Ballet Creole's RIVER April 4 to 6 2013 at Fleck Dance Theatre Toronto

From a media release:

Ballet Creole’s RIVER still flowing
23 year old dance company continues to break
new ground in contemporary dance


Ballet Creole - RIVER
April 4 – 6, 2013
Fleck Dance Theatre
at Harbourfront Centre, Toronto

Toronto, Ontario –
Artistic Director, Patrick A. Parson sums up Ballet Creole’s 23rd annual Spring Season of dance using the metaphor of the river, “The River is ever-changing, yet flows continuously. It diverts around obstacles and will always find an outlet. That is [Ballet Creole’s] direction for the coming years. To keep flowing, keep growing, find an outlet”. Ballet Creole presents their 23rd Spring Dance Season, aptly titled RIVER, at the Fleck Dance Theatre, April 4th-6th at 8pm, part of Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps Series. Ticket prices range from $20 to $45 with student/senior tickets beginning at $20.

In its 23 year history as part of the vibrant Canadian dance season, Ballet Creole has earned a reputation for producing high-energy, rigorous contemporary dance, which serves to cultivate the multiculturalism of Toronto and Canada at large. Following up two well-received tours across Ontario, their annual Holiday production Soulful Messiah and a new Black History Month production Tounkande, RIVER will feature two diverse choreographic works from Parson and Associate Choreographer Gabby Kamino.

Parson’s work, Trouchka, was presented at the Company’s 21st Spring Dance Season in April 2011. The piece had grown out of a body of work that was presented as part of a performance with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra in May 2009, and this year Parson will debut the completed work in the Spring production.

Trouchka is set to the emotional and rhythmic structure of Stravinsky’s classical score – Petrouchka; the story of a traditional Russian Puppet that comes to life. Parson reinterprets this musical masterpiece with the “tenacious spirit of African retention hidden in traditional dances from the Caribbean, blended with the grace of ballet” (SWAY Magazine). The result is an exciting exploration of the similarities in cultural folklore and movement aesthetics. Parson’s style is unmistakable as he weaves a compelling physical narrative on the bodies of his talented Company dancers, who are adept at blending the Afro-Caribbean movement vernacular with contemporary dance techniques to create a fusion truly representative of Ballet Creole’s driving motto “Diversity in Harmony Creates a New Energy”.

Juxtaposing the choreographic offerings is Associate Choreographer Gabby Kamino’s World Premiere, Fallen Angels, a three-part allegorical piece which depicts angels that have “fallen,” or rather angels that have chosen to live as humans. Ms. Kamino has been working with the Company for over 15 years and her choreographic style often explores the realities of the human condition through breath-taking contemporary movement and music.

• RIVER opens Thursday, April 4th at the Fleck Dance Theatre.
• Tickets are available at the Harbourfront Centre Box Office by phone, 416-973-4000, or online, www.harbourfrontcentre.com/nextsteps/river/.


About Ballet Creole:
Active on the Canadian dance scene since August 1990, Ballet Creole comprises both a professional ensemble of dancers and musicians and a School of Performing Arts. While focusing on the traditional and contemporary performing arts of the Caribbean and Africa, Ballet Creole aims to establish a dynamic new artistic tradition in Canada through "creolization" or fusion of diverse dance and music traditions.

The video is samples of Ballet Creole's work - not the River.

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