The National Ballet of Canada 2021-2022 Season is of special significance as it marks the Toronto based company’s 70th season and the last programed by current Artistic Director Karen Kain.
Along with the program announcement was news of nine dancer promotions for next season: Koto Ishihara, Siphesihle November, Tina Pereira, and Ben Rudisin to Principal Dancer, Jeannine Haller and Calley Skalnik to First Soloist and Brenna Flaherty, Noah Parets and Genevieve Penn Nabity to Second Soloist.
The National Ballet of Canada 2021-2022 Season Trailer
The National Ballet of Canada 2021-2022 Season Schedule
Sharing the Stage | August 9-29, 2021
Harbourfront Centre
- World Premiere by Vanesa Garcia-Ribala Montoya
- Highlights from the Spotlight Series
The programme includes performances by the National Ballet, presentations of works-in-process from guest companies as well as an outdoor studio with open rehearsals, free dance classes and panel discussions.
The National Ballet will present four socially distanced outdoor performances on the Concert Stage, August 25 – 28, featuring highlights from the Spotlight Series and a world premiere by Vanesa Garcia-Ribala Montoya.
Angels’ Atlas | November 11-21, 2021
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
- Angels’ Atlas by Crystal Pite
- Serenade by George Balanchine
The National Ballet will perform Crystal Pite’s Angels’ Atlas, a work that seems to stop time with its beauty and one that expresses so much about human connection and the ephemerality of life. The ballet fittingly captures the loss, longing and collective strength of the past year. Angels’ Atlas will be performed with George Balanchine’s Serenade in a moving and timely mixed programme.
The Nutcracker | December 2021
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
- The Nutcracker by James Kudelka
The National Ballet is committed to sharing the holiday magic of James Kudelka’s The Nutcracker as we do every December and will announce a performance schedule at a later date once more details are known about required protocols. One of the most lavish and complex productions in the repertoire, The Nutcracker features 233 performers onstage for every show, including 98 students who usually begin rehearsals in September.
A Streetcar Named Desire | March 2-6, 2022
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
- A Streetcar Named Desire by John Neumeier
Tennessee Williams received the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for his gritty Broadway play, A Streetcar Named Desire. Richly characterized and simmering with violence, the story follows the demise of Blanche DuBois, a southern belle transplanted in a hostile, impoverished landscape she cannot accept. John Neumeier, the brilliant Director and Chief Choreographer of The Hamburg Ballet, created a striking adaptation of Streetcar for ballet in 1983, forgoing chronology to delve deep inside the mind of the play’s tortured heroine.
The Sleeping Beauty | March 11-20, 2022
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
- The Sleeping Beauty by Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Nureyev put The National Ballet of Canada on the map when he staged his own version of The Sleeping Beauty for the company in 1972. Showy and opulent, it set off an unprecedented period of international touring and acclaim for the young company and its dancers and it remains a jewel in the National Ballet repertoire today. Full of dazzling variations and set to Tchaikovsky’s unforgettable score, The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet lover’s dream.
Elite Syncopations | March 23-27, 2022
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
- Elite Syncopations by Sir Kenneth MacMillan
- World Premiere by Alysa Pires
- World Premiere by Siphesihle November
- After the Rain by Christopher Wheeldon
Swan Lake | June 10-26, 2022
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
- Swan Lake by Karen Kain, Christopher Stowelland, and Robert Binet
The long anticipated world premiere of Ms. Kain’s new staging of Swan Lake, originally scheduled for her 50th anniversary with the National Ballet last year, features sets and costumes by renowned designer Gabriela Týlešová, lighting by Toronto designer Bonnie Beecherand projection designs by Sean Nieuwenhuis.
Featured Photo for the The National Ballet of Canada 2021-2022 Season of Svetlana Lunkina in Swan Lake. Photo by Karolina Kuras. Courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada.
