.ca/subscribe.

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

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

NAC DANCE 2004-2005
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

The November appearance by Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal is the company’s ONLY appearance in Canada

The NAC commemorates the 60^th anniversary of the Canadian liberation of Holland with a special 3-event Dutch Dance Focus (Het Nationale Ballet, Emio Greco | PC, and André Gingras + Dylan Newcomb)

The NAC dance season is one of the top in North America, incorporating 20 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

The NAC presents the best in Canadian and international dance: 40 performances, 20 events, 20 companies, 10 countries -- Germany, Japan, Argentina, France, Belgium, Russia, Spain, the Netherlands, the United States, and Canada

 Numerous premieres: 2 world premieres (monumental by The Holy Body Tattoo and Double Story by Crystal Pite and Richard Siegal), 1 North American premiere (Louise Lecavalier), and 3 Canadian premieres (Blush by Ultima Vez, Min Tanaka, and Het Nationale Ballet)

4 Special Presentations: Masurca Fogo by Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal; Victoria by Dulcinea Langfelder; monumental by The Holy Body Tattoo; and The Nutcracker by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal

NAC strategic goal: emphasize NAC’s national role: 3 NAC co-productions, with Louise Lecavalier, Kidd Pivot (Crystal Pite and Richard Siegal), and The Holy Body Tattoo; the NAC maintains and strengthens ties to Canadian dance artists and partners with other presenters in coordinating tours

The NAC is happy to welcome returning sponsors Canril Corporation (Canril Corporation Ballet Series) and Casino du Lac-Leamy (Series A)

The Dance department is delighted to welcome the NAC Orchestra for each presentation in the Canril Corporation Ballet Series

NAC strategic goals: artistic expansion and innovation and commitment to youth and education: the NAC presents the world premiere of The Holy Body Tattoo’s monumental, the second NAC-CGI Youth Commission for Dance, and maintains the tradition of presenting special student matinees

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