NEWSLETTER
Summer 2007:
Summer has come to Vancouver, a little late perhaps, but most decidedly. And, most decidedly, there is lots of wonderful news to report about the goings-on at the Goh Ballet. We’ll start with the exiting new people and plans that will greet us this fall, then we’ll let you know what’s happening at the Goh Ballet this summer, and, finally, a recap of the groundbreaking activities of the past spring:
- New Arrivals (Faculty, Staff, Board of Directors)
- Company Auditions – Sunday, 23 September 2007
- Registration for Fall
- Summer School
- Teacher Training
- Year-end Professional and Academy Performance Recap
- More News and Notes
NEW ARRIVALS:
We are delighted to announce the following guests and additions to Goh Ballet’s Professional Division faculty coming this fall – a group that not only has an amazing dance world pedigree and an astonishing body of achievement, but also a tremendous range to fit our ambitious, versatile Professional Division students.
***
This past season, James Amar contributed his expert skills to the staging of our year-end program in June, with Giselle and the Don Quixote Suite. He has returned again for our Summer Intensive, and we’re delighted that we’ll see him again in September.
Mr. Amar trained with the Paris Opera National Ballet School. His professional dance career was with the Jeune Ballet de France and as a Soloist with both the Opera Ballet of Nantes and the National Ballet of the Rhin, performing throughout the world’s major cities, including classical and neo-classical repertoire from Bournonville, Balanchine, Tudor, Fokine, Kurt Jooss, José Limón, and Jiri Killian, as well as contemporary works by the likes of Angelin Preljocaj, Maurice Bejart, Carolyn Carlson and Maguy Marin.
His career as a pedagogue and Ballet Master has been equally international and accomplished. Starting at the Conservatory of Salon de Provence, then as Ballet Master and Teacher with the Juene Ballet de France until 2003. He has since been invited as a guest throughout Europe, Asia, the Americas and even Africa, including at the National Ballet of Prague, National Ballet School of Belgrade, Uraguay’s National Ballet of Sodre in Montevideo, China’s National Ballet Company of Shen Yang, and Tokyo’s Estudio Alma. He was also selected by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to conduct official cultural missions abroad. He has staged such acclaimed ballets as Napoli, La Sylphide, Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda, Grand Pas Classique, and, of course, as he did recently here, Giselle.
We feel he is uniquely qualified for the Goh Ballet’s mission and objectives and Mr. and Mrs. Goh are delighted with his dedication to our students, his professional demeanor and his immense wealth of international experience, knowledge and skill.
***
Ukrainian-born Nikolay Levitskiy will also be no stranger to our dancers. He is here for the second half of the summer program, and we’re delighted that he will return again in September. Levitskiy danced professionally with The Opera and Ballet State Theater in Kiev, Ukraine as Principal Dancer from 1968-1970. He then served as a Principal Dancer for The Leningrad State Ballet Company "Choreographic Miniatures" under Artistic Director of Leonid Jacobson from 1970-1988.
As Ballet Master, Repetiteur and Principal Teacher, Mr. Levitskiy has served in St. Petersburg at the Lenconcert, Mariinsky Theatre Ballet, Eifman Ballet Company, Liberal University of Arts, and also in Korea at the Korean National University, and the Universal Ballet Theatre and Academy.
Most recently Mr. Levitskiy has worked in Denver, Colorado with the Colorado Ballet Company as a teacher and the Academy of Colorado Ballet as a principal faculty teacher from 2003-2005, as well as in Orange County, California as Ballet Master and Teacher with Festival Ballet Theatre.
Mrs. Goh feels a reminiscent pang observing Mr. Levitskiy’s classes. “It reminds me of my training in China with my Russian teachers. Same style,” she says, raising her brows and nodding approvingly.
***
We’re glad to have these new additions join our resident professional teachers, Yao Ping Zhu, Jian Rong Sheng, and of course Mr. & Mrs. Goh. Our roster will also include guest teachers and choreographers from the local and international dance scene throughout the Goh Ballet’s 30th season, including our regular itinerants, such as Lynnette Kelley.
We also send our warmest farewell and best wishes to Jia Nian Chen. Mr. Chen first came to the Goh as a guest summer school instructor, along with his wife, Mei Fang Lin, in 1996 and devoted over a decade to Canada’s aspiring ballet students before returning to Shanghai after the year-end performances this June.
Along with new teachers, we’re glad to have new staff aboard, including Brian Gross, who assumed the position of Executive Director in early July, and Julia Cha, our Administrative Assistant, who joined our office staff earlier in the year. Along with Paul Lee, they make a talented team that strives to work, on behalf of our dancers, as hard as the dancers themselves.
If you’ve been around the Academy or to any of the year-end performances this year, you’ll recognize Brian Gross. He was our emcee for the performances and has been working with us in various capacities since 2005. Brian has been promoted to the position of Executive Director and brings a wealth of organization and communication skills. He has had previous careers as a Communications Professor at California State University for 5 years, and as Directors both in businesses and non-profit arts organizations. He also had a decade-long career composing original music for dance companies in Los Angeles, as well as producing several mixed program dance performances, and writing, composing and producing critically-lauded theatrical pieces. With a Masters degree in Writing from California Institute of the Arts, he has been, and we are confident he will continue to be, a great asset to our Academy and its dancers and families, both internally and in public relations.
Julia Cha was raised in Buenos Aires and Vancouver and completed her studies in 2006 at UBC in Hispanic Philology. She has strong interests in many art forms, including dance.
With 10 members and growing, the Board of Directors of the Goh Ballet Vancouver Society has been helping behind the scenes to facilitate the great growth that the Goh Ballet has seen in the recent past and is eyeing in the near future. They are gearing up for further involvement, to help create the financial reality to match the Goh Ballet’s prodigious talent and drive. Their fundraisers this year were the most successful ever (topping last year’s already record-breaking results).
Along with the existing board members of Fei Wong (President), Bruce Gillies (Treasurer), Patricia Young (Secretary), Lin Yee Goh, Valerie Jerome, Diana Liu, Carmen Stossel, Jan Whitford and Sonny Wong, Stephanie Chan was recently invited to join the board.
Stephanie Chan comes from a legal background, spending the last 8 years at Ballard Power Systems – most recently as General Counsel & Corporate Secretary. In addition to legal skills, Stephanie brings to the Goh Ballet Vancouver Society strengths and experience in board governance and processes. Stephanie is also a board member of Make-A-Wish Foundation of BC & Yukon and Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada.
COMPANY AUDITIONS – SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23RD
Not only will this be a season of great new and existing members of the Goh Ballet team, but also a season of more touring and productions for our young Company. Another full schedule of educational performances is shaping up, as are many other performance opportunities to coincide with regular and special community events, especially as Vancouver and Canada prepare for the arrival of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
The Company will also be taking on a more professional structure, and as part of this, auditions will be held for the 9 full-member positions and 21 apprentice positions on Sunday, September 23 rd. Auditions will be open to both current Goh Ballet students and dancers from outside.
Please contact the Academy at 604-872-4014 or at admin@gohballet.com to sign up for auditions for the Professional Division and the Company, as well as for a place in our General Division classes. Remember, we have classes at all levels, including beginner classes for most age groups. And adults or drop-ins, don’t forget our popular evening classes Monday through Thursday from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., which provide three levels of instruction, including for absolute beginners. Save your place now for our year-round training season starting in September.
Our Summer Intensive is in session, the Professional Division program led by Guest Artist James Amar’s well-honed pedagogy, along with Guest teacher Nikolay Levitskiy and our regular staff of Jian Rong Sheng and Yao Ping Zhu, as well as numerous classes taught by former Goh Vice-Principal, Che Chun.
We’re delighted to have Mr. Amar and Mr. Levitskiy here, and we also welcome a large number of students who have come from all across Canada, as well as abroad.
Not only have there been classes this summer, but Mr. Goh led intensive rehearsals for a presentation and audition that may lead to a featured role in a combined broadcast event with TV China and the CBC later this year. Our dancers held nothing back… more news on this later, as it develops.
Fiona Smith, Head Teacher of the General Division, along with Ying Zhang, Tanya Phelps, Ken Guan and others are not only teaching in the summer school, but are also participating in furthering their skills in the Academy’s Teacher Training Course.
Along with the Summer Intensive for students, the Goh Ballet is glad to be holding its 4-week teacher training course for both its own teachers and others from the local community. Led by Principal Lin Yee Goh and her decades of experience in training, the program also features several guests, all experts in their fields, including special guest Xu Dingzhong (Senior Director of the Beijing Dance Academy, China) and Elizabeth Beddard (RN, MSN, Sessional Instructor for University of Victoria – Nursing Department, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority).
We’re glad to have a staff devoted to developing new skills and techniques, and to have this opportunity to build further team cohesion in the classes. Some of our senior students are also enrolled and learning much about the teaching profession.
And now that we’ve given the run-down on the exciting news of the present and future, on to a recap of our groundbreaking recent past.
YEAR-END PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCES
Just last month the Goh Ballet dancers performed their most ambitious year-end program yet. With two heart-rending performances of Giselle, the first time a Vancouver-based company has performed the ballet in its entirety and with a full cast, Goh Ballet dancers tackled this classic (debuted in 1841) with tenderness, pathos and unquestionably world-class technique. Yuka Ebihara and Stephanie Pedlow showed great versatility in the title roles. Eric Burrough and guest artist Huang Yi (Principal dancer at Guangzhou Ballet, China) each had their own inimitable and fully-committed turns as Albrecht.
In addition to the exhilarating challenges of the full-length ballet, the dancers performed an evening of mixed program with pieces choreographed and staged for them by luminaries like France’s James Amar, and Vancouver’s Rachael Poirier, along with Goh Ballet’s own resident choreographer Jian Rong Sheng and General Division head teacher Fiona Smith. So many dancers displayed and demonstrated their improvements, achieved through constant striving during the course of the year. The audience was full of praise at how well all the dancers worked together, and, in the wings, dancers cheered on their peers, whom they had watched push themselves (with help from our instructors and choreographers) to reach these amazing technical and artistic heights.
The Academy year-end show, Coppelia Fantasie, followed a week later with two packed shows at the Vancouver Playhouse featuring a broad spectrum of styles, all based on the firm bedrock of classical training. The final work each night were heart-stopping performances from Don Quixote featuring Shinji Kajita and, on different nights, Marika Sato and Madoka Sato.
Watching these performances, it’s always amazing to think that children as young as 4 years-old are out there on the stage in front of a full house, performing choreographically challenging pieces with confidence, poise and pride. The teachers glowed with pride too, as students have progressed and matured this year much further than their level’s expectations.
DVDs of both nights of Coppelia Fanatasie are now available for purchase by contacting the Academy ($25 each).
While so much of what we have to share about in our newsletters has to do with milestones, awards and performances, we want to take a moment to remind everyone that it is early training that develops the foundation of good habits, technique and attitude that makes professional success possible.
Although we know not all of our General Division students will enter the Professional Division, we make sure that each one is prepared to do so. Though we want our classes to be engaging for young dancers, we also aim to stimulate their minds with rigorous challenge, which we believe develops a sense of deep accomplishment and, in the end, a well-rounded sense of discipline and confidence. And confidence, we believe, is a valuable commodity that children can use to express and assert themselves, but, more importantly, to contribute in the broader world that they will encounter as they grow into young adults – whether in a dance-related profession or otherwise.
We gratefully acknowledge our General Division teachers for their essential role in the Academy (and if you saw their award-winning choreography during the year-end performances, you know that they aren’t just professional, patient and kind, but also very creative too!).
Many thanks go, for both sets of shows, to Ballet Master and Production Director Yao Ping Zhu, Stage Manager Elizabeth Beddard, Lighting Designer Gerald King, Costume Coordinator Deborah Basterfield, and the slew of parents who helped with last-minute adjustments to costumes and reigned in the goings-on backstage. Not many people may have known the hard work you were doing behind the scenes – but they would have most definitely known it if you weren’t!
We’re sorry to have to put some of this at the end, as it is by no means an afterthought, but as you can see, this email has already become quite lengthy! And we’re also sorry if we missed some important news, awards, etc. We’re doing our very best to keep up on the busy lives of all our families and dancers, and we’re always glad to hear your good news!
In March, Alyssa Stevens became the 20th Goh Ballet Student to be awarded the Royal Academy of Dance’s highest examination honour, the Solo Seal. Excellent work, and many thanks to Goh Ballet’s trainers, especially Lynnette Kelley – and, of course, pianist Si Ping Ma. There’s more great news for Alyssa too, but, as it hasn’t been officially announced yet, we’ll have to hold it!
Kirsten Wicklund won the Mary Day Award and placed in the Top 12 at the Youth America Grand Prix 2007, serving as Canada’s only placing contestant, boy or girl, in the Finals. (We were all saddened by the injury that prevented her from performing in the year-end shows and are glad to see her back at the Academy now that her cast has come off.)
Goh Ballet students dominated the Senior Provincials this year, with Angelica Villalon as the Division winner and Miguel Nguyen as the runner-up. Parisa Mehregan was also the runner-up Junior Provincial Representative for Surrey Festival of Dance.
Goh Ballet students again took home dozens of first place prizes from the Surrey Festival of Dance and the Pacific West Festival, including the five pieces from the General Division that were included in the Mixed Program at the Centre. Other notable highlights:
Grande Polonaise, choreographed by Fiona Smith, won first place in its divisions in both festivals, including, at Surrey, winning 3rd Place overall ($250) and taking home the “No Borders” grand prize and $1,000 (winning out over senior groups that also competed for the prize). They also took home the Most Entertaining Dance trophy from Pacific West.- Grande Polonaise and the La Fille Mal Gardee pas de deux were asked to perform at the Honours Performance at Surrey.
- Petits Galops and Honey Bears were invited to perform at Pac West's Celebration Event and each dance received $200.00.
- Celia Fan: Junior Championship winner set solos (female)
- Deamo Ford-Uchizono: Junior Championships winner set solo (male)
- Kirsten Wicklund: Senior Championships winner set solo (female)
- Miguel Nguyen: Senior Championships winner set solo (male)
We want to bid a fond farewell and best wishes for the future to some of our dancers, who are moving on to their careers and, in many cases, back to their home countries.
And finally - for the 30th Anniversary Gala, in spring of 2008, we’ll be inviting back some of the many Goh Ballet graduates who now grace stages across the world, and we’re looking forward to another emotionally compelling and phenomenal show.
