{"id":24922,"date":"2026-04-29T18:16:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/24922\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T18:16:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:16:06","slug":"ballet-vancouver-makes-its-debut-with-a-stacked-first-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/24922\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballet Vancouver makes its debut with a stacked first season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up for our free newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n


Ballet Vancouver<\/a> has unveiled its inaugural 2026\/27 season, a three-program run at the Vancouver Playhouse that leans hard into both canon and contemporary. The lineup pairs Balanchine and Swan Lake staples with new commissions, alongside a return engagement of a digitally-minded Giselle that first premiered here in 2019.<\/p>\n

If the name behind it sounds familiar, that\u2019s because artistic director Joshua Beamish<\/a> has been a fixture in the international dance world for years. Now, he\u2019s bringing that experience home, with a stated goal of giving Vancouver a permanent base for classical and neoclassical ballet.<\/p>\n

The season opens in September with Balanchine\u2019s Apollo & Other Works, a triple bill that sets the tone early. Alongside Balanchine\u2019s Apollo, the program folds in the Black Swan pas de deux and the Canadian premiere of Jorma Elo\u2019s Slice to Sharp. It\u2019s also where the \u201chomecoming\u201d angle comes into play, with guest principals Heather Ogden of the National Ballet of Canada and Frances Chung of San Francisco Ballet, both Vancouver-trained, returning to perform.<\/p>\n

February\u2019s Classical Masters program plays into adaptation, pairing recognizable scores with newer choreography. There\u2019s a Vancouver premiere of Beamish\u2019s Romeo and Juliet Balcony Pas de Deux, the Canadian debut of Tsai Hsi Hung\u2019s Self Portrait, and a new commission from Japanese-Canadian choreographer Yosuke Mino. The bill wraps with Beamish\u2019s burrow, a duet originally created for the Royal Ballet that traces a relationship between two men with a quiet, intimate focus.<\/p>\n

The season closes in May with @giselle, Beamish\u2019s full-length reworking of the Romantic classic. First seen at its world premiere here, the production threads social media and digital life into the story\u2019s core themes of love and loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur inaugural season captures what Ballet Vancouver set out to achieve\u2014a permanent home for classical ballet in a city whose cultural life is all the richer for the diversity of its artistic voices,\u201d shares Beamish in a release. \u201cI am proud to present a season that honours the enduring legacy of classical and neoclassical ballet, while embracing the choreographers and works that are shaping its future. Equally meaningful to me is the opportunity to welcome back dancers who received their training right here in Vancouver\u2014artists who have gone on to perform on the most prestigious stages in the world, and who now return to share their artistry with the city that first shaped them. We look forward to celebrating this season together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across all three programs, Ballet Vancouver is clearly aiming to make its mark: this is a company that honours tradition without being bound by it. The mix of staples, premieres, and internationally recognized dancers suggests a long game, one that positions the city as more than just a stopover for touring productions.<\/p>\n

When: September 11 to May 15, 2027<\/p>\n

Where: Vancouver Playhouse<\/p>\n

Tickets: $75+, subscription packages now available, with single tickets available at a later date here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up for our free newsletter.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[415,17,412,413,418,407,414,420,416,423,226,389,419,422,421,417,95],"class_list":{"0":"post-24922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-city","11":"tag-culture","12":"tag-dining","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-events","15":"tag-fashion","16":"tag-film","17":"tag-food","18":"tag-lifestyle","19":"tag-music","20":"tag-nightlife","21":"tag-restaurants","22":"tag-shopping","23":"tag-tv","24":"tag-vancouver"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}