The Soraya Launches Ballet BC’s Exquisite Retelling of Romeo + Juliet February 29 and March 1

After premiering in Vancouver to sold out houses and rave reviews, The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts will launch the first U.S. tour of Ballet BC’s thought-provoking (21^st-Century) retelling of Shakespeare’s play Romeo + Juliet.  Choreographed by French choreographer Medhi Walerski and set to the full-length ballet score by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, Ballet BC presents Romeo + Juliet for two performances only, February 29 at 8:00pm and Sunday, March 1 at 3:00pm. 

Beginning as a dancer with Paris Opera Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), Medhi Walerski created several ballets for NDT 1 and NDT 2 and is considered one of the most innovative and sought-after dance makers today. Following a nine-year working relationship with Ballet BC, Walerski recently became the company’s Artistic Director and will lead them through their 2020/2021 season. This change in leadership also coincides with the Ballet BC’s 35th anniversary.

Throughout his career, Walerski has worked with some of the leading choreographers. I asked him if there was any one choreographer who had influenced his work. Not surprisingly, he did not want to single out any one in particular but stressed that he had learned from them all. “Each one of them has created something great or something profound.” He said.  When asked why he decided to accept the position of Artistic Director at Ballet BC, he answered honestly, “I was ready! When I was first approached I had a real sense of desire as to what I could bring to the company and what we could do together.” He said that over the past nine years, he had built up a real respect for the company and its members.

He was not traveling into unknown territory. Walerski knew the dancers and had built a close relationship with the company. After performing and creating dances for many years, Walerski stated that he was ready and eager for the next step. “I was ready to submit and to give back to the community.” He said, “It was a natural next step.”

Founded in 1986, Ballet BC has been led by Artistic Director and renown choreographer Emily Molnar from 2009 to 2019. The company regularly performs at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre (QET) while also touring provincially, nationally and internationally. Considered bold and innovative, Ballet BC’s unique style has made valued contributions to the development of dance in British Columbia and elsewhere. In 2019, the Company was nominated for an Olivier Award for “Best New Dance Production” for their tour to Sadler’s Wells in London.

I spoke with Molnar over the phone and she told me that she will be leaving the company at the end of this season to become the Artistic Director of NDT. I asked her how she felt about the move.

“I have loved helping to rebuild and to bring Ballet BC forward into a new era over the past 10 years and I think that it is an exciting time for the company, especially bringing in Medhi as their new director.” She said. “I am thrilled to be able to continue my work as Artistic Director and working with such an honored company as the Nederlands Dans Theater. It’s sad to leave something that I care so much about, but it is also very exciting.” Molnar stated that she is very happy to be able to continue participating in an artform that she loves and cares so much about.

Molnar told me that ever since she started working with Ballet BC she had been wanting to add Romeo and Juliet into the repertory, but that until now, the combination of the right choreographer and the right company members was not there. She was also too busy working at creating opportunities for new and inspiring choreographers. “I wanted the company to build relationships with choreographers and for choreographers to build relationships with our audiences.” She said. “I thought that one day I would find the person that I thought was the right fit. As you can imagine it required somebody who would be the right tone for that topic per se.”

Ballet BC’s very diverse repertoire now includes 45 works by such notable choreographers as William Forsythe, Cayetano Soto, Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, Wen Wei Wang, Lesley Telford, Nicolo Fonte, Gioconda Barbuto, Simone Orlando, Robert Glumbek, Aszure Barton, and others.

After creating three ballets for the company, Walerski turned out to be the choreographer that Molnar was looking for. “He cares very much about creating relationship onstage.” She explained. “He is a true craftsman of large group ideas, and a very emotional and musical choreographer. I felt that he was the right person.”

At that time Walerski had not yet created a full-length narrative work, so it was a stretch for Molnar to ask him to take on Romeo + Juliet. After one of his premieres, Molnar asked Walerski if he would like to do it and the next day he called her and said yes. The time was right and all the elements came together. The company’s dance artists had reached a place where they could take on this level of storytelling and character development in a deep and meaningful way.  Molnar said that right after he had agreed to take on the project, Walerski looked around the studio and pointed to the dancers that he had for many of the roles. She said that it was uncanny how positive he was about his choices of dancers.

I asked if there had been specific coaching for the dancers to aid them in performing the very dramatic roles required in Romeo + Juliet. “When he (Walerski) first started making the work he brought in a theater director, an acting coach named Steven Drover, who was with the theater company called Rumble.” Molnar said. “He is from Vancouver – a great director and coach.” Because there are a number of street fights in the ballet, Walerski also brought in a stunt fighting coach to give the cast the right sense of what that physically might feel like without being literal about it.

“Medhi has paid attention to the story, and he is telling the story.” Molnar stressed. “He has found his own way to create a signature, but he is not disrupting the storyline. He is keeping traditionally to its make up, but has his own way of dealing with time and the psychology around some of the characters.”

Along with Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet was considered to be Shakespeare’s most popular play. It relates the tragic tale of two young lovers from feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets, tracing Romeo and Juliet from their chance meeting at a masked ball to Romeo’s slaying of Juliet’s brother, to their tragic deaths by suicide. This universal love story has been retold through numerous iterations via theater, film, and dance. The Broadway and movie hit West Side Story is one such retelling. Choreographed by Jerome Robbins, the feuding families were represented by clashing street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, and Romeo became Tony while Juliet, became Maria.

After he was asked to create Romeo + Juliet Walerski went back and listened to Sergei Prokofiev’s music for the ballet and fell in love with it all over again. He has also been a big fan of works by William Shakespeare. It was also a challenge for Walerski to take on such a project. “I was curious about how this would unfold in my creative journey,” He said. “but I think that it was the music of Prokofiev and the work of Shakespeare that were the biggest influence for this creation.” Walerski immersed himself into the many films of Romeo and Juliet including Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film by the same title, as well as films of the ballet by other choreographers. “It was quite a challenge and a bit overwhelming to accept this (project) and to have something new to bring to the story.”

While discussing how the process of creating a full-length narrative ballet was different for him, Walerski said when creating an abstract ballet he concentrated on the movement and not necessarily on a narrative, but that he felt “carried away, supported and lifted by the story” of Romeo and Juliet. “It was a great surprise as  I have never felt that.” He added. “ It was quite special.”

Walerski admitted that it was very ambitious for him to take on this story, but that he did not have time to be nervous. Although he is best known for his abstract ballets, from all accounts Walerski has cast a unique and contemporary spin on Shakespeare’s 1596 play while taking excellent care of Shakespeare’s treasured tale of two star-crossed lovers.

So, what is Walerski’s vision for the future of Ballet BC? “ I want Ballet BC to continue as a creation-based company,” He said. “and to foster new choreographers and collaborators. I want to continue working with established choreographers as well.” Walerski intends to create workshops which will enable new voices to have the chance to choreograph while still honoring the legacy that Ballet BC has created over the years. He would also like to hire  a few of the choreographers that he has come across throughout his career.

Walerski wants the audience to come to this performance without preconceived expectations and to not mourn the traditional ballet vision of the story.  “What I am interested in is to highlight the emotional,” he said. “and I like to abstract real time and to focus more on the psychological time. How does it affect the culture of the characters? And the time frame? What happens to it when you’re dying or when you are falling in love. These are very strong elements of the story that I wanted to highlight.”

Ballet BC is a company of 21 dancers but Romeo + Juliet required a larger cast, so when production began over two years ago, the company worked with graduates of Vancouver’s Arts Umbrella, a training institute, along with members of its more advanced group called The Prep Program. Molnar said that the company also brought back guest artists who had prior experience performing the roles of the Friar, the Nurse and Lady Capulet. The current cast of Romeo + Juliet now numbers approximately 30 dance artists. The role of Juliet will be performed by EMILY CHESSA, who has performed with Ballet BC for 8 seasons; JUSTIN RAPAPORT, a company member for 4 seasons, dances the role of Romeo on February 29; and DEX VAN TER MEIJ who recently joined the company will portray Romeo on March 1.

Regarding the designers for Romeo + Juliet, Molnar said that Walerski worked very intently on the costume design but collaborated closely with Dutch Lighting and Set Designer Theun Mosk whom he had previously worked with at NDT.  She added that Walerski also brought aboard his dramaturg assistant, Pierre Pontvianne.

Following The Soraya performances, Romeo + Juliet will tour to Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia and then travel on to the Sydney Opera House where Ballet BC will make its Australian debut.

Ballet BC will perform Romeo + Juliet at Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya), 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330, Saturday, February 29 at 8 PM and Sunday, March 1 at 3 PM. Ticket prices start at $39 and may be purchased via phone at (818) 677-3000 or by clicking here.

Please join  arts journalist Victoria Looseleaf as she hosts the pre-show discussion From Studio to Stage: Creating a 21^st Century “Romeo + Juliet with Medhi Walerski and Emily Molnar, Saturday, February 29 @ 7PM and Sunday, March 1 @ 2PM.

You do not want to miss seeing this innovative and high-spirited company.

Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle, February 25, 2020.

To visit the Ballet BC website, click here.

Featured image: Ballet BC – Dancers Emily Chessa and Brandon Alley in Romeo + Juliet – Photo by Michael Slobodian