Thursday, February 05, 2009

Take Your Sweetheart to the Ballet on Valentine’s Day

Horizon Stage presents Ballet Jörgen Canada’s Romeo and Juliet on February 14th

Spend Valentine’s Day with two of Shakespeare’s best known lovers. Enjoy a magical night of dance and romance when Canada’s fifth largest ballet company performs their interpretation of Romeo and Juliet at Horizon Stage in Spruce Grove on Saturday, February 14th. Become embroiled in the feud between the houses of Capulet and Montague. Let yourself be swept away by the story of the two Verona youth whose struggle for love and happiness ends in the ultimate tragedy.

True to Shakespeare’s original story, Ballet Jörgen Canada mounts a poignant and humourous ballet which also holds an emotional lens to the dramatic love story of the title characters, danced by Hampus Gauffin and Tara Butler. Company co-founder and Artistic Director Bengt Jörgen’s masterful choreography entices audiences with its beauty and seamlessness. Glenn Davidson’s minimalist sets are fluidly integrated into the choreography, to the effect of stunning transitions. Sergei Prokofiev’s glorious score is one of his best-known works, and it contains some of the most inspired passages he ever composed including the ever-popular “March of the Capulets”.

Premiering in Banff, Alberta on February 27th, 1998, Romeo & Juliet has been showcased in major cities and communities across Canada, the United States, and China and has since won international recognition and critical acclaim. This 2009 tour will include 12 communities in Western Canada. In the Edmonton area they will also perform on February 12th in Leduc and February 22nd in Fort Saskatchewan. Continuing in their well-established tradition of education and outreach, Ballet Jörgen Canada will offer supernumerary roles to two local youth dancers in each of their tour cities. In Spruce Grove the lucky ballet students will be Kelsey Waddle and Krissy Kormos.

With a grand total of 16 dancers in its cast Romeo & Juliet promises to be a night of spectacle and romance, wrapped in exquisite costumes, brilliant choreography and a beautiful soundtrack. And, because Horizon Stage is such an intimate venue, audience members will experience this amazing performance in an Up Close and Personal way that can’t be duplicated in any other theatre in the capital region. Don’t miss the perfect Valentine’s Day romantic ballet, Rome & Juliet at Horizon Stage on Saturday, February 14th, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 students & seniors and are available through the Horizon Stage Box Office, 780-962-8995, and any Ticketmaster location.

"A production that looks like a ballet but feels like a play." Michael Crabb, The National Post

“Bengt Jörgen crafts a jewel-box Romeo & Juliet.”
Paula Citron, The Globe and Mail

“Shakespeare ballet woos the audience.”
Jason Gagliardi, The Hong Kong Sunday Morning Post Spectator

Horizon Stage would like to thank the following Ballet Jörgen Canada Sponsors and Supporters: Canadian Heritage, the Alberta Foundation of the Arts, the Edmonton Journal, Birdsell Grant Gardner Morck Barristers and Solicitors, Servus Credit Union and the Royal Inn Express.

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