Name Ballet BC Artistic Director Annette av Paul | Year founded 1986 | |
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Previous names Ballet British Columbia Predecessor Pacific Ballet Theatre
Ballet Horizons Founders Jean Orr
David Y. H. Lui
Sheila Baggs | ||
Ballet BC is a contemporary ballet company located in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Contents
History
Ballet BC was founded as Ballet British Columbia by Jean Orr, David Y. H. Lui and Sheila Baggs in 1986, with Annette av Paul as first Artistic Director. The company adopted its current name after financial problems and a restructuring in 2009.
Artistic direction passed to Reid Anderson, Patricia Neary and Barry Ingham and in 1992 to John Alleyne, who introduced a program with original choreography including his The Faerie Queen in 2000 and dances by other Canadian choreographers. Alleyne was followed by Emily Molnar after the reorganisation in 2009.
As of April 2015, the company is the only professional ballet company in British Columbia. It is based in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
Repertoire
Ballet BC presents a repertoire of contemporary ballet.
The company opened the 2015 Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, presenting three dances each by a different choreographer, including Twenty Eight Thousand Waves by their own resident choreographer Cayetano Soto. The company travelled on their 30th anniversary tour in late 2015 and 2016.