Overview

The National Ballet of Canada will be in residence at Harbourfront Centre for five weeks this fall as part of Harbourfront Centre’s fall programme Site Alive. Harbourfront Centre has reimagined what it means to explore the arts on its site in 2020, with augmented reality, evening projections, immersive dance and movement and visual art. Dancers are taking company class and rehearsing The Dreamers Ever Leave You by Choreographic Associate Robert Binet.

Performances

The National Ballet will perform The Dreamers Ever Leave You in Harbourfront Centre’s Brigantine Room, postponed performance dates will be announced shortly. The safety of our audience and artists is our foremost priority. These performances will follow strict safety protocols. Masks are mandatory and social distancing will be in place. Seating is limited to 32 per performance.

More About Harbourfront Centre

Land Acknowledgment
 

About The Dreamers Ever Leave You

Choreographic Associate Robert Binet created The Dreamers Ever Leave You in response to the sublime paintings of Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris. Originally co-produced by the Art Gallery of Ontario and performed in Signy Eaton Gallery as part of The Idea of North exhibit with live piano music by Lubomyr Melnyk, this immersive piece replicates the spiritual energy of Harris’ northern landscapes through the controlled physicality of the human body. Dreamers was hailed “a remarkable and moving experience” by the Globe and Mail.

Five Things to Know

1. 1The title of the piece comes from Harris’ 1922 poem Little Houses:
   
   The dreamers ever leave you –
   They hear a vague, far cry,
   Perhaps the call of some vacant, high place,
   So often only the wailing of a beckoning pain,
   But the dreamers ever leave you.
    
2. 2In explaining his piece, Robert Binet has said: “The connection I see between Lawren Harris’ paintings and dance rests with their inherent spirituality. Harris abstracts natural forms to show their transcendent power and that is what we do with the human body in ballet.”
    
3. 3In partnership with The Royal Ballet, The Dreamers Ever Leave You toured to London, England in 2017 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canada. The cast featured dancers from both companies performing at the Printworks in East London, the former printing site of the Evening Standard and Metro newspapers.
    
4. 4The presentation of The Dreamers Ever Leave You is the first time The National Ballet of Canada will perform at Harbourfront Centre since the last performance of Ballet by the Water in 2005.
    
5. 5This presentation will practice strict social distancing and sanitization protocols.

The Creator

Toronto-born Robert Binet was appointed Choreographic Associate of The National Ballet of Canada in 2013 following his apprenticeship with Wayne McGregor, Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. Mr. Binet has created new work for ballet companies worldwide and, in 2018, he launched CreativAction, the National Ballet's collaborative programme for Canadian choreographers.

The Composer

The Ukrainian-born composer and pianist Lubomyr Melnyk is renowned for a rapid technique of piano performance and composition he calls Continuous Music, which produces a meditative effect. He has composed over 120 works and written a treatise on his technique, OPEN TIME: The Art of Continuous Music.

Credits

Concept and Choreography:
Robert Binet

Pianist and Composer:
Lubomyr Melnyk

Lighting Design:
Simon Rossiter

Costume Design:
Robyn Clarke

The original presentation of The Dreamers Ever Leave You was co-produced by the Art Gallery of Ontario and The National Ballet of Canada and generously supported by Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan, Kevin Garland, Joan & Jerry Lozinski and The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C.