2024 Contemporary Showcase
Featuring the Students of the Professional Division
Wed. March 20 at DJD
Performances at 6:30 pm and 8:00 pm
Graham McKelvie, Head of Contemporary Dance
Welcome to the Contemporary Showcase of 2024
This performance marks the end of our third term of the school year, a very busy time for the students and faculty. I am in awe of all our students have accomplished!
The contemporary dance world is so very diverse that it is difficult to know what ground you stand on. An important aspect of what we strive to achieve is in the conversations that are engendered by the works that were created for you tonight. They may range from creating metaphors or the value of abstraction. They might revolve around different shades of physicality or counting music that has a structure that is difficult to perceive. Art and artistry.
In the end, the hope is to encourage wonder in diverse forms of expression and to assist in creating a dancer with imagination and agency. Thank you for joining us for this journey!
Performance Schedule
Welcome Speech, Ashley McNeil, Director of Alberta Ballet School
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Choreographer:
Helen Cox and StudentsClass 4M
Over the past two months, the students have learned a solo by award-winning Israeli choreographer, Hofesh Shechter. They have spent time practicing his unique grounded style of movement and improvisation in order to create their own solos, which you are seeing snippets of as part of the piece tonight. With Shechter's work at the core of our creative process, 'Assemble', embodies a sense of gathering, determination, and a relentless pulse of energy that is each of these unique and beautiful dancers.
‘We dance to know what it feels like, not just to live, but to be alive.’ - Hofesh Shechter.
The original solo by Hofesh Shechter is a Rambert Grades performance solo.
Music
Hofesh ShechterLevel 4 MK
Arnold, Ava
Engauchi Aoi
Hasunuma, Tsuzuri
Hayter Evia
Hirosuke Nakai (M)
Kawaguchi Rio
Koslowsky Sarah
McGilvery Georgia
Okabe Mako
Poirier, Emma
Robichaud Eden
Sakabe, Yuzuki
Savouillan, Emma
Summerville Lily
Tsunomachi, Tamaki
2 Minute Break
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Choreographer
Kaitlyn Seibold and StudentsClass 3ES
Already Seen invites audiences into a surreal and dystopian realm where the boundaries between reality and recollection blur. In this enigmatic landscape, dancers navigate a space that feels both familiar and alien, evoking a sense of déjà vu and prompting introspection on the nature of memory itself. Drawing inspiration from the intricate workings of human cognition, the choreography delves into the labyrinth of our minds, exploring how we create, recall, and sometimes distort memories. Each movement is a vignette, a fragment of experience that unfolds and transforms, mirroring the fluidity of our own recollections. Through a mesmerizing fusion of compositions layered with snippets of ambient sounds captured from various locales, the auditory landscape mirrors the complexity of memory, as whispers of conversation intertwine with melodies, echoing the voices of the past. As the dancers guide audiences through this journey, the choreography embraces a cyclical structure, with motifs and sequences revisited and reshaped, challenging perceptions and evoking a sense of disorientation and liberation in equal measure.
About the Music
The Soundscape for Already Seen features compositions by three composers intricately layered to create a rich and immersive sonic landscape. Interwoven with these melodies are snippets of ambient sounds, captured by the choreographer, adding depth and texture to the auditory experience.Attestupan - Bobby Krlic
Safe Space - Snorri Hallgrímsson
Solo? Repeat! - Anne Müller
We invite you to join us on this captivating exploration of memory, identity, and the power of movement. The students have been working so thoughtfully throughout this choreographic journey and I am so proud of all of their hard work and creativity. - Kaitlyn
Level 3
Amemiya, Miku
Dobson, Brooklyn
Avinou, Olivia
Blanco Paulina
Denkema, Lindi
Doppelreiter, Raíssa
Evans Analise
Fox Eva Marie
Hobbs, Tyneshia
Honjo, Saki
Jane, Rylaarsdam
Moran, Sofia
Ngan, Charie
Santos, Maria
Sato Koh
Townsend Greer
2 Minute Break
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Choreographer and Coach
Graham McKelvieClass 4SM/5/6/PGAMN
Hero Life is a study of the notions we have about what a hero is. I delve into archetypes and stereotypes and attempt to show humour and pathos. My training goals are to enhance contemporary partnering skills and navigating space in the context of the large group which is so rare in these times. It is my hope that this work also encourages the dancer and the viewer to reflect on their ideas of what is heroic, however grand or humble. I provide vignettes to provoke questions and wonder. What is a hero’s life and from whence does a hero emerge? Maybe it is an aspect latent in all of us. Maybe it is community that is its author.
HERO LIFE…
The standing and the fallen
The sufferer and the steadfast
The visionary and the witnesses
The raucous
The righteous
I finish the work with three vignettes in the last section, that I’ve entitled The Righteous; Jacobs Ladder, The Prayer Wheel and The All Seeing Eye of Providence to give a suggestion of the esoteric nature and spiritual aspect of the hero.
Music
Sigur RósLevel 4 SM/Level 5/6/Post Graduate
Arnold, AvaAddiscott, Florian
Blair, Ashley
Benson, Esther
Banka, Nadia
Bryce, Matt
Collins, Ian
Clark, Willa
Cruz, Sophie
Ditchburn, Emily
Eisler, Brynn
Ellis, Avery
Hills, Miriam
Hayter, Evia
Hasunuma, Tsuzuri
Hashimoto, Anri
Honoka, Karatsu
Hortia, Yoshino
Hosoi, Shizuka
Hugo, Danica
Jenkins, Naomi
Janzen, Sophie
Kreft, Hannah
Kawakami, Aya
Kim, Lucy
Kirschbaum, Kaili
Kawaguchi, Rio
Mano, Haruhi
Masaki, Hitomi
McIntyre, Mia Zoe
McGilvery, Georgia
Nakai, Hirosuke
Oates-Johnson, Maggie
Okabe, Mako
Parish, Sydney
Pelletier, Anna
Quintina,Anai
Robichaud, Eden
Robinson, Georgia
Sekiyama, Riko
Sakabe, Yuzuki
Stolar, Simone
Savouillan, Emma
Summerville, Lily
Takahara Hinata
Tsunomachi, Tamaki
Watanabe, Kairi
Watson, Kiera
West, Dylan Poirier
2023/24 GOVERNMENT FUNDERS AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS
ALBERTA BALLET BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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CHAIR
Chair Heather Rae, HRJ Consulting (Calgary)
Vice Chairs
Heather Klimchuk, Advocacy, Connections & Communciations Consulting (Edmonton)
Sarah Palmer, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Calgary)
Corporate Secretary Frank Molnar, Field Law (Calgary) Treasurer
Jana Neal, SFG Investments (Calgary)
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Denise Clark, One Yellow Rabbit (Calgary)
Melissa Cook, Field Law (Calgary) Peggy Garritty, PG Communications Ltd. (Edmonton)
Lawrence Gervais, Phoenix Energy Services Inc. (Calgary)
Wendy Gnenz, MNP (Edmonton)
Alyssa Kim, Finning Canada (Edmonton)
Agnieszka (Aggie) Mikulski, TIPP Consulting (Edmonton)
Noël Papadopoulos, Papas Group (Edmonton)
Ellie Siebens, EPL Consulting Ltd. (Calgary)
Gregory Stirling, Alberta Court of Justice (Calgary)
Eric Toker, Modern Flowers (Calgary)
Bob Willows, Willows Construction (2001) Ltd. (Winfield)
Noel Xavier, Edmonton Community Foundation (Edmonton)
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CHAIR/PRESIDENT
Alfred SorensenSECRETARY/TREASURER
Peter A. JohnsonDIRECTOR
Chandra HenryDIRECTOR
Heather RaeDIRECTOR
Jana Neal