Results tagged “nationalballet”

Some little girls are made of Sugar Plum Fairy dreams; others, of spicier stuff. Tina Pereira, a second soloist in the National Ballet and one of the five leading women of this month's Carmen, has always had a little more kick in her pointe shoes. For her, the piquant, passionate part of Carmen—flamboyantly translated from Bizet to the ballet by Davide Bombana, and now performed in Canada for the first time—is an exquisite fit. Catch her while you can: presented as part of Luminato, in duet with daring original composition Skin Divers, the highly starred Carmen continues until June 14. We snagged Pereira on a break from intense rehearsing to get her first-person take on the tragic heroine and treasured role.

If there's a Shakespearean story better written for the laced-up, straining, exquisitely controlled sexuality of ballet than Romeo and Juliet (the original heartbreak of teen lovers, innocent and daring, unmatched in beauty), we didn't read it in high school.

When you go to The Nutcracker, what you notice first are the girls. The little ones. You see the first little girl, squirming while her harried mother untucks taffeta skirt from tights, and then you see them everywhere. Little girls in festive plaid or their first favourite colour, pink. Little girls in ringlets and lip gloss, in patent mary janes, or still in snowboots, refusing to change into their fancy shoes.

One day Pamela Anderson stood in the centre turn lane of a highway, clad only in a Canadian flag...picturing it? Welcome to the lead photo for the "Best of Canada" edition of SNAP!. Now in its seventh year, SNAP! combines a juried competition for established and emerging photographers with a gala fundraiser on March 2 at the National Ballet School. Organizers predict that the works offered in live and silent auctions will raise $140,000 for the AIDS Committee of Toronto.

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...

Contributor Tony Makepeace is taking us for some spins around our city with his fantastic VR panoramas. You can look up, down, side to side, in and out—pretty much every direction but back at yourself, which would be kind of creepy. Say hello to Panoramaist: the Toronto shoe-gazer's worst enemy. Click on the preview image above to launch the QuickTime VR panorama in a new window. Panoramaist is best viewed on a fast computer....

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...

The National Ballet of Canada kicked off its summer season last week with an impressive triple-bill performance at the new Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

Every couple of weeks "What's The Frequency, Campus?" will highlight some of the intriguing shows and special programming happening on Toronto's campus and community radio stations.

L’Oréal Fashion Week kicked off this morning with an 11 a.m. press conference at Queen's Park. Seems the Ontario government excludes fashion from its definition of culture. So members of the Fashion Design Council of Canada want fashion visionaries to get the same recognition as their colleagues in art, dance, theatre and music. Clearly Toronto Fashion Week isn't the same kind of high-octane glamathon as Paris or Milan. In fact, most shows will be held in one venue—The Liberty Grand—so instead of rushing from venue to venue, most buyers and editors have to cool their heels in the hallway between collections.

Celia Franca, Photo: Janine; Karen Kain, Celia Franca and Veronica Tennant, Photo: Bruce Zinger; Celia Franca in Lilac Garden, Photo: Ken Bell

If you’re turned off at the idea of classical music concerts because they seem like an activity for the high society rich, think again. There are plenty of ways to enjoy Toronto’s healthy classical music scene on the cheap or for free.

Do visions of quality seasonal live pop culture for the whole family dance in your head? The National Ballet of Canada's The Nutcracker and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, featuring The Rockettes look all cheery and innocent, but Torontoist knows that behind all the tinsel, sugar plums, long legs and rosy cheeks lurk two fearsome competitors. How far will they go to win your holiday dollar? Only one thing is certain: when Torontoist pits them head to head, only the strong will survive.

The Pugly Awards results were finally announced for this year. They scout out the best and the pugly architecture around the city based on your votes. To qualify, the building must be completed the year prior to the award cycle.

If you're like Torontoist, you've spent this grey winter staring out from streetcar windows contemplating the city's facades as you zip by. But while they may look amazing on the outside, it's time for the city to to pull a little Shanghai Surprise with the 7th Doors Open Toronto this Saturday and Sunday.

There’s a major announcement being, er, announced at the National Ballet of Canada today at 3 p.m. today, presumably the naming of the artistic director who is replacing James Kudelka. Michael Posner in the Globe and Mail has the inside scoop: "Karen Kain, the country's best-known and arguably best-loved ballerina, will today be named" to the position.

She was in many ways both the obvious and logical choice. Eight years after retiring from the stage and a career that spanned 27 years, Ms. Kain remains a major light in the international ballet firmament. Her name and credibility can thus be expected to lend some much needed sizzle to the National Ballet's campaign for new subscribers.

As for Torontoist, he spent much of the show fantasizing about doing a pas de deux with sexy ballerina Greta Hodgkinson, and admiring the ooh-aah-worthy sets and costumes of genius Santo Loquasto. Too Darn Hat!

Most metropolitan cities around the world would be lucky to have one, maybe two buildings designed by superstar architects. Toronto is about to get another, adding to our collection of world-class architecture, which has grown significantly over the past few years.