Silent Screen/ Body of Work/ Rhapsody

• León and Lightfoot are celebrated throughout Europe for their idiosyncratic, integrative work and leadership of the prestigious Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT).
   
• Everything in Silent Screen is in motion, even the screens, which contract and expand the stage like a camera lens.
   
• The creators added a personal touch by including their daughter, Saura Lightfoot-León, in the film.

Interview with Sol Leon and Paul Lightfoot: The Poetry of Silent Screen
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Spain’s Sol León joined NDT 2 after graduating from the National Ballet Academy of Madrid in 1987. Two years later, she joined NDT 1 and danced the work of Jiří Kylián, Hans van Manen, Ohad Naharin and many others.

Born in England, Paul Lightfoot trained at The Royal Ballet School and joined NDT under Jiří Kylián, dancing there until 2008. During his dancing career, Lightfoot formed his famous choreographic partnership with Sol León.

In 2002, León and Lightfoot were named House Choreographers of Nederlands Dans Theater. León was Artistic Advisor of NDT from 2012 to 2020 and Lightfoot Artistic Director from 2011 to 2020. 

Glassworks was Philip Glass’ debut album on CBS. A six-movement work written for the recording studio in 1981, the music was intended to introduce his aesthetic to a more general audience. In terms of sound, Glassworks is consistent with Glass’ vast oeuvre of contemporary classical music favouring repetitive structures.

Choreography:
Sol León and Paul Lightfoot 

Staged by:
Jorge Nozal Oyarzabal and Roger Van der Poel

Music:
Philip Glass, Glassworks (1982) and Why Does Someone Have to Die from The Hours (2002)

Set Design:
Sol León and Paul Lightfoot

Costume Design:
Sol León and Paul Lightfoot, realized by Joke Visser and Hermien Hollander

Lighting Design:
Tom Bevoort

Film Concept:
Lightfoot León

Film Realization:
Metropolis Film and Dicky Schuttel

Technical Coordinator:
Eric Blom

Wardrobe Coordinator:
Susanne Stehle

World Premiere: Nederlands Dans Theater, Lucent Danstheater, Den Haag, April 28, 2005 

The National Ballet of Canada Premiere: Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, November 9, 2024 

Lead philanthropic support for Silent Screen is provided by an Anonymous Donor with additional support from The Producers’ Circle.

The Producers’ Circle (2025): John & Claudine Bailey, Laura Dinner & Richard Rooney, Gail Drummond & Bob Dorrance, Ira Gluskin & Maxine Granovsky Gluskin, 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 Jack Weinbaum Family Foundation and Alexander Younger & Sarah Richardson.

• Body of Work is the prelude to Côté’s final performances with the National Ballet in June 2025 after an amazing 26 years with the company.
   
• How does a dancer relate to the body? Côté asks this question in Body of Work, saying: “There is nothing more beautiful than a dancer who can listen to the body’s subtleties in a way that is organic and pure.”
   
• Minimal costuming, a bare stage and a solitary artist interpreting Beethoven – Body of Work is pure movement and music.

Guillaume Côté joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1998, became Principal Dancer in 2004 and Choreographic Associate in 2013. His creations for the company include Being and Nothingness, Le Petit Prince and Frame by Frame with Robert Lepage. In 2021, he founded his company Côté Danse and created the immersive dance experience Touch. He is also Artistic Director of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 premiered in Vienna in 1813 with great success and is renowned for its lively rhythm and momentum. The second movement, the stirring Allegretto, is particularly popular and often performed alone. The composer Richard Wagner called it “the apotheosis of dance”.

Choreography:
Guillaume Côté

Music:
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 7, 2^nd Movement, Allegretto (1811-1812)

Costume Design:
Krista Dowson

Lighting Design:
Jeff Logue

• Several of Ashton’s most cherished works are in the National Ballet repertoire, including The Dream and La Fille mal gardée.
   
• Ashton created Rhapsody in 1980 for two ballet stars: Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier.
   
• This presentation of Rhapsody coincides with the 50th-anniversary of Baryshnikov’s famous defection in Toronto.

Sir Frederick Ashton studied in England with famed dancers Léonide Massine and Marie Rambert. His distinct style has been preserved in his repertoire of cherished ballets, including A Month in the Country and La Fille mal gardée. He was knighted in 1962, made a Companion of Honour in 1970 and received the Order of Merit in 1977.

Sergei Rachmaninoff composed his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano and orchestra in 1934, inspired by Niccolò Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 for solo violin, which is symbolic of virtuoso technique. Rachmaninoff’s theme and variations take on the Caprice was the basis for Michel Fokine’s ballet Paganini in 1939.

Choreography:
Sir Frederick Ashton

Staged by:
Amanda Eyles

Music:
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 (1934)

Piano Soloist:
Zhenya Vitort

Set Design:
Frederick Ashton

Original Costume Design:
William Chappell, recreated in 2016 by Natalia Stewart

Lighting Recreated by:
Jeff Logue

Stage Managers:
Jeff Morris and Alexandria Wommack

Rehearsed by:
Artistic Director, Hope Muir and Christopher Saunders

Rehearsal Director, Principal Coach:
Rex Harrington, O.C., D.Litt.

Rehearsal Director:
Lise-Marie Jourdain

Lead philanthropic support for Rhapsody is provided by The Isobel Allen New Creations Fund.

World Premiere: The Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House, London, UK, August 4, 1980  

The National Ballet of Canada Premiere: Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, November 9, 2024