Helping to uplift and bring joy

• Second show of their season
• Keeping arts alive during pandemic
• Bringing in some outside talent

The final touches are being made to Ballet Kelowna’s second production for the 2021/22 season, Reprise.

After being off the stage for 21 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CEO & Artistic Director of Ballet Kelowna Simone Orlando told Kelowna10 being able to put on live performances again for the community is special for everyone involved.

“Our dancers rehearse in the studio every day for hours on end and the reward for them is the performance,” she said. “With Reprise, it’s such an exciting program for them as well as the audiences, and they’re looking forward to getting back on the stage.”

Reprise, which is performed Feb.18 and Feb..19, will feature three of the company’s most successful recent commissions, including Within the Golden Raga, Cuatro Estaciones, and MAMBO.

Orlando described it as a high energy show with the full company in the choreography, keeping with the contemporary work they normally perform.

She added continuing to bring the arts during the pandemic helps bring joy and uplift everyone.

“I think with this particular program that’s what it’s designed to do is to help people forget about the burdens of daily life and the troubles we’ve been going through,” Orlando said. “Arts and culture are an important pillar of Kelowna, coming out to seeing Ballet Kelowna is really supporting one of the pillars of our community.”

There will be a new face joining this production as Kealan McLaughlin makes his Ballet Kelowna debut. A graduate from Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto, McLaughlin was enjoying some time off before getting the call to come out west for the show.

Orlando said McLaughlin is very skilled with lots of professional experience and athleticism needed for Reprise.

His expectation heading into the show is to keep things calm on stage and he appreciates the group of dancers he’s joining.

“This group is so strong we’ve been doing run-throughs of the ballet the last couple weeks and these people are really strong. I’m really looking forward to that,” he said.

“The beautiful thing about art and live performance art is we can see aspects of ourself reflected, but it can be different for every person,” McLaughlin said. “If everyone in the audience walks away feeling like they can see themselves on stage in some way, that’ll be nice.”

Tickets for Reprise, and more information on Ballet Kelowna can be found online.