Stage Door News
Toronto: The Canadian premiere of “Silent Screen” launches the National Ballet’s 2024/25 season
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, shared today that the Canadian premieres of Sol León and Paul Lightfoot’s Silent Screen and Sir Frederick Ashton’s Rhapsody with Guillaume Côté’s Body of Work will launch the 2024/25 season at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts November 9 – 16.
The unique choreographic language of Sol León and Paul Lightfoot comes to the National Ballet for the first time with Silent Screen, a mesmerizing, theatrical experience set to the music of Philip Glass. Based in Europe, León and Lightfoot are the architects of a highly respected body of work rarely experienced in North America. With this acquisition, Muir opens the door to their canon. Silent Screen immerses the dancers in a silent film projected on shifting screens, taking the audience on a journey that finishes where it began.
The National Ballet joins the international celebration of Sir Frederick Ashton with Rhapsody, a chic and joyful ballet set to Sergei Rachmaninoff’s glorious "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini". Muir acquired this Canadian premiere for Ashton Worldwide, a five-year festival honouring the great choreographer’s legacy.
Body of Work kicks off Guillaume Côté’s special performances in his final season with the National Ballet as Principal Dancer. Set to Ludwig van Beethoven’s uplifting Symphony No.7, this solo is an expression of Côté’s own extraordinary legacy in dance.
Casting:
• Body of Work •
Guillaume Côté
• Rhapsody •
Tirion Law and Siphesihle November (November 9, 13, 16 at 7:30 pm)
Koto Ishihara and David Preciado (November 10 at 2:00 pm/November 15 at 7:30 pm)
Emerson Dayton and Naoya Ebe (November 14 at 7:30 pm/ November 16 at 2:00 pm)
• Silent Screen •
Christopher Gerty, Ben Rudisin
Hannah Galway
Shaakir Muhammad, Erica Lall
Spencer Hack, Josh Hall, Emma Ouellet, Noah Parets
Oliver Yonick, Xiao Nan Yu*
(November 9, 13, 16 at 7:30 pm/November 10 at 2:00 pm)
Christopher Gerty, Ben Rudisin
Hannah Galway
Shaakir Muhammad, Erica Lall
Spencer Hack, Josh Hall, Emma Ouellet, Noah Parets
Oliver Yonick, Alexandra MacDonald
(November 14, 15 at 7:30 pm/November 16 at 2:00 pm)
* Guest Artist
Photo: Scene from Silent Screen at the Bayerisches Staatsballett © Carlos Quezada.