NEWSLETTER
Summer 2006:
July 2: General School keynote performance, 10th Anniversary Conference – Vancouver Yan Xin Life Science and Technology Centre at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver.
July 3: Start of Goh Ballet’s Summer Intensive. Martin Fredmann begins 2-week guest instruction.
Mr. Fredmann oversaw the renaissance of the Colorado Ballet during his tenure as Artistic Director from 1987 to 2005. He has been sought as a teacher internationally over the last three decades. In 2005 he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette from the Government of Japan, where he has trained young ballet dancers who now perform on stages throughout the world. Since 2003, Mr. Fredmann has also acted as Director of the Japan Grand Prix.
July 7: Professional Division performs for a Fairchild Television special at UBC’s Chan Centre.
July 10: Goh Ballet professional Division student Kirsten Wicklund, 16, wins the top prize at the U.S. National Dance Alliance competition in New York City.
July 11: Maina Gielgud begins 2-week guest instruction.
Trained by the great Russians including Tamara Karsavina and Lubov Egorova, and later Rosella Hightower, Maina Gielgud has had an incredibly diverse career creating works with Maurice Bejart’s XXth Century Ballet, and as a principal with London Festival Ballet and SWRB, an international guest artist, and partnering Rudolf Nureyev. She then directed The Australian Ballet (1983-1997) and the Royal Danish Ballet. Free-lancing since 1999, she stages works (her highly acclaimed Giselle for Boston Ballet and Ballet du Rhin, and in June 2005, for Houston Ballet where she was Artistic Associate). She made a comeback as a dancer and actress in Maurice Bejart's L’Heure Exquise, and now guest teaches and coaches around the world.
July 12: Professional Division students James Stout, 18, Kostya Keshyshev, 19, and Fei Fei Ye,18, leave for Bulgaria for the renowned Varna International Competition. The Varna International Competition dates back to 1964, and has given rise to mega ballet stars in every decade since then, such as Mikhail Barishnikov (1966), Vladimir Derevyanko (1978), Canada’s own Evelyn Hart (1980), Alen Bottaini (1996), and many others.
July 17: Goh Ballet student Kostyantyn Keshyshev wins $10,000 national scholarship.
Veronica Tennant, Marquita Witham-Lester and Igor Dobrovolskiy, the members of the Hnatyshyn Foundation ballet jury, found him to be a strong, athletic performer with many physical attributes. "He definitely has the potential to become a very fine classical and contemporary dancer. He has already acquired fine technique, with an elegant style for the classical work and a dynamic quality in the contemporary."
July 20: Four Goh Ballet students, Alyssa Stevens, 17, Kirsten Wicklund, Kostya Keshyshev and Melissa Ong, 14, receive Advanced Arts Study Awards from the Vancouver Foundation. The awards, ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, help to nurture and develop professional performing artists from British Columbia.
July 26: At the invitation of the Chinese Government, 14 dancers leave for Goh Ballet’s second tour of China this year. They will serve as Canada’s cultural ambassadors at the opening of a major children’s arts complex, the International Children’s Village, in Tianjin.
July 28: Vancouver Goh Ballet student Fei Fei Ye, 18, was announced as the Bronze Medal winner at the Varna International Competition.
The grueling two-week competition saw three Goh Ballet students dancing nearly a dozen extremely challenging pieces that they have been learning night and day for weeks under the tutelage of their award-winning coaches at the Goh Ballet. Luminaries from the entire Vancouver dance scene lent their hand to this success, including Ballet B.C.’s Artistic Director, John Alleyne, who contributed a pas de deux from Ballet B.C.’s recent production of A Streetcar Names Desire, and Danzmode’s Rachel Poirier, who contributed Innocence, which Fei Fei and her partner Kostyantyn Keshyshev, 19, danced for the final round that finally brought the medal.
All three Goh Ballet dancers, including soloist James Stout, 18, made it into the semi-finals of the extremely competitive event, which pared down 103 dancers from 40 countries to the few who eventually took home medals. The Varna competition is considered one of the four top ballet competitions in the world, along with Jackson, Moscow and Helsinki.
Fei Fei Ye moved from China to Vancouver in 2002 to enroll in the Goh Ballet Academy's professional division and since then has been the recipient of many scholarships and local awards and has competed in the Asian Pacific International Ballet Competition and was a semi-finalist at the Prix De Lausanne. This is her first international win and the first Junior Division winner from Canada in the history of the Varna competition.
August 2: Goh Ballet’s dancers perform in the closing ceremonies at the Tianjin Gala in China. Only 4 groups out of 250 (from 47 countries) were selected for this great honour!
August 3-5: Goh Ballet celebrates the success of its Summer Intensive with presentations for parents and friends of the Academy.
THE UPCOMING 2006/2007 SEASON:
If just reading the events of the last five weeks boggles you, take a look at what is to come!
2006/2007 will be a year of celebration as the Goh Ballet Academy commemorates its 30 YEAR success story of becoming not only the premiere ballet academy in Vancouver, but also of becoming a recognized player on the international ballet stage, with graduates in major companies across the continents of the world.
PERFORMANCES: The Goh Ballet Youth Ensemble (composed of rotating dancers from the PB, PA and YBC professional programs) already has over 50 performances scheduled throughout the Lower Mainland and the Province for the 2006/2007 season. These include commissioned professional performances, educational programs at schools, and community events. This busy performance schedule helps improve the confidence of our dancers, gets them acquainted with the rigours of company life and also allows audiences to see and appreciate the professional artistry and technique that they are developing at the Goh Ballet Academy.
We have great things planned for our annual Christmas Showcase, and with this being our 30th Anniversary, you can expect amazing performances, special guests, returning graduates and events surrounding our Year-End shows in June!
COMPETITIONS: The roster of Goh Ballet’s international award winners continues to grow. The coming season will see our dancers off to many more competitions. In the first two months of the new season:
September: Fei Fei Ye, Kostyantyn Keshyshev and James Stout will compete in Hong Kong at the 2006 Genée International Competition, following on the heals of Goh’s Céline Gittens, who won in 2005 (and will be joining the Birmingham Royal Ballet in England in the Fall – CONGRATULATIONS!).
October: James Stout, Melissa Ong and Stephanie Pedlow will compete in the Beijing Dance Academy’s International Ballet Invitational.
FESTIVALS: Also in the Spring, Goh Ballet students at all levels will be selected to compete in local festivals, including North America’s largest amateur dance festival, the Surrey Festival of Dance. Last year saw our dancers win dozens of first place prizes (and dozens of scholarships!), as well as the “No Borders” Grand Prize. Dancers also went on to compete and win at the Provincial competitions!
FALL REGISTRATION/AUDITIONS:
Registration and auditions for Goh Ballet’s exciting 30th Anniversary year of training, performances and competitions is currently on-going. We have two auditions for the professional division scheduled before regular classes start up again on September 5:
- Tuesday, August 29, 2006 at 4:00 p.m.
- Monday, August 4, 2006 at 4:00 p.m.
Please contact us by phone or email to register for these auditions, providing student name, birthdate, phone number and a brief training history. If you can't make it on either of these dates, please give us a call and speak with Paul Lee about setting up another audition time. Video auditions are also accepted in NTSC VHS or DVD, and should include Centre, Barre and one variation.
General division registration is also on-going for children age 4 and up, with beginner classes available to children of all ages. Some classes are already full and others are filling, so please contact Paul Lee in the office to reserve your space. Adult drop-in classes will resume also on September 5.
