About Ballet Edmonton

Ballet Edmonton is a contemporary ballet ensemble of company dancers under the leadership of celebrated choreographer and Artistic Director Wen Wei Wang. The company creates and commissions original work each season from a variety of choreographic voices. Ballet Edmonton’s mission is driven by a passion and curiosity to explore new ways to express dance. The company offers audiences original, inspired contemporary ballet that reflects our Artistic Director’s adventurous, curatorial vision. Ballet Edmonton’s repertoire is primarily Canadian, with new creations by nationally recognized and emerging choreographers with distinctive voices. They contribute to the evolution of ballet in Canada by expressing the unique narratives of the artists whose creations we help bring to life.

Ballet Edmonton has commissioned new creations by Canadian and international choreographers, including Andrea Peña, Serge Bennathan, Shay Kuebler, Gioconda Barbuto, Rachel Meyer, Josh Beamish, Diego Ramalho, and Karissa Barry.

Ballet Edmonton Artists

Ballet Edmonton engages dancers who are committed to their own growth as artists. Our ensemble is comprised of dancers from all over the world, each bringing with them a breadth of training and experience required to articulate the work we present.

Core Creative And Executive Team

Artistic Director: Wen Wei Wang

Rehearsal Director: Yoko Kanomata

Lighting Designer/Technical Director: Dorrie Deutschendorf

Executive Director: Sheri Somerville

Managing Director: Jennifer Hinnell

Artistic Administrator: Sarah Baker

Read the dancers’ full biographies here: balletedmonton.ca/com pany/dancers/

Collaborators

WEN WEI WANG, CHOREOGRAPHER

Wen Wei Wang began dancing professionally in China in 1978. In 1991 he came to Canada, where he was invited to join the Judith Marcuse Dance Company, followed by positions with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and Ballet BC. In 2000, Wen Wei received the Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award and the Rio Tinto Alcan and Isadora Awards for Choreography. In 2003, Wen Wei formed his own company, Wen Wei Dance. Wen Wei Dance has presented his work across Canada and at the International Dance Festival in Vancouver, the Dancing on the Edge Festival, the Canada Dance Festival, and the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Colombia, South America. The company has also been invited to perform at the Venice Biennale Festival in Italy, the Beijing National Performing Arts Center, and the Shanghai Grand Theater with the Beijing Modern Dance Company in China.

Wen Wei has choreographed 12 full-length works for his Vancouver-based company Wen Wei Dance and created original works for Alberta Ballet, Ballet Jőrgen, Ballet BC, Ballet Kelowna, North West Dance Projects, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Arts Umbrella, and Simon Fraser University. He has also choreographed the dance sections for the Vancouver Opera and the San Francisco Opera for their piece, Nixon in China. In 2013, Wen Wei was awarded the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrants Award and recently worked with the China National Center for the Performing Arts for its production of Hamlet. Wen Wei assumed the role of Artistic Director of Ballet Edmonton in 2018.

MAX RICHTER, COMPOSER, The Four Seasons Recomposed

Max Richter stands as one of the most prodigious figures on the contemporary music scene, with ground-breaking work as a composer, pianist, producer, and collaborator. From synthesizers and computers to a full symphony orchestra, Richter’s innovative work encompasses solo albums, ballets, concert hall performances, film and television series, video art installations and theatre works. He is classically trained, studying at Edinburgh University, the Royal Academy of Music, London, and completing his studies with composer Luciano Berio in Florence, Italy.

In recent years Richter’s music has become a mainstay for many of the world’s leading ballet companies, including The Mariinsky Ballet, La Scala Milan, The Joffrey Ballet, New York City Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet, American Ballet Theatre,

Semper Oper, and NDT, while his collaborations with Wayne McGregor for The Royal Ballet have been widely acclaimed. Richter’s most recent commissions are from the city of Bonn to mark the Beethoven 250th year anniversary, and a further collaboration between Richter, Margaret Atwood and Wayne McGregor, based on Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy of novels, premiering in Toronto in September 2022.

His latest recorded project, The New Four Seasons, was released in 2022 marking 10 years of his Vivaldi Recomposed project, re-recording the piece with period instruments.

IAN CUSSON, COMPOSER, Le loup de Lafontaine

Ian Cusson is a composer of art song, opera and orchestral work. Of Métis (Georgian Bay Métis Community) and French Canadian descent, his work explores Canadian Indigenous experience including the history of the Métis people, the hybridity of mixed-racial identity, and the intersection of Western and Indigenous cultures. He studied composition with Jake Heggie (San Francisco) and Samuel Dolin, and piano with James Anagnoson at the Glenn Gould School. He is the recipient of the Chalmers Professional Development Grant, and grants through the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council.

Ian was an inaugural Carrefour Composer-in-Residence with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for 2017-2019 and was Composer-in-Residence for the Canadian Opera Company for 2019–2021. He was Co-Artistic Director of Opera in the 21st Century at the Banff Centre and the recipient of the 2021 Jan V. Matejcek Classical Music Award from SOCAN and the 2021 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize. Ian is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers. He lives in Oakville with his wife and four children.

DORRIE DEUTSCHENDORF, LIGHTING DESIGNER/TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Dorrie Deutschendorf is a rarity in the world of theatre and dance. For over 20 years, she has been a lighting designer, dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, stage manager, and theatre technician. Having worked on productions on both sides of the stage, Dorrie has had the opportunity to produce unique and supporting visions for over 30 dance artists and directors in the Edmonton area, including Usha Gupta and Kate Ryan. This season, Dorrie will continue to support dance as Technical Director/Lighting Designer and Stage Manager for Ballet Edmonton.