Lake Country, BC – Signature works from Ballet Kelowna’s contemporary ballet repertoire will be performed on the Creekside Theatre stage at 7:00 PM on March 19, 2024.
“With Cameron Fraser-Monroe’s powerful and compelling taqəš (pronounced tawKESH), Guillaume Côté’s mesmerizing Bolero, and Fraser-Monroe’s satirical The Cowboy Act Suite, this high-energy program promises to please a wide range of spectators,” noted Simone Orlando, Artistic Director and CEO of Ballet Kelowna. “Ballet Kelowna’s tour programming is completely different than our season programming at the Kelowna Community Theatre and we are thrilled to bring the diverse range of our dancers to Lake Country and Northern BC.”
taqəš follows the traditional story “Raven Returns the Water,” centred around ῤoho (raven) and walθ (frog). Cameron Fraser-Monroe brings his classical ballet training, knowledge of traditional Coast Salish, Grass, and Hoop Dance, and experience as a contemporary dancer to taqəš, which means “to return something” in Ayajuthem, the language belonging to the Homalco, Klahoose, K’omoks, and Tla’amin Nations.
Next, National Ballet of Canada Choreographic Associate Guillaume Côté brings strength and fragility to a fascinating interpretation of the beloved Boléro by Maurice Ravel, one of music’s most famous and identifiable melodies. Bolero features breathtaking lifts and virtuosic choreography.
Rounding out the program, audiences will be transported to the Wild West in The Cowboy Act Suite, a work that explores the dichotomy between “Cowboys and Indians” set to music by Mohawk singer/songwriter Tom Wilson and musical storyteller iskwē. While this theme is common on pages, stages, and in films, it is often written from a colonial perspective. Fraser-Monroe’s intuitive perspective on the swashbuckling strut of the Cowboy informs this intellectual unpacking of a one-sided lens and flips the script to ask: what happens when an Indian directs the Cowboys through their history?
“The diverse interests of live performance audiences in Lake Country and neighbouring Okanagan communities inspires us to offer some really unique shows at the Creekside Theatre that often sell out as soon as ticket sales are announced,” said Ryan Donn, Lake Country’s Cultural Development Coordinator. “We just completed the very popular Winter Blues Festival and have sold out performances coming up by Sarah Harmer as well as Grammy-nominated Allison Russell. With stand-up comedy, ventriloquism, and tribute acts already booked for later in the spring, we are thrilled to be able to attract a Ballet Kelowna touring program with three very different feature segments to entertain patrons in our comfortable 250-seat venue in Lake Country.”
Adding Lake Country’s Creekside Theatre to the mix this spring, Ballet Kelowna has toured to over 75 communities including recent debuts in Atlantic Canada and Quebec and has been invited to perform at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Toronto’s Fall for Dance North Festival, and Beijing’s China International Performing Arts Expo.
For tickets and more information visit www.creeksidetheatre.com.
-30-
For more information contact:
Ryan Donn, Cultural Development Coordinator
250-766-5669
Feature image: Ballet Kelowna artists perform in taqəš (photo credit Abigail Wiens)
