Ballet
Nouvelles+

Together We Connect
25 mars 2021

Siphesihle November. Photo par Karolina Kuras.

“How lovely in this lonely time to be able to see some of your marvellous dancers.”Margaret Boles, Donor

The challenge of shifting online to a virtual 2020/21 season has been offset by the powerful response to our digital content from audiences worldwide during this time of loneliness and uncertainty.

With the funds from the Together for Ballet campaign, as well as a grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage, the National Ballet has augmented its digital infrastructure and strategies, allowing our dancers and musicians to continue to share their beautiful artistry with the world while our theatres remain closed.

Here are some of the ways that donor support is helping to keep us connected:

• Spotlight Series is reaching a wide audience with high-calibre digital programming, including the recent digital premiere of excerpts from Robert Binet’s The Dreamers Ever Leave You, as well as excerpts from live performances that were filmed before the pandemic. To date, these programmes have been viewed over 632 000 times.
   
• With a continued commitment to create new works, Karen Kain has commissioned seven new works for the digital stage. In these pieces, the film technology is integral to the performance, and helps to create a sense of intimacy with the virtual audience.
   
• The Expansive Dances series that launched the 2020/21 virtual season has been viewed over 125 000 times. One of the films, Guillaume Côté’s Lulu, won Best International Short Film at the 2020 Milan International Film Festival.
   
• Our largest community engagement programme, YOU dance, is operating virtually so that students and children can still experience the magic of dance from home, at school or in hospital settings. To date, YOU dance has reached a total of 5 000 young people through Virtual Workshops and Rehearsal Visits.
   
• Our dancers and musicians are reaching donors through digital events which provide an inside look at the new works for Spotlight Series.
   
• We are supporting the Toronto dance community through Sharing the Stage, a series of online classes that partners company dancers with their peers in other dance disciplines.

Genevienve Penn Nabity and Christopher Gerty in The Dreamers Ever Leave You. Photo par Karolina Kuras.

“I love the way you have kept connected with us over this difficult time. We so need ballet and the arts to remind us that we are human and fragile and strong. Thank you all for the tremendous work you do.”Cate Root