A fateful snowstorm on the Coquihalla left Ballet Kelowna CEO and artistic director Simone Orlando stuck in Merritt on karaoke night.
One of the patrons was singing Johnny Cash, which sparked Orlando’s imagination.
“I thought, well maybe this is a sign I should go ahead and do a Johnny Cash piece,” Orlando said. “One of the songs he sang was Ring of Fire, and that song I actually did create a pas de duex, or a duet, to that song for the piece.”
She fully fleshed out the idea creating Studies of Cash, a Johnny Cash-inspired ballet performance. Excerpts of which are coming to Penticton at the Children’s Showcase performance by Ballet Kelowna on Jan. 22.
Studies of Cash explores more than just his music.
“It actually explores the idea of confinement, but not only just actual, physical prison walls that one might find themselves surrounded by, but those walls we construct or manufacture ourselves that sort of hinder us from moving forward,” Orlando said. “But it is a really fun piece and it’s meant to encourage the audience to laugh along with us.”
Bringing ballet together with the famed American singer/songwriter is the melding of two distinct worlds, something Orlando is no stranger to.
“In the past I’ve really enjoyed creating to music that is sort of atypical to what you might think ballet might be choreographed to. Simply because I think it actually informs the choreographer and gets your brain thinking a little bit differently.”
It is part of an agenda Orlando and Ballet Kelowna want to push, bringing the art form of ballet into 2017.
Read more: Ballet Kelowna celebrates 150th
“I’m really trying to break down barriers and perceptions around what people think ballet is. So I think the Johnny Cash piece in particular, when I talk to presenters or when I announce to an audience ‘now we’re going to see a work that’s been created to Johnny Cash music,’ they all kind of gasp,” Orlando laughed.
Studies of Cash ended up being many people’s favourite piece on the program when it toured last year.
“A lot of people said ‘I would never ever expect to see a ballet company dancing to Johnny Cash music,’” Orlando said. “But everything we do is rooted in the foundation of ballet, but we’re kind of pushing the boundaries in terms of exploring movement, trying to put innovative, new choreography on stage that’s unexpected.”
The section appearing in the Children’s Showcase performance features two songs from Cash’s famed 1968 Folsom Prison performance.
“It’s a very fun piece. It’s contemporary, the movement is really in contrast to something like the Grand Pas De Duex from The Nutcracker,” Orlando said.
Also featured in 150 Moves is A brand new piece, which Ballet Kelowna is bringing to schools across B.C. in February in March called Now, What, Like, When, which was created last year by choreographer Matjash Mrozewski in collaboration with over 50 Okanagan youth. The piece was created to understand the issues and challenges youth face today, getting the information straight from youth instead of speaking for them.
“He’s created this really unique piece which kind of combines dance with theatre to really talk about what’s on the minds of young people today,” Orlando said.
Audio recordings of his interviews with youth are incorporated into the original score composed for the performance.
“So you can actually hear the children talking and the youth talking about some of the challenges they face and the things they are thinking about,” Orlando said.
The Jan. 22 Penticton performance will have a seven-minute excerpt from Now, What, Like, When.
The Children’s Showcase performance explores the highlights, giving audiences a taste of the full program. The program is also set to feature a brand new version of Grand Pas De Deux from The Nutcracker, which Orlando created for last year’s production of The Nutcracker.
“We thought that the younger audience, the kids might really like to have a glimpse of the Sugar Plum Fairy at that matinee,” Orlando said.
Also appearing in the performance is the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene pas de duex. The piece was choreographed by Kelowna’s own Joshua Beemish, who now works creating ballets all across the globe.
“There’s a lot that’s going to happen. We’re just going to try to keep the kids as entertained as possible and show them a lot of the different work that we do. It will be educational, I’ll talk a little bit between the pieces to explain what’s going on and give everybody a little bit of background,” Orlando said.
Ballet Kelowna’s 150 Moves comes to the Cleland Theatre on Jan. 22 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 available at Tumbleweed Gallery, 452 Main St., or at the door.
Those who would like to see the full 90-minute performance, including Studies of Cash in full, can catch Ballet Kelowna’s 150 Moves at the Frank Venables Theatre on Feb. 12.