Reviewed by Paula Citron
Emily plus New Works
Canadian Pacific Ballet
Choreography by Roberta Taylor
McPherson Playhouse, Victoria
Apr. 16 and 17, 2011
It’s been five years, and plucky Victoria-based Canadian Pacific Ballet is hanging tough.
The company bills itself as “Canada’s Romantic and Classical Ballet Company”, and their newest production, choreographed by co-founder Roberta Taylor. certainly fits that bill.
Emily (A Woman in White) is inspired by the life of the enigmatic 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson. It is an ambitious work, but while the solos that evoke each poem are quite pretty, they don’t really seem to be specific to the text. That being said, the interweaving of Emily with her poems does produce attractive patterning.
Taylor is a part of all that she has met. In the first half, she has created five new works which echo other choreographers and styles including a Giselle clone, a Russian imperial style pas de deux, the whimsical English school of Ashton and MacMillan, a
Bournonville polka piece, and Fokine dance theatre.
The sum total of the evening is one of pleasant ballet.