Words by Diane Parkes.
Internationally-renowned Vancouver-based Ballet BC tour the UK this spring with a double bill featuring work by leading choreographers Johan Inger and Crystal Pite. The tour, presented by Dance Consortium takes in seven venues and opens at Sadler’s Wells on 20 & 21 May.
Ballet BC artistic director Medhi Walerski promises audiences a very special show.
“The last time the company was in the UK was in 2018 and we were nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Dance Production,” he says. “This time we are bringing the best of the best – two world-renowned choreographers who have a longstanding relationship with Ballet BC. I’m very proud to bring PASSING which has been created by Johan Inger for the company and to bring a new version of Crystal Pite’s Frontier. It’s a beautiful relationship with two master choreographers. We’re also bringing a little bit of Vancouver because Crystal is from here!
“I love being able to commission and share this calibre of contemporary dance. And it’s great to be reconnecting with a UK audience. It is going to be a pretty epic performance.”
Swedish-born Inger created PASSING for the Ballet BC 2022/23 season to include the full company of 20 dancers.
“PASSING is a monumental work,” says Medhi, who took over the helm at Ballet BC in 2020 after a dancing career with Paris Opera Ballet, Ballet du Rhin and more than a decade at Nederlands Dans Theater.
“It takes audiences on a very human and emotional journey. It talks about love, birth, death and everything in between. Johan was inspired by a real-world catastrophe, the volcanic eruption in the Canary Island of La Palma and he is inspired too by our relationships to one another. The work is pretty theatrical, it shows the versatility of our company and it’s really rewarding for the dancers to perform it as it reveals some of their special talents.”
As a dancer with NDT, Medhi performed in the second iteration of Pite’s Frontier so was keen for the four-time Olivier-nominated Canadian choreographer to re-imagine the work with Ballet BC.
“Frontier talks about the unknown and the characterisation of dark matter,” Medhi explains. “There are two worlds in the piece – the world of the visible people and then the shadows. Crystal always finds it pleasing to work with this parallel, what we know and what we don’t know, what we see and what we don’t see – and the universe between the two of them.”
Frontier features the full Ballet BC company with an addition of four dancers from London-based Rambert School – a process which has meant the performers learning the work on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
“First one of our stagers went to London to give a workshop and we chose the dancers. One of our rehearsal directors will go back to the UK to teach the work then we’ll all get together in the studio for a couple of days. Then the tour begins!” says Medhi. “We were looking for versatility in the dancers – people who can quickly absorb physical language which might be different from what they are used to, people who can really embody the essence of Crystal’s choreographic style. And the ability to quickly dive into a process because it’s going to be pretty rapid when we are together.”
After decades as a dancer and choreographer, Medhi is enjoying the challenge of his role as artistic director.
“It needs multiple hats,” he laughs. “One of my responsibilities is to curate programming but I’m also very involved in the studio. I am present when the artist creates and I remount and rehearse the works. I very much enjoy having the ability to switch between administration, marketing, programming and production as well as always being directly related and connected to the dancers.”
Medhi performed in the UK in 2008 with Nederlands Dans Theater, a tour supported by Dance Consortium, which brings together venues in UK and Ireland to present top international dance companies to local audiences. And he is grateful for their support for Ballet BC.
“It’s essential to have Dance Consortium support the tour, enabling us to be on the road for five weeks. This allows us to grow, to keep presenting the work, and to share what we do and what we love with more people. It’s pretty incredible to not just come for a one-off show but to go all over the UK.”
French-born Medhi knows the UK well. His partner is British so he spends many Christmases with family in Dorset and lived in London for a year before taking over at Ballet BC.
“I love the UK, I love socialising, I love the sophistication,” he says. “I see people going out after work to pubs or to see a show, the connection to culture is really amazing. I always look forward to having access to the culture. I love wandering around looking at the architecture and going to art galleries and shows – and I like Marks and Spencer’s cookies!
“But many of our dancers have never been to the UK. So when I told them ‘we are going to the UK and we’re going to open at Sadler’s Wells’ they were so excited. It’s a place that welcomes state-of-the-art companies so to be invited to perform there is pretty spectacular so they are all very much looking forward to discovering the country.”
And Medhi is eager for British audiences to experience Ballet BC whether for the first time or on a return visit.
“I remember when I was touring the UK as a dancer the audiences were very enthusiastic. They have a deep knowledge of dance, they really appreciate it and they have an opinion, it is refreshing to have feedback and hear people dare to say what they really think.
“With this tour, I can promise audiences are going to see incredible dancers on stage because the calibre of our dancers, their versatility and their generosity is outstanding. That is why we have choreographers coming from all over the world to work with them. And audiences will also see these beautiful works by two of the greatest choreographers of our generation.”
Ballet BC is touring the UK from 20 May to 11 June. https://danceconsortium.com/touring/ballet-bc-2025/. Header image: Ballet BC Artist Sidney Chuckas in PASSING. Photo by Michael Slobodian.