National Ballet Of Canada Has A Special Ticket Offer For Shakespeare In Motion

Canadian-born Jason Reilly, Principal Dancer with Stuttgart Ballet, returns to the National Ballet on March 10 to dance the opening performance with Principal Dancer Greta Hodgkinson. Mr. Reilly made his debut with the company last season in Romeo and Juliet.

First Soloist Jillian Vanstone will dance Katherina on March 14 partnered by Piotr Stanczyk as Petruchio. Ms. Vanstone also dances the role of Bianca. Corps de ballet member Tina Pereira, who will compete for The Erik Bruhn Prize on March 3, will dance Katherina on March 11, partnered by Principal Dancer Nehemiah Kish. Principal Dancer Guillaume Côté also dances Petruchio with Greta Hodgkinson.

First Soloist Stacey Shiori Minagawa, Second Soloist Tanya Howard and corps de ballet member Alexandra Golden will dance the role of Bianca. Lucentio will be danced by Principal Dancer Zdenek Konvalina, First Soloist Patrick Lavoie and Second Soloists Etienne Lavigne and Dong Hyun Seo. All dancers, with the exception of Ms. Hodgkinson and Mr. Reilly, are making their debuts in principal roles.

Shakespeare in Motion, a special presentation on Shakespeare and dance, has been created for the March Break along with a discounted ticket price. A package of 4 tickets will be sold on the orchestra level for $324, which represents a savings of 48%. One hour prior to every performance, members of the Toronto Consort will perform music from the English Renaissance and there will be a display of costumes and props from ballets based on Shakespeare's plays, gathered from the company's production department. Katherine Barber, author and Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Dictionaries at Oxford University Press and frequent CBC Radio commentator, will speak about The Taming of the Shrew.

John Cranko's choreographic depiction of Shakespeare's perpetually battling lovers entered the National Ballet's repertoire in 1992 and was last performed in 1999. Former National Ballet Artistic Director Reid Anderson, currently Artistic Director of Stuttgart Ballet, has staged the ballet for the company. The Taming of the Shrew is set to music by Domenico Scarlatti, arranged by Kurt-Heinz Stolz.

The National Ballet of Canada's winter season continues March 21-25, 2007 with Eliot Feld's A Footstep of Air, Jerome Robbins's Opus 19/ The Dreamer and Glen Tetley's Voluntaries. -- www.national.ballet.ca