Atlantic Ballet To Celebrate 20 Years On The First Stage It Performed
MONCTON – Atlantic Ballet Atlantique Canada (ABAC) has carved out a niche for itself, drumming up a passion that has persisted for more than twenty years.
ABAC Artistic Director Igor Dobrovolskiy says one of the most significant challenges to establishing a foothold for his ballet company, which is this year celebrating twenty years in operation, was adapting to a culture with “a very different understanding of performing arts.”
“At first, it was a challenge for me to try to understand how things worked and how we could get financed,” said Dobrovolskiy, who moved from Ukraine to Canada in 2000.
Dobrovolskiy said that with the support and investments of the government and private sector, Atlantic Ballet was able to thrive.
“We have three twenty-year sponsors that have been with us from day one,” he said. Those sponsors are Grant-Thornton, Scotiabank, and Lounsbury Group of Companies.
Dobrovolskiy said the Atlantic region was “not in the habit of going to ballet” because, until he and Co-Founder Susan Chalmers-Gauvin launched ABAC, there were no ballet companies east of Quebec.
Dobrovolskiy, who left Ukraine during a challenging economic time to seek new opportunities in Canada, said he saw an ad for a position in Moncton.
“I saw a beautiful European-style theatre–the Capitol Theatre–and thought this could be a perfect home for a ballet company,” he said. “We had to work to develop our audience over time. We continue to be the only professional ballet company in Atlantic Canada.’
A key to maintaining that interest is providing quality. Dobrovolskiy attributes ABAC’s success over the years has been innovation, “creating completely new-to-the-world ballets.”
“The calibre of the company’s dancers is also very high–they could be with any large ballet company in the world,” he said.
Dobrovolskiy also credited the work he and he and Chalmers-Gauvin have done with some of the top designers in Canada, on costumes, lighting, and set.
“The overall standard of our productions is world-class. Most importantly, New Brunswick has supported us,” he said.
Sneak Peek Of A Wolastoq Ballet
ABAC plans to celebrate two decades in operation with a series of performances and stories that take the audience on a dance journey through the history of the ballet–all on the stage where ABAC hosted its first performance.
“We wanted to make it a celebration and want it to be fun–we’re back on the stage of the Capitol Theatre, the very stage where it all began on May 11, 2002,” said Chalmers-Gauvin, noting they booked the stage three years in advance to make sure the performance would take place there.
The event will also feature a sneak peek at what will be the world’s first Wolastoq ballet, which ABAC will perform in full next year. The production is a collaboration between Dobrovolskiy and Wolastoqiyik dance artist Possesom Paul, with music composed by Tobique First Nation singer-songwriter Jeremy Dutcher.
The costumes and imagery appearing in the performance are designed by Calgarian Cree artist Andy Moro, working with Tobique First Nation visual artist Emma Hassencahl-Perley.
“It’s still a ballet, but there are references to Wolastoq culture and the story was built from a Wolastoq tale–but it will be a contemporary rendition,” said Chalmers-Gauvin.
As part of its celebration, ABAC is also working with Nic Iwasko, a Halifax-based artist who specializes in visual environments. Iwasko is creating a mapping on Assumption Place that will run for three nights, transforming the building with imagery of ABAC’s dancers over the years.
“We’re very proud to have that display in the center of the community that supported us, Greater Moncton,” said Chalmers-Gauvin.
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ABAC, an internationally-ranked non-profit, employs eight professional dancers and 30 employees from 11 different countries. The organization receives hundreds of applications every year. In a normal year, ABAC does around 30 performances and tours across Canada, the United States, and Europe.
“Igor and I started twenty years ago with an idea–one many people thought impossible–to have a professional ballet company in Atlantic Canada. By 2003 we were touring across Canada and by 2006 we were touring Europe, so we’ve had an extraordinary trajectory.
“We’re looking forward to it and we’re happy theatres have opened up and we can have a full house. I think folks are anxious to get back together and it’s meant to be a big, fun celebration,” said Chalmers-Gauvin.
Chalmers-Gauvin noted ABAC began its twenty-year anniversary celebrations last year with an expansion of Ballet by the Ocean, a pandemic-restriction-friendly performance on a stage in a wetland near the Northumberland Strait. The show sold out 13 performances last year and was a boon to the province’s restriction-hampered tourism industry.
“This past summer, we had people travel from 23 New Brunswick communities and five provinces to see Ballet by the Ocean,” she said.
“We haven’t historically considered ourselves to be in the tourism business but we now have a pillar–and that’s certainly attracting tourists and people from across the province to our company. It’s a whole new audience.”
Tickets for ABAC’s Anniversary Celebration are available here.
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].