2023/2024

Purchase tickets to Ballet Edmonton’s 2023/2024 season!
Three mainstage productions at the Triffo Theatre, MacEwan University

Ouvrir – October 13 & 14, 2023
Avancer – February 9 & 10, 2024
Unir – May 3 & 4, 2024

TICKETS

Ouvrir

October 13 & 14, 2023

Gioconda Barbuto
Ethan Colangelo
Wen Wei Wang

Gioconda Barbuto
Gioconda is an internationally esteemed Italian-Canadian dancer and choreographer based in Vancouver. She was a long-time member of Les Grands Ballets Canadien and Nederlands Dans Theater. Recognized by many for her exceptional versatility and magnetism as a performer and soloist, she boldly embodied work by the most influential ballet and contemporary choreographers of the past few centuries. Barbuto has made many notable contributions to the Canadian contemporary dance milieu.

Ethan Colangelo *World Premiere
Born and raised in Toronto, Ethan is an alumnus of The Juilliard School where he received the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Choreographic Promise. As a choreographer, he has presented his work at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, Juilliard’s Choreographic Honors Showcases, APAP 2018, Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Colangelo was also one of ten choreographers selected for the Copenhagen International Choreography Competition in 2018 and in 2021. Colangelo is increasingly in demand as a creator and a voice to watch.

Avancer

February 9 & 10, 2024

James Gregg
Kirsten Wicklund
Wen Wei Wang

James Gregg *World Premiere
Born in Colorado and raised in Oklahoma, James Gregg is now a Los Angeles-based dancer, choreographer, and co-artistic director of the multidisciplinary dance duo known as Werewolf. A prolific creator, Gregg’s work has been performed by Groundworks Dance Company, Bodytraffic, Whim W’Him, Cirque du Soleil, Danceworks Chicago, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance, Ballet X, Northwest Dance Project, Springboard Danse Project Montreal, River North Dance. Gregg was the recipient of the 2015 Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award, winner of Ballet Austin’s 2014 New American talent choreographic competition, a finalist in Milwaukee Ballet’s 2013 Genesis Choreographic competition, and in 2011 the winner of the International Choreographic Competition at Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur.

Kirsten Wicklund *World Premiere
Canadian dancer/creator Kirsten Wicklund has been working as a demi-soloist with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp, Belgium, since 2021. Prior to that she danced with Ballet BC from 2014-2021 under the direction of Emily Molnar C.M., and more recently under Medhi Walerski. In recent years, she has been actively pursuing her own choreographic opportunities including with works for The Dutch National Ballet, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen’s Chamber Movement Project, Ballet BC’s Choreographic Lab, Ballet Kelowna, The Dance Deck Series, Arts Umbrella, Goh Ballet, Lamon Dance, Dancing on the Edge Festival, and Joshua Beamish’s Move The Company.

Wen Wei Wang

Wen Wei Wang began dancing professionally in China in 1978. He came to Canada in 1991, where he was invited to join the Judith Marcuse Dance Company, followed by positions with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and Ballet BC. In 2000, Wen Wei received the Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award and the Rio Tinto Alcan and Isadora Awards for Choreography. In 2003, Wen Wei formed his own company, Wen Wei Dance. Wen Wei Dance has presented his work across Canada and at the International Dance Festival in Vancouver, the Dancing on the Edge Festival, the Canada Dance Festival and the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Colombia, South America. The company has also been invited to perform at the Venice Biennale Festival in Italy, the Beijing National Performing Arts Centre and the Shanghai Grand Theatre with the Beijing Modern Dance Company in China.

Wen Wei has choreographed eleven full-length works for his Vancouver-based company, Wen Wei Dance, and created original works for Alberta Ballet, Ballet Jőrgen, Ballet BC, Ballet Kelowna, North West Dance Projects, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Arts Umbrella and Simon Fraser University. He has also choreographed the dance sections for the Vancouver Opera and the San Francisco Opera for their piece Nixon in China. In 2013, Wen Wei was awarded the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrants Award and recently worked with the China National Centre for the Performing Arts for its production of Hamlet. Wen Wei assumed the role of Artistic Director of Ballet Edmonton in 2018.

Unir

May 3 & 4, 2024

Wen Wei Wang 

Wen Wei Wang began dancing professionally in China in 1978. He came to Canada in 1991, where he was invited to join the Judith Marcuse Dance Company, followed by positions with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and Ballet BC. In 2000, Wen Wei received the Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award and the Rio Tinto Alcan and Isadora Awards for Choreography. In 2003, Wen Wei formed his own company, Wen Wei Dance. Wen Wei Dance has presented his work across Canada and at the International Dance Festival in Vancouver, the Dancing on the Edge Festival, the Canada Dance Festival and the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Colombia, South America. The company has also been invited to perform at the Venice Biennale Festival in Italy, the Beijing National Performing Arts Centre and the Shanghai Grand Theatre with the Beijing Modern Dance Company in China.

Wen Wei has choreographed eleven full-length works for his Vancouver-based company, Wen Wei Dance, and created original works for Alberta Ballet, Ballet Jőrgen, Ballet BC, Ballet Kelowna, North West Dance Projects, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Arts Umbrella and Simon Fraser University. He has also choreographed the dance sections for the Vancouver Opera and the San Francisco Opera for their piece Nixon in China. In 2013, Wen Wei was awarded the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrants Award and recently worked with the China National Centre for the Performing Arts for its production of Hamlet. Wen Wei assumed the role of Artistic Director of Ballet Edmonton in 2018.

Connor McLeary

Connor was born and raised in Vancouver, BC, and is currently based in Edmonton. He began his dance training at North Shore Academy of Dancing at age six. In his early teens, he attended Pro Arte Dance’s training program with teachers Beverly Bagg and Stephana Arnold, then later went on to attend the Arts Umbrella’s Post Graduate Dance Program. In his second year at the Arts Umbrella Post Graduate Program, Connor was invited to join the Annex Ballet BC program under the direction of Artemis Gordon and Medhi Walerski. Connor has had the privilege of performing works by world-renowned choreographers such as Crystal Pite, Medhi Walerski, Dorotea Saykaly, Victor Quijada, Ethan Colangelo, Shay Kuebler, Wen Wei Wang, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Sharon Eyal and Marco Goecke. Connor also has been given the opportunity to create a piece on the Ballet Edmonton dancers for the 2023/24 season, which will premiere in May. Connor has been with Ballet Edmonton since 2022.