Results tagged “ballet”

When Augustus Bridle, critic for the Toronto Star, called the Toronto Skating Club's carnival "the greatest skating carnival in America," he wasn't merely indulging in civic boosterism. His sentiments were shared by not only Torontonians who eagerly awaited the skating revue each March, but also the thousands of spectators who—at the height of the Depression—travelled from as far afield as Cleveland, New York, and even Mexico City just to watch the on-ice theatrics. Hosted at Maple Leaf Gardens, which had made watching ice sports as comfortable and socially acceptable as a trip to the opera since its construction in 1931, the Skating Carnival's audience was filled with the city's social elite.

While the word "nutcracker" might evoke some painful mental images in some, for many it's a familiar part of the holiday season. The original ballet was composed in Russia by one Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1892, and The National Ballet of Canada has been performing The Nutcracker since 1964. James Kudelka did a revamp of the choreography in 1995, and since then The National Ballet's Nutcracker has become what The Globe and Mail has...

Martin Knelman, writing in the Star, once apologized for the lacklustre exterior of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts by describing it as a building that "has to be experienced from the inside out rather than the other way around." What better way to reinforce the impression that the performances showcased inside are principally targeted at an elite class than by plopping down a building that offers little to those standing on...

Ballet Jorgen's Anastasia is making its way around the country, and if you missed its Toronto stop on Saturday, you missed quite the treat. Audiences packed into the Toronto Centre for The Arts to see Bengt Jorgen's intricately choreographed tale about the infamous Russian Grand Duchess, which follows the four years leading up to that fateful day in 1918 when she disappeared forever. Jorgen is known for his eccentric ballets, but with Anastasia he...