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2015-16 season


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Right now the company is having a Mother's Day sale on Giselle tickets. Orchestra seats that normally cost $144-$203 and Grand Ring seats that normally cost $203 are selling for $99. Enter the promo code ILOVEMOM after selecting a performance date. You can be certain that casting will not be posted by May 8, but it's a significant savings.

http://national.ballet.ca/Productions/2015-2016-Season/Giselle

JumpFrog, if you are looking for an inexpensive ballet outing, on Saturday, June 18 at 10:45 am, the company will hold a public class on stage, and tickets for that cost $10.
http://national.ballet.ca/Explore/Education-and-Outreach/Class-on-Stage

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Thanx volcanohunter! Watching class on stage could be fun! And of course I already got my tickets for Giselle before I saw about this promo code. Oh well. . Now I'm in the mailing list at least.

I see there is also a ballet gala coming up. I'm seriously considering it as galas are always a good chance to see a variety of small gems. I just wish we knew what it will be? Weird that they don't advertise what they're going to be doing.

And thanks for the heads up about casting probably not going up for a while. Odd how things seem to be a bit last minute here generally or maybe I'm just used to companies like ABT outlining performance specifics in plenty of time. I'd think that would generate buzz and ticket sales but I was also a biology major so lol

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Mad Hot Ballet is more of a swanky party, no? The performance portion is scheduled to last only 30 minutes. It does provide an opportunity to hobnob with dancers, as well as Toronto's well-heeled crowd, of course, and there's a chance to win a pair of Rolex watches, among other fancy prizes. (Oh my.) But, if you win the prize of 24 round-trip tickets on Porter Airlines, that would provide you with the perfect means to zip back and forth to New York (well, Newark) or Boston or Montreal. :wink:

http://national.ballet.ca/Gala

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Casting has finally been posted for Giselle, and owing to Guillaume Côté's apparent indisposition, Harrison James has been put in the position of dancing three performances with three different ballerinas. The company's social media posts indicate that Peter Wright is in town overseeing rehearsals, so I guess it's his call.

Giselle
Svetlana Lunkina† (June 15 & 18 at 7:30 pm)
Jillian Vanstone (June 16 at 2:00 pm)
Elena Lobsanova* (June 16 at 7:30 pm, June 18 at 2:00 pm)
Xiao Nan Yu (June 16 at 7:30 pm)
Sonia Rodriguez (June 17 at 7:30 pm)
Jurgita Dronina† (June 19 at 2:00 pm)

Albrecht
Harrison James† (June 15 & 17 at 7:30 pm, June 19 at 2:00 pm)
Francesco Gabriele Frola* (June 16 at 2:00 pm)
Naoya Ebe (June 16 at 7:30 pm, June 18 at 2:00 pm)
McGee Maddox* (June 16 & 18 at 7:30 pm)
Evan McKie (June 18 at 7:30 pm)

Hilarion
Piotr Stanczyk (June 15, 17 & 18 at 7:30 pm)
Skylar Campbell* (June 16 & 18 at 2:00 pm)
Jonathan Renna (June 16 at 7:30 pm, June 19 at 2:00 pm)

Queen of the Wilis
Heather Ogden (June 15, 17 & 18 at 7:30 pm)
Hannah Fischer* (June 16 & 18 at 2:00 pm)
Alexandra MacDonald* (June 16 at 7:30 pm, June 19 at 2:00 pm)

* Debut
† Company Debut

http://national.ballet.ca/Productions/2015-2016-Season/Giselle

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Mad Hot Ballet is more of a swanky party, no? The performance portion is scheduled to last only 30 minutes. It does provide an opportunity to hobnob with dancers, as well as Toronto's well-heeled crowd, of course, and there's a chance to win a pair of Rolex watches, among other fancy prizes. (Oh my.) But, if you win the prize of 24 round-trip tickets on Porter Airlines, that would provide you with the perfect means to zip back and forth to New York (well, Newark) or Boston or Montreal. :wink:

http://national.ballet.ca/Gala

not much dancing at all at NBOC's "gala". Also not much hobnobbing with dancers, although you may see a few of them in the post-performance party, but most are off having hors d'oeuvres with the big-ticket purchasers. And if you don't know any of the dancers who may be milling about, it's not likely you'll be able to go up to them in the crush and make small talk.

Also this year it's at a very awkward location.

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not much dancing at all at NBOC's "gala". Also not much hobnobbing with dancers, although you may see a few of them in the post-performance party, but most are off having hors d'oeuvres with the big-ticket purchasers. And if you don't know any of the dancers who may be milling about, it's not likely you'll be able to go up to them in the crush and make small talk.

Also this year it's at a very awkward location.

Well unfortunately we've already bought our tickets kbarber. I hope not to regret it. I can only assume that a "gala" in Canada is maybe not the same as it is in the States. I have always bought tickets to galas when they're on as they are a great chance to see gems like Black Swan or other exciting pieces and they often are for a very good cause. I just can't seem to figure out what this one is for/about? or even what the performances there will be? Bizarre.

I've been here for months and haven't seen any ballet yet. I don't know how you survive!

Just patiently waiting for the new ballet and the couple days of Giselle. Then I am taking volcanohunters advice and taking a summer excursion somewhere to get my theatre fix lol.

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Well unfortunately we've already bought our tickets kbarber. I hope not to regret it. I can only assume that a "gala" in Canada is maybe not the same as it is in the States. I have always bought tickets to galas when they're on as they are a great chance to see gems like Black Swan or other exciting pieces and they often are for a very good cause. I just can't seem to figure out what this one is for/about? or even what the performances there will be? Bizarre.

I've been here for months and haven't seen any ballet yet. I don't know how you survive!

Just patiently waiting for the new ballet and the couple days of Giselle. Then I am taking volcanohunters advice and taking a summer excursion somewhere to get my theatre fix lol.

I'm not even sure the "event space" for the gala this year has a stage. I think I heard there will be "pop-up" dance events as people wander around, possibly choreographed by Rob Binet? It is true that the NBOC is not being very forthcoming about what dance there will actually be at this event.

This meaning of "gala" is not a Canadianism (I know this for a fact, as I wrote the Canadian dictionary!), it is just an NBOC weirdness. Even when NBOC has their "gala" in the theatre, they usually just repeat bits of stuff they've done during the season. It's not like a proper ballet gala at all. Its sole purpose is to rake in the big bucks from the socialites and the corporate entities that buy tables for it. And at that it is apparently very successful.

I personally have seen ballet in Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, and Bratislava in the last two months! Indeed, travelling is the only solution, other than the Ballet in Cinema showings.

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Surely in most North American cities it's not unusual to encounter opera house-sharing agreements that lead to long gaps between performances. I mean, the San Francisco Ballet is away from the War Memorial Opera House from mid-May until Nutcracker season. The Canadian Opera Company occupies the Four Seasons Centre in October, January-February and April-May, giving about 55 performances of six productions, and the National Ballet of Canada has it in November-December, March and June, giving roughly 50 regular-season performances of six programs, plus about 25 performances of The Nutcracker.

I'm sure we all adapt to the local limitations we encounter, like going to ballet screenings at the multiplex, and in my case, I now do in excess of 85% of my ballet-going away from home.

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Surely in most North American cities it's not unusual to encounter opera house-sharing agreements that lead to long gaps between performances.

Yes that is so true volcanohunter. I just wonder how a "house-sharing" agreement might become better balanced? It seems that the ballet company here does a whole bunch of shows back to back and then nothing for months? But maybe they are performing elsewhere? I suppose it depends on the availability of the orchestra as well.

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I'm not even sure the "event space" for the gala this year has a stage. I think I heard there will be "pop-up" dance events as people wander around, possibly choreographed by Rob Binet? It is true that the NBOC is not being very forthcoming.

Who?

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I will take your word for it kbarber and I suppose if there is as you say no stage it would make sense that the "dance" part of the evening would need to be made up of pop-ups. It reminds me of site specific work other choreographers have done. When done well it can be interesting certainly

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Slightly off the topic but Sony Center in Toronto has announced some good visiting performances.

http://www.sonycentre.ca/calendar-event-details/?id=256

NEDERLANDS DANS THEATER - Mixed Programme
November 9, 2016
BATSHEVA DANCE COMPANY: Decadance 2017
January 14, 2017
EIFMAN BALLET ST. PETERSBURG: Red Giselle
May 11-13, 2017
This could be much better than the boring repertoire of the National Ballet (although no details of what NDT will be performing yet.
Especially Batsheva's Decadance is a masterpiece and could not be missed.
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Yes that is so true volcanohunter. I just wonder how a "house-sharing" agreement might become better balanced? It seems that the ballet company here does a whole bunch of shows back to back and then nothing for months? But maybe they are performing elsewhere? I suppose it depends on the availability of the orchestra as well.

The gaps in the schedule are 2 months between the end of Nutcracker and beginning of March season, then another 2 months between the end of March season and beginning of June season, then a long drought between mid-June and early November (which is no worse than SFB's, as has been pointed out). The ballet is entirely dependent on the opera season. They are two different organizations, and the opera company owns the opera house so they have first dibs. In recent years the NBOC has managed to arrange some tour gigs during their Toronto downtime.

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The gaps in the schedule are 2 months between the end of Nutcracker and beginning of March season, then another 2 months between the end of March season and beginning of June season, then a long drought between mid-June and early November (which is no worse than SFB's, as has been pointed out). The ballet is entirely dependent on the opera season. They are two different organizations, and the opera company owns the opera house so they have first dibs. In recent years the NBOC has managed to arrange some tour gigs during their Toronto downtime.

Isn't it comparing apples and oranges though?

I mean as you say there are four months of mid season gaps for the NBOC plus the long drought of June-November. That means there isn't anything in Toronto for 9 months of the year!

In San Francisco for their "2016 Season" only - between January and May 2016 . . they are performing during every one of those months ...presenting 8 different programs .. and 17 different ballets.

And we are here waiting until there is five days of Giselle so we can watch six casts get a show each.

By the way Naomi Yes i just saw that - I am so so excited for the announcement of NDT and Batsheva now THAT is exciting programming !! :)))

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Shall we compare it to

Boston, only 6 programs (NBOC has 7 including Nut), not in season May 27 - Oct 27,

Houston, 7 programs including Nut, but nothing other than Nut from Oct 2 to March 2, March 26 to May 2, and mid-June to September

Miami City Ballet, only 4 programs in addition to Nut, nothing from April 2 to October 21

NBOC is more typical than atypical of N American companies and is constrained by the COC's occupation of the opera house.

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Casting for Guillaume Côté's new ballet Le Petit Prince has been posted.

Le Petit Prince/The Little Prince
Dylan Tedaldi (June 4, 5, 8, 9 at 7:30 pm, 11 at 7:30 pm)
Félix Paquet (June 5, 10, 12)
Skylar Campbell (June 9 at 2:00 pm, 10, 11 at 2:00 pm, 12)

L’Aviateur/The Aviator
Harrison James (June 4, 5, 8, 9 at 7:30 pm, 11 at 7:30 pm)
McGee Maddox (June 5, 10, 12)
Piotr Stanczyk (June 9 at 2:00 pm, 11 at 2:00 pm)

La Rose/The Rose
Tanya Howard (June 4, 5, 8, 9 7:30 pm, 11 at 7:30 pm)
Heather Ogden (June 5, 10, 12)
Kathryn Hosier (June 9 at 2:00 pm, 11 at 2:00 pm)

Le Serpent/The Snake
Xiao Nan Yu (June 4, 5, 8, 9 at 7:30 pm, 11 at 7:30 pm)
Svetlana Lunkina (June 5, 10, 12)
Tina Pereira (June 9 at 2:00 pm, 11 at 2:00 pm)

Le Renard/The Fox
Sonia Rodriguez (June 4, 5, 8, 9 at 7:30 pm, 11 at 7:30 pm)
Rui Huang (June 5, 10, 12)
Jurgita Dronina (June 8, 9 at 2:00 pm, 11 at 2:00 pm)

http://national.ballet.ca/Productions/2015-2016-Season/Le-Petit-Prince

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JumpFrog, I think you should also consider excursions to Montreal. Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal skews contemporary, but their performances tend to fall into the gaps between National Ballet of Canada shows (Nutcracker excepted, of course), and every season they invite two companies to perform big narrative ballets.

http://www.grandsballets.com/en/

The train ride lasts a leisurely 5 hours and delivers you reasonably close to the Place des Arts, or you can fly there in just over an hour, although a roundtrip fare will cost twice as much.

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JumpFrog, I think you should also consider excursions to Montreal. Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal skews contemporary, but their performances tend to fall into the gaps between National Ballet of Canada shows (Nutcracker excepted, of course), and every season they invite two companies to perform big narrative ballets.

http://www.grandsballets.com/en/

The train ride lasts a leisurely 5 hours and delivers you reasonably close to the Place des Arts, or you can fly there in just over an hour, although a roundtrip fare will cost twice as much.

or you can go to Ottawa, about an hour closer on the train. The National Arts Centre has visiting companies that don't make it to Toronto. But classical ballet seems to be a vanishing genre in Ottawa.

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