Six Reasons to See ZENITH

In 2024, Ballet BC announced the second recipient of the company’s Emerging Choreographer Award—Bogota-born, Montreal-based Andrea Peña. Selected by a jury that included Indigenous dance artist and choreographer Margaret Grenier, NAC Executive Producer of Dance Caroline Ohrt, independent producer Cathy Levy, and Ballet BC’s Medhi Walerski and Rupert Tookey, the award recognizes exceptionally promising new dance talent with diverse perspectives on the art form. Says Walerski, “The distinct process and themes Andrea explored in her application resonated with all of us on the jury. She was selected for her innovative approach, her ability to challenge traditional forms, and her commitment to exploration and collaboration. Her work is fresh and forward-thinking.”

For Fernando Hernando Magadan’s latest creation, the choreographer also sought to work with emerging talent, collaborating with a talented composer and a name that may be familiar to Ballet BC audiences. Born and raised in Vancouver, Ben Waters is a multi-talented artist who danced with Arts Umbrella and Ballet BC before joining Ballet Edmonton, and also contributes his musical talents to a variety of projects. “Music is an essential element in the piece,” says Magadan. “Working with a talented, passionate and open minded composer like Ben is a true pleasure. We started playing with sounds that evoke the vastness of the space, as well as beats and percussive elements representing the pulse of live and ethereal melodies with a more intimate and personal feeling, trying to tap into our human and spiritual condition.”

From falling ash to harnesses to black holes, there are plenty of artistic elements that play integral roles in supporting the vision of the choreographers for ZENITH. All three artists are highly conceptual and deeply involved in the holistic experience of the works you will see on stage, creating striking scenic worlds to support the physicality and movement language of the dancers. For Andrea Peña, a trained industrial designer, the world involves a central structural element that is guaranteed to wow. “It is an enormous set,” says Peña. “I wanted to build a monument. 45 LED lights, a massive metal structure which almost acts like a participant in the work, giving it agency, or human-like qualities.”

Johan Inger’s PASSING returns to the stage in Vancouver following sold-out tour performances across Europe where it was received with instant standing ovations. Commissioned specifically for Ballet BC in 2023, the work by the same choreographer who previously created Walking Mad and B.R.I.S.A. for the company has quickly become a crowd and critic favourite. Audiences in Europe have also been able to enjoy a visually stunning cinematic version of the work, captured in Luxembourg last year and currently streaming on ARTE TV and other local networks in select countries. A review in The Luxembourg Times notes: “PASSING examines our ability to cry together and laugh together, and the thin line between the two. It explores our tribal tendencies and our search for individualism, and it does this beautifully, with small gestures that might seem barely noticeable at first.” 

Inger’s PASSING is a thrilling ride through a vast landscape of human emotion, full of characterization and surprises galore where the versatility and hidden talents of Ballet BC’s company artists shine. From tap shoes to dancing with brooms to gorgeous Latin singing, expect to discover an unforgettable world of creativity and theatricality that leaves you longing for more. 

When approaching the creative process for his world premiere, Fernando Hernando Magadan was inspired by the concept of space, and our relationship with it as humans. Naturally, this included thinking about the space where it would be performed, one that the Spanish-born, Vancouver-based choreographer is quite familiar with—the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Having previously premiered the acclaimed White Act with Ballet BC on the QET stage in 2015, he was ready to create a dance work that would again live up to the needs of the environment. “It is such a large construct that involves a lot of space,” says Magadan. ”Dance is a very subtle language, it needs a good podium, so I decided to create a piece that copes and enhances the given space and how the work relates to it.”