Ballet BC announces 2025-26 season, complete with a Jiří Kylián work and new Saturday matinees

Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber share a full-evening work, and hit productions of Crystal Pite’s Frontier and Shahar Binyamini’s BOLERO X return

Ballet BC dancer Pei Lun Lai. Photo by Marcus Eriksson

BALLET BC HAS just unveiled its next season, with a lineup that includes the return of two big crowd favourites and work by contemporary-dance icon Jiří Kylián.

The season kicks off from November 6 to 8 with TRILOGY, a program that features a world premiere by fast-rising Italian choreographer Sofia Nappi; SWAY, an exploration of hope from Ballet BC artistic director Medhi Walerski; and the return of the epic 50-dancer BOLERO X by Shahar Binyamini, featuring the entire company plus artists from Arts Umbrella Dance in a piece driven by Maurice Ravel’s orchestral masterpiece.

The season continues in February with INFINITY, featuring the return of Vancouver dance star Crystal Pite’s critically acclaimed Frontier as well as 27’52” by Kylián, the influential former artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theater.

May’s UNITY wraps the season with a full evening of work by Batsheva Dance Company alumni Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, a choreographic duo whose Obsidian recently marked their debut with the company.

For the first time, all three programs, staged at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, will have an added matinee at 1:30 pm on Saturdays.

An added offering in September is the fifth annual Take Form, in which Ballet BC dancers create three performances at the intimate BMO Theatre Centre’s Newmont Stage—not only choreographing the work themselves, but overseeing marketing, lighting design, set design, and other aspects of the production.

Canada’s historic Royal Winnipeg Ballet will return to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre for five performances of its signature Canadian version of Nutcracker in December.

And Ballet BC will also continue its touring, this time hitting the famed Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris for the first time, sharing works by Pite, Johan Inger, and Walerski for four nights in April. It will also hit Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in the Berkshires. More locally, the Ballet BC Annex program—a collaboration with Arts Umbrella and Modus Operandi—again tours regionally to bring professional performances and workshops to schools across the province, premiering two new creations by Vancouver choreographers Vanessa Goodman and Alexis Fletcher.

Subscriptions to Queen Elizabeth Theatre performances are on sale now, as well as single tickets for all Nutcracker performances, and Take Form. Single tickets for all QET performances are on sale at balletbc.com starting July 23.

“This season is about connection: to ourselves, to each other, and to the world we live in. I’m especially looking forward to welcoming Bobbi and Or back for a brand-new full evening creation,” Walerski said in the announcement today. “From iconic voices like Pite and Kylián to exciting new perspectives like Sofia Nappi, it’s a season that reflects both where we’ve been and where we’re going.”

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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