On Saturday, November 15, 2025, heavy rain fell outside the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts, “The Soraya,” in Los Angeles, as the audience gathered to watch Ballet British Columbia, “Ballet BC,” perform. Based in Vancouver, Canada, Ballet BC has made this U.S. visit an annual highlight. The company presented three works—one by its current French artistic director, Medhi Walerski; one by Italian choreographer Sofia Nappi; and one by Israeli choreographer Shahar Binyamini. All pieces were abstract, with minimalist staging and dim lighting. The final piece, Bolero X, involved dancers from the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. Their participation, along with Ballet BC’s collaboration, honored the late Ms. Kaufman’s generous support of dance; she attended Ballet BC’s performance last year. The evening included solos, duets, trios, and full-company segments. The group sections showcased the performers’ rehearsed, attentive, and cohesive execution, with Ballet BC’s greatest strength of being the company able to move in unison to create a captivating visual display of unity.
Ballet BC dancers perform ‘SWAY’ by Medhi Walerski – Photo by Luis Luque, Luque Photography.
The first piece of the night was “Sway,” created by Medhi Walerski. This performance set the mood and prepared the audience for an evening that was dark, hypnotic, and entrancing. Walerski’s movement choices highlighted each dancer’s strengths. As an example, he crafted a solo performed by Benjamin Peralta that emphasized the elongation of his limbs. Peralta moved smoothly and silkily, like fabric drifting in water. Alongside him, Benjamin Peralta and Pei Lun Lai delivered a flowing duet of interconnected sounds, with music by composer Adrien Cronet resembling a pounding heartbeat. Kaylin Sturtevant’s solo was intensely deliberate and weighty, with her feet gliding across the floor and her significantly bent knees expressing a strong, determined character. The duo of Luca Afflitto and Jacalyn Tatro moved seamlessly, with one gesture flowing into the next. Then partners Sidney Chuckas and Kiana Jung flawlessly concluded the segment they had begun at the start of the piece. Walerski uses many repeating, similar movements that create a hypnotic sense of synchronization, as if moving while remaining still. He incorporated all the company dancers, some in slow-motion syncopation and others on the rhythm, showcasing the unified, harmonized company. What made it interesting was how Walerski ended the piece by mirroring the beginning, giving the repetition a conscious resolution.
Ballet BC dancers perform in the U.S. debut of ‘LILA’ by Sofia Nappi – Photo by Luis Luque, Luque Photography.
The second piece, “Lila,” featured the line, “Sofia Nappi in collaboration with the dancers.” Ms. Nappi’s additional line offers insight into a creative process that was shared and not predetermined. It demonstrated that dancers helped shape the choreography during rehearsals. This developmental process allowed the dancers to be more expressive and emotionally deep in the performance. Nappi began the dancers in a clustered spotlight. Orlando Harbutt and Eduardo Jimenez Gabrera emerged as a compelling duo, infusing the piece with sentiment. There were moments when the group moved together, then stopped, colliding into a mass that resembled a fantastical swarm of bees. The heartfelt musical collaboration among different artists, assembled by Ciaran Morahan and the dancers, created a powerful emotional connection with the audience.
Ballet BC with USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance in ‘BOLERO X’ by Shahar Binyamini – Photo by Luis Luque, Luque Photography.
Boléro music originated in Latin America, from Cuba to Mexico to Spain, as a passionate, seductive music and dance. The French composer Maurice Ravel’s famous 1928 orchestral composition, Boléro, is a riveting masterpiece, and its rhythm has moved many choreographers. This includes Shahar Binyamini, who choreographed “Bolero X,” the final work on the program. In a sense, he stayed true to the traditional round formation of dancers surrounding the performer(s) in the middle, seen in many original ballet versions. Binyamini surrounded several solo performers—Nathan Bear, Eduardo Jiménez Cabrera, Pei Lun Iai, and Kelsey Lewis—and duets by Kiaa Jung and Luca Afflitto, all demonstrating their dedication, focus, and the physicality of the movement. In many Bolero versions, the steps are usually graceful, seductive, passionate, and linear. Binyamini’s work, based on the Gaga technique, is not about body lines; it stems from an internal groove that, externally, appears animalistic. Shahar Binyamini’s Bolero version has an entirely different vibe: the fascinating grotesqueness of distorted body positions—shoulders raised near the neck, forming a no-neck appearance, arms bunched together, and legs bent—the visual language of a mating ritual. Then suddenly, these creatures transformed into an impassioned, long-legged, strikingly unified team of empowered beings. The movements became sharper in the upper body. At the same time, the legs continued to sway in a continuous rhythm—a breathtaking display of visual fury from an army of stares that imprint in your brain forever.
Medhi Walerski has an excellent eye for talent and has fortified a fascinating company that pushes boundaries of physicality, shapes, and ideas. Several Ballet BC company members originally received their BFA’s through The Juilliard School in New York or USC’s Glorya Kaufman College program in Los Angeles, which is a testament to the strong college dance programs in the U.S., and especially encouraging to see firsthand the dance professionals coming out of Los Angeles. The evening’s ending was a glorious union of pre-professionals and professionals, launching into an arena of brilliance and demonstrating strength in numbers.
For more information about Ballet BC, please visit their website.
To learn more about The Soraya, please visit their website.
Written by Alice Alyse for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Ballet BC dancers perform in the U.S. debut of Lila by Sofia Nappi – Photo by Luis Luque, Luque Photography.
