All posts under ‘The National Ballet of Canada’

Backstage at The National Ballet: The costume tricks behind their latest, Four Seasons and Emergence

By | March 22nd, 2013 | 10:00 am

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National Ballet of Canada Emergence Four Seasons

Photography by Bruce Zinger, courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada

See photos of The National Ballet of Canada in action »

Ballet costumes are much like a magician’s magic trick. Sitting in the audience, you see flawless and breathtaking garments masterfully secured on the dancers as they pirouette across the stage, but backstage, these costumes tell an entirely different story.

Although a magician is never supposed to reveal their secrets, The National Ballet of Canada allowed let us in on a few tricks of the costume trade as we got up close and personal with the costumes from Emergence and The Four Seasons—which runs through March 24 at the Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts in Toronto.
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The FASHION Experiment: Watch our online editor guest star in the National Ballet of Canada’s production of The Nutcracker

By | January 17th, 2013 | 4:30 pm

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Most girls have wanted to be ballerinas at least some point in their lives and I am definitely one of those girls. As a frequent ballet-watcher with a personal stride much less elegant than I probably imagine, it’s a marvel to see those beautiful moves up on the stage when done by the professionals. The choreography, the orchestra and the beautiful costumes and stage always seem to elevate the experience to larger-than-life standards. And by that I mean far out of reach. So when the National Ballet of Canada asked me to guest star in a performance of their annual production of The Nutcracker, I was all like “me?”

Cameo appearances are a longstanding tradition in worldwide productions of The Nutcracker, and in the National Ballet of Canada’s version, former guest stars at the have included Margaret Atwood, Mats Sundin, Rob Ford and Kurt Browning. Guest stars play two frantic Russian Petrouchka dolls who shoot a cannon into the audience in Act I to begin the famous battle scene. Frantic I can certainly pull off, but it all seemed a little intimidating to say the least, not to mention all those way famous names in the mix. To help calm the freak fest brewing inside, I wrangled Danielle Suppa, an old friend and fellow ballet enthusiast who you might remember from this video.
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Fall 2012 culture report: What’s hot for fall in music, movies, television and more!

By | September 5th, 2012 | 1:00 pm

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The culture trend report fall 2012

What to read, see, hear and do this fall »

MUSIC »
Legends of the Fall: From Azealia Banks to the xx, we break down the next-level sounds of the season.
By Sarah Liss

MOVIES »
Chic Flicks: This season’s film forecast.
By Alexandra Breen

THE ARTS »
Beaton, Baroque & Beyond: Captivating art and performance on the horizon.
By Caitlin Agnew

THE T.V. »
Screen Grabs: Reality shows are retreating, dramas are breeding and ensemble casts are back to reclaim the prime-time throne. Here is a preview of the best in fall television.
By Siofan Davies Read more »

Inside the glitzy opening of the National Ballet’s costume retrospective: Legendary ballerinas, magical sleighs and tutus for the try-on

By | July 11th, 2012 | 2:00 pm

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Photography by Erin Seaman

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The tutus were out in full force for the official opening of the National Ballet of Canada’s twofold exhibitions celebrating the company’s first 60 years. 60 Years of Designing the Ballet and the Tutu Project debuted with a glitzy reveal at Toronto’s Design Exchange, with everyone from the ballet’s own dancers like Greta Hodgkinson, Tina Pereira and former prima ballerina Victoria Tennant to Jeanne Beker and Vawk’s Sunny Fong raising a glass in toast. The first exhibit, a look back at some of the most notable costumes and sets curated by the company’s former costume designer Caroline O’Brien, came complete with ultra-lifelike dessert tables and a magical blue sleigh from The Nutcracker and several costumes for the wishful dancers to try on and pose with (we indulged, obviously). The second, an assembly of 60 specially designed tutus—one to celebrate each year in business—was displayed throughout the room. Guests seemed to take their toast quite literally, with Kara Alloway in a voluminous Mary Katrantzou lampshade skirt, Karolyne Ellacott in an actual tutu dress and several other attendees sporting pulled-back ballet topknots.
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Inside the National Ballet’s Diamond Gala: Karen Kain, Rufus Wainwright and oodles of designer-clad doyennes toast 60 years of ballerinas and pliés

By | June 21st, 2012 | 1:00 pm

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Photgraphy by Jenna Marie Wakani

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The National Ballet of Canada must be feeling quite royal this year because it’s celebrating a diamond anniversary (that being 60 years) of pliés, and toasted as such at last night’s glittering Diamond Gala. The special edition of the company’s annual Mad Hot gala featured five performance works, including premieres of two spellbinding works, Polar Night (choreographed by Robert Binet and danced by real-life couple Heather Ogden and Guillaume Côté) and Silence Screams Venom (choreographed by Côté and danced by Greta Hodgkinson alongside Giorgio Galli, Keiichi Hirano, Patrick Lavoie and Christopher Stalzer) and finishing off with the most glittering of all: an excerpt from George Balanchine’s Diamonds, complete with the entire company decked out in jewel-encrusted costumes.

After the performances, the full house, including the ballet’s artistic director Karen Kain, Rufus Wainwright and Jorn Weisbrödt and the fabulously feathered Lynda Prince (who was overheard giving Kain posing directions) mingled all around the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The designer-clad doyennes, Victoria Webster, Trinity Jackman, Cleophee Eaton and Amy Burstyn-Fritz, made Katrantzou/Erdem/McQueen sightings seem as simple as it could be with vodka cocktails and rock candy stir sticks in hand.
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We go behind the scenes with the National Ballet dancers as they rehearse for Chroma

By | June 15th, 2012 | 4:00 pm

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Photography by Lewis Mirrett

Chroma, the mind-blowingly different ballet, is back for the National Ballet of Canada’s summer season and we seriously can’t get enough. We just don’t know quite how to describe how fantastic the ballet is, but we’ll just say this: The White Stripes are used on the soundtrack. Also, the amount of undulating body rolls and hip juts throughout the set are far too many to count. To capture some of the ballet’s uniqueness, we sent Lewis Mirrett to shoot the dancers as they rehearsed for the showing.

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The National Ballet of Canada celebrates 60 years with an exhibit of 60 unique tutus. See them now!

By | June 13th, 2012 | 1:30 pm

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Photography by Setareh Sarmadi

See the tutus! »

To mark the National Ballet of Canada’s 60th anniversary, Canadian artists, designers and community groups have come together to pay a very fitting homage to the company’s milestone with an exhibit of 60 unique tutus.
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MEN’S FASHION: Principal dancers with the National Ballet of Canada, Guillaume Côté, Jirí Jelinek and Piotr Stanczyk star in fashion’s shorts program

By | April 29th, 2012 | 9:00 am

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MEN’S FASHION | Leg work

Photographed by Christopher Wall. Styled by Alon Freeman.

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