Sharing the Stage in Partnership with Harbourfront Centre

The National Ballet of Canada returns to Harbourfront Centre in August with Sharing the Stage, free outdoor performances under the stars on the Concert Stage as well as free dance classes and interactive conversations.

We are thrilled to welcome guest companies Compañía Carmen Romero, Lua Shayenne Dance Company and Rock Bottom Movement. Based in the Toronto dance community and representing a wide range of styles, the guest companies will share the stage with dancers from The National Ballet of Canada.

All performances are free. Seating is general admission.

A limited number of wheelchair accessible and support seats are available and can be booked by contacting us by phone at 416 345 9595.

Watch Sharing the Stage from The Slip

Our friends at The Slip, a restaurant located beside the Concert Stage at Harbourfront Centre, are offering the opportunity to watch Sharing the Stage while enjoying their great food and cocktails! You can reserve seats at the bar or in the booth. To book, email The Slip at ballet@theslip.ca with your choice of performance date and number of people in your party. Please note there is food and drink minimum of $40 per person and some seats may be partially obstructed. View the full menu here.

Outdoor Performances by The National Ballet of Canada With Guest Companies
August 17 – 19, 2023 at 8:00 pm
Concert Stage, Harbourfront Centre

The National Ballet will present three outdoor performances on the Concert Stage, August 17 – 19. Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director, and Robert Binet, Curator and Producer, CreativAction and Special Initiatives, have curated a programme that features the National Ballet and three guest companies. The programme features the dynamic Ever New by Binet, a pas de deux from the sublime Concerto by Kenneth MacMillan, an excerpt from Rena Butler’s sensual Alleged Dances, a new CreativAction Micro-Commission from Indigenous choreographer Cameron Fraser-Monroe for National Ballet dancers as well as new works from guest companies Compañía Carmen Romero, Lua Shayenne Dance Company and Rock Bottom Movement. The programme will feature live music.

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Programme

• Alleged Dances Excerpt by Rena Butler Performed by The National Ballet of Canada
• Waves | Vagues Performed by Lua Shayenne Dance Company
• payɛʔot by Cameron Fraser-Monroe Performed by The National Ballet of Canada
• Vida Performed by Compañía Carmen Romero and the RBC Apprentices of The National Ballet of Canada
• Concerto Pas de Deux by Kenneth MacMillan Performed by The National Ballet of Canada
• KID SISTER Performed by Rock Bottom Movement
• Ever New by Robert Binet Performed by The National Ballet of Canada and the RBC Apprentices

Show + Tell
August 17 – 19, 2023, 7:15 – 7:45 pm
Concert Stage, Harbourfront Centre

Show + Tell is an opportunity to hear directly from dance artists about how they work, providing a window into their creative process and dance form as well as see excerpts from their choreography. 

Show + Tell is free. Registration is required and seating is general admission. Following Show + Tell, you will remain in the same seat for the performance.

Schedule

• August 17: Compañía Carmen Romero
• August 18: Rock Bottom Movement 
• August 19: Lua Shayenne Dance Company

Dance With Us
August 17 – 19, 2023, 6:00 – 6:45 pm
Stage-in-the-Park, Harbourfront Centre

Get moving with free dance classes taught by local artists! The free classes are drop-in and vary from Ballet to West African to Flamenco.

Schedule

• August 17: Beginner Ballet with Kate Kernaghan, Director of The National Ballet of Canada’s In Studio Programme
• August 18: Beginner West-African Dance with Lua Shayenne
• August 19: Beginner Flamenco with Carmen Romero

Credits

Alleged Dances Excerpt
Performed by The National Ballet of Canada

Choreography: Rena Butler

Music: John Adams, John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994)
By arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, INC., publisher and copyright owner

Costume Design: Hogan McLaughlin

Lighting Design: Jeff Logue

World Premiere: The National Ballet of Canada, Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts, Toronto, March 3, 2023

Produced and commissioned by The National Ballet of Canada.

Lead philanthropic support for Alleged Dances is provided by an Anonymous Donor, with additional support provided by The Producers’ Circle.

The Producers’ Circle (2023): Gail & Mark Appel, John & Claudine Bailey, Inger Bartlett & Marshal Stearns, Laura Dinner & Richard Rooney, Gail Drummond & Bob Dorrance, Ira Gluskin & Maxine Granovsky Gluskin, The William & Nona Heaslip Foundation, Anna McCowan-Johnson & Donald K. Johnson, O.C., Judy Korthals & Peter Irwin, Mona & Harvey Levenstein, Jerry Lozinski, O.C. & Joan Lozinski, O.C., The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C., Julie Medland, Sandra Pitblado, C.M & Jim Pitblado, C.M., The Harry & Lillian Seymour Family Foundation and The Jack Weinbaum Family Foundation.

Waves | Vagues
Performed by Lua Shayenne Dance Company

Text, Composer, Choreography: Lua Shayenne

Text/Story Developer & Dramaturge: Tawiah M’carthy

Percussionists, Music Collaborators: Kemar Scarlett, Cécé Haba, Connor ‘Chino’ Chang, Walter Maclean

Lighting Design: Jeff Logue, The National Ballet of Canada

Interpreters: Aisha Nicholson, Rose-Mary “Rosie” Harbans, Kwasi Obeng-Adjei, Miranda Liverpool, Monique Pascall, Lua Shayenne

Waves | Vagues was rehearsed at Harbourfront Centre in partnership with The National Ballet of Canada’s Sharing the Stage, August 2021.

World Premiere
payɛʔot
Performed by The National Ballet of Canada

Choreography: Cameron Fraser-Monroe

Music: Smile at Me and We Danced Movement I by Cris Derksen

Costume Design: The National Ballet of Canada Wardrobe Department, Stacy Dimitropoulos, Wardrobe Supervisor

Lighting Design: Jeff Logue, The National Ballet of Canada

Produced and Commissioned by The National Ballet of Canada

Vida 
Performed by Compañía Carmen Romero and the RBC Apprentices of The National Ballet of Canada

Choreography: Carmen Romero

Music: Paco Montalvo, el Vito Cordobes

Concerto Pas de Deux
Performed by The National Ballet of Canada

Choreography: Kenneth MacMillan

Music: Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102 (1957)

Costume Design: Jürgen Rose

Lighting Design: John B. Read

World Premiere: Deutsche Opera Ballet, Berlin, Germany, November 30, 1966

The National Ballet of Canada Premiere: O’Keefe Centre (now Meridian Hall) Toronto, November 6, 1987

KID SISTER
Performed by Rock Bottom Movement

Choreography/Direction: Alyssa Martin

Composer: Jacob Vanderham

Creative Collaborators: Drew Berry, Brayden Jamil Cairns, Sam Grist, Sierra Kellman

Costume Design: Brayden Jamil Cairns

Performers: Drew Berry, Brayden Jamil Cairns, Sam Grist and Jessica Mak

Ever New
Performed by The National Ballet of Canada and the RBC Apprentices

Choreography: Robert Binet

Music: Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Let Us Dance (Arca Remix), Sunset Village, Ever New

Costume Design: The National Ballet of Canada Wardrobe Department, Stacy Dimitropoulos, Wardrobe Supervisor

Lighting Design: Jeff Logue

World Premiere: The National Ballet of Canada, Betty Oliphant Theatre, Toronto, October 31, 2022

Sharing the Stage is made possible by the generous support of The Azrieli Foundation, an Anonymous Donor and the Anna McCowan-Johnson Dance Accessibility Fund at The National Ballet of Canada, Endowment Foundation.

CreativAction is supported by The H. John McDonald Foundation, an Anonymous Donor and Lucille & Urban Joseph, O.C.

The RBC Apprentice Programme is sponsored by The RBC Emerging Artists Project.

Additional support for the RBC Apprentice Programme is provided by Turnout.