Ballet BC presents ZENITH at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, March 6 to 8
Monumental triple bill sees the return of Johan Inger’s PASSING along with world premieres from Fernando Hernando Magadan and Andrea Peña
Ballet BC dancer Kaylin Sturtevant. Photo by Marcus Eriksson
Ballet BC returns to Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre with ZENITH from March 6 to 8 at 8 pm, with pre-show artist talks each evening at 7 pm.
The triple bill features three exciting works: a world premiere from acclaimed Spanish choreographer Fernando Hernando Magadan, the large-scale PASSING from Swedish choreographer and longtime Ballet BC collaborator Johan Inger, and a world premiere from Montreal-based rising star Andrea Peña.
Though this will be her choreographic debut with the company, Colombia-born multidisciplinary artist Peña was a dancer with Ballet BC early in her career. A recent recipient of Ballet BC’s Emily Molnar Emerging Choreographer Award, she holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial design, and is known for exploring the intersection of choreography, design, and new media. Her creation for Ballet BC will continue to explore this crossroads, incorporating bold, surprising elements of scenic and costume design.
Spanish choreographer Magadan is a freelance choreographer, teacher, and stager with roots in professional gymnastics. Throughout his 15 seasons as a performer with Nederlands Dans Theater, he worked with prominent choreographers such as Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Mats Ek, Crystal Pite, Sol León, Paul Lightfoot, Hofesh Shechter, and Inger. He was rehearsal director and artistic leader of the prestigious junior ensemble NDT 2 from 2018 to 2021. As a choreographer, Magadan’s movement vocabulary is highly physical, inventive, and musical. His latest creation for Ballet BC explores the immensity of space and connections to physics and gravity, as well as the fragility and vulnerability of being human.
Following its world premiere with Ballet BC in 2023, Inger’s PASSING has quickly become one of the company’s most beloved pieces of repertoire. Traversing a vast landscape of human emotion, PASSING takes audiences on an epic, theatrical, touching ride. The large-scale 50-minute piece, partially inspired by natural catastrophe, explores both intimate and societal relationships. Set to an original score by Amos Ben-Tal as well as selections from Erik Enocksson and Louis Hardin (a.k.a. Moondog), the work’s sonic journey is as beautifully complex and captivating as its movement language.
For tickets to ZENITH and more information, visit Ballet BC.
Post sponsored by Ballet BC.
Related Articles
Quick takes on three atmospheric works: Modus Operandi’s Wound, Dance//Novella’s Soft Animals, and O.Dela Arts’ Where You Go
At The Dance Centre, new FakeKnot production taps into deep community ties to celebrate the family bonds and playful energy behind the voguing
At Dancing on the Edge, Alexis Fletcher and Sylvain Senez develop a new piece alongside one by Ballet BC’s Sid Chuckas
Inverso Productions event includes performance featuring Claudia Moore, Calder White, Anne Cooper, Savannah Walling, and more at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre
Annual event brings free outdoor dance to the Granville Island Picnic Pavilion and the VPL Central Library’s rooftop
The choreographer and performer’s character-driven Dancing on the Edge piece is informed by his perspective as the child of a deaf parent
Ralph Escamillan’s subversive, playful new work brings the Ball from the runway to the stage
Artist Jasmine Chen relearns Mandarin and discovers lost family history in multidisciplinary, personal show
At The Dance Centre, world premiere by Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes moves away from aerial arts and toward conceptual innovation
Principal dancers from the National Ballet of Canada perform a guest duet and artists-in-residence Margaret Grenier and Starr Muranko share a creation after their five-year collaboration with the troupe
Featuring works by Crystal Pite, Marcos Morau, Sharon Eyal, and more, the season finale is a celebration of presence, community, and the beauty of fleeting time
Choreographer Stephanie Thomasen’s piece has no plot and instead invites audience members to imagine their own storylines
Vancouver Playhouse show features works by several world-renowned choreographers, including Crystal Pite, Sharon Eyal, and Medhi Walerski
Set to music by Philip Glass, Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber’s latest piece focuses on everyday moments and palpable intimacy
Amid the offerings are names like Lukas Malkowski, Belle Spirale Dance Projects, O.Dela Arts and musica intima, and much more
Marking Asian Heritage Month, the show features names like Kasandra La China, Andrea Nann, and Sujit Vaidya
The Dance Centre announces Lola Award and Isadora Award for Vancouver choreographers
Star choreographic duo Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber return with a full-evening premiere that draws on the emotional layers in Philip Glass’s music—and in the company members themselves
At the Firehall Arts Centre, the Toronto-based choreographer reckons with the forced displacement of Japanese Canadians and the cycles of fear-based thinking that still echo today
Production by Denmark’s Uppercut Dance Theater features breathtaking physicality and inventive humour
On Belle Spirale Dance Projects’ Exhale program, the Vancouver artist creates his first piece since leaving Ballet Edmonton—complete with live vocals and a central metal sculpture
