St. Albert's grace

Citie Ballet has is launching its third season as Edmonton’s resident ballet company. It may be young, but it is also bold, dynamic and versatile.

Under artistic director François Chevennement’s passionate guidance, the company starts the season with two ballets – a fresh 35-minute choreography and a traditional classic.

On October 4 and 5 at the Timms Centre for the Arts, Citie presents choreographer Alysa Pires’ contemporary premiere of An Homage to Billie Holiday followed by the turn-of-the-century Ballets Russes’ elegant classic Les Sylphides.

When Pires was approached to create a choreography of a specific artist, she had no hesitation in selecting American jazz singer-songwriter Billie Holiday. Her claim to fame is pioneering a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo.

“Her ability to transmit emotion and soul is second to none. She’s not the most technically gifted. But I feel when I create movement it’s about motion and humanity. What she was doing with music mirrors what I do with dance,” said Pires.

A graduate of Ryerson University in Toronto, Pires arrived with an outline, a jumping off point and adapted the company’s 12 dancers’ strengths to her choreography.

“A lot of contemporary dance gets a bad rap. A lot of non-dancers find it hard to relate to but I try to make my work accessible and this piece is for everybody.”

Unlike classic ballets, the ode to Billie is not a narrative. But it does reflect Holiday’s tortured life.

“I use her music and emotions to make a general statement about life and love. It’s a nostalgic piece. The end isn’t explicit. It’s about life’s continuation. It’s about life’s good times and struggles and it all comes to an end.”

Pires uses 10 of the jazz singer’s lesser known songs such as Solitude, Fine and Mellow, Billie’s Blues, All of Me and Them There Eyes to name a few.

“In each piece you can feel the music. With dance on top of that, it’s breathtaking,” said company dancer Lauren O’Kell.

As a choreographer, Pires sets out to capture moments of raw beauty and emotion using signature large shapes, deep pliés and wide arm movements.

“Most of her pieces are high energy or fluid and gestural. In one of her songs we use gestures and only the upper part of our body without using our legs. We’re completely grounded,” O’Kell added.

As a St. Albert trained dancer, O'Kell admits to hearing Holiday’s music only when her mother – also a dancer – played it.

“I didn’t typically listen to this music, but it’s exciting to do this. It’s different from what we’ve done previously.”

The second portion of Citie’s program is Les Sylphides, also a short non-narrative ballet accompanied by the music of FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin. Often described as a romantic reverie, the 30-minute ballet consists of white-costumed sylphs dancing in the moonlight with a male poet.

“It really shows ballet technique en pointe. It’s very soft and up in the air,” noted Chevennement.

For additional information visit citieballet.ca.