Ballet BC Annex hits Anvil Theatre with diverse program, November 15

Junior ensemble performs works by choreographers Cameron sinkʷə Fraser-Monroe, Michael Garcia, and Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond

Ballet BC Annex dancers rehearse Michael Garcia’s new creation. Photo by Millissa Martin

Anvil Theatre presents Ballet BC Annex on November 15 at 7:30 pm, followed by a dialogue called Dancing in New Westminster

THERE’S ANOTHER CHANCE to catch the strong, diverse program by Ballet BC Annex, the junior ensemble of the main company that’s been touring the Lower Mainland and Whistler this fall. Its dancers are the rising stars currently training with Vancouver dance institutions Modus Operandi and Arts Umbrella Dance—and this is an opportunity to see them on a smaller stage before they leap out into the world’s bigger companies.

The troupe hits New Westminster’s Anvil Theatre this weekend, boasting work by a compelling roster of choreographers.

Cameron sinkʷə Fraser-Monroe, whose T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods made a splash with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet here in February, has crafted a love letter to the women who raised him, set to the meditative music of Ólafur Arnalds. The young, fast-rising choreographer was brought up by two mothers and an array of aunties, and has created the subtly ceremony-like piece for a female-only cast.

Elsewhere on the program, Ballet BC main-company dancer Michael Garcia, the Texas-born Juilliard School grad who was a recent standout in the troupe’s Bodies & Voices show over the weekend, has created a new work called can’t carry ghosts for the company, set to Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturne No. 17 in B major.

And rounding out the program is BC–based Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond's blazing Last Flower, originally created for Ballet BC’s main company in 2024. Featuring video footage of a hypnotic flaming orb and dancers in bronze-y costumes and sunglasses, it’s a fun and thought-provoking look at our star’s power to feed our earth, but also to destroy its “last flower”. Tregarthen and Raymond, as well as making their mark with pieces for their own critically acclaimed company Out Innerspace, have danced for the likes of Crystal Pite's Kidd Pivot, and have created commissions for such companies as Nederlands Dans Theater 2, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is a Webster Award–winning arts journalist who has spent more than three decades immersed in Vancouver’s performing arts, film, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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Ballet BC Annex hits Anvil Theatre with diverse program, November 15

Junior ensemble performs works by choreographers Cameron sinkʷə Fraser-Monroe, Michael Garcia, and Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond

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