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Karen Kain celebrates 50th anniversary with National Ballet by remaking Swan Lake

The National Ballet of Canadas artistic director, Karen Kain, is celebrating 50 years with the company by revamping Swan Lake. Shes taking on directing and staging the classical ballet.

At this point in my career, 50 years on, the thing that continues to drive me is my love for the art form and for the National Ballet, says Kain in a press release. Swan Lake has been a huge part of my artistic life and holds a special place in my heart. With this new staging, I want to accentuate the romantic core and the love story that provides the ballet with its powerful, emotional life.

This production will replace James Kudelka’s darker version, which has been with the company since 1999.

The new version draws inspiration from Erik Bruhn’s production and features designs by Gabriela Tylesova (sets and costumes) and Natasha Katz (lighting). It will receive its world premiere June 5, 2020.

The upcoming season will also feature world premieres by Canadian choreographers Crystal Pite and Robert Binet and three company premieres.

Pite has been commissioned to create a new work on the National Ballet, which will make its world premiere in a program that will also feature Chroma by Wayne McGregor.

Binet, the choreographic assistant at the National Ballet, is presenting his new work Orpheus Alive in November 2019. The gender-bending retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice a tragedy about a musician who travels to the underworld to bring his beloved back to life, only to lose her again because of a moment of doubt. A section of Orpheus Alive will be performed by three National Ballet dancers and presented at the Guggenheims Works and Process in New York City, September 2019.

Kain also announced that Alysa Pires will be appointed choreographic associate in the 2019/20 season, alongside current associates Binet and Guillaume Cote.

The company is also launching CreativAction, a project that focuses on developing Canadian dancemakers and supporting the dance community in Toronto.

Also in the season lineup is the company premieres of Jiri Kylians Petite Mort, Frederick Ashtons Marguerite And Armand and George Balanchines Chaconne.

This year, Kain will be the first Canadian to be honoured by the Royal Academy of Dance, with the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award.

Details about the 2019/2020 season can be found here.

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