“Ballet needs Tla’amin’s Cameron Fraser-Monroe” – Powell River Living

VERNON, BC— Riveting, tour-de-force physicality and breath-taking grace – Ballet Kelowna returns to Vernon with an uplifting mixed program of new contemporary and classical works. The Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre proudly presents taqəš and Other Works on Saturday, November 12, 2022, at 7:30PM as the second performance of the 2022-23 SPOTLIGHT Dance Series.

This three-part performance features National Ballet of Canada Choreographic Associate Guillaume Côté‘s masterfully athletic interpretation of Maurice Ravel's famous Bolero, the premiere of an uplifting new classical work by award-winning choreographer Robert Stephen set to Franz Schubert’s warm and sweeping epic, Symphony No.5, and taqəš [tawKESH], a new work by Vernon’s own rising star, Cameron Fraser-Monroe.

Set to music by Polaris Prize-winning composer and singer Jeremy Dutcher, taqəš weaves together Fraser-Monroe’s classical ballet training and knowledge of traditional Coast Salish, Grass, and Hoop Dance to tell the traditional story "Raven Returns the Water", centering on p̓oho (raven) and walθ (frog). The title taqəš means “to return something” in Ayajuthem, the language belonging to the Homalco, Klahoose, K’omoks and Tla’amin Nations, which speaks to Raven’s journey to find and recover the world’s water when it disappeared.

“It is very important that First Nations peoples tell our own stories, “said Fraser-Monroe. “While our stories do not have morals, they do communicate our ways of life, and I found messages about water, greed, community and justice to be relevant today.”

Cameron Fraser-Monroe is a member of the Tla'amin First Nation, as well as being of Ukrainian and Scottish descent. His dance career began with Ukrainian dance training in Vernon, which led him to a wide variety of training in dance, music and theatre, including studying with World Champion Hoop Dancer Dallas Arcand and studied Grass Dance with Elder Mollie Bono.

Since graduating from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Fraser-Monroe has received choreographic commissions from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Ballet Kelowna, the Winnipeg Summer Dance Collective, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Aspirants, the Artist's Climate Collective, Transformation Cabaret at Vancouver’s Cultch theatre, and both PULSE and Indigenous Day Live! on APTN. He continues to practice and present Hoop Dance and is currently Ballet Kelowna’s first Artist in Residence.

“We are delighted to welcome Cameron as our first-ever Artist in Residence for our 20^th anniversary season,” says Simone Orlando, Artistic Director and CEO of Ballet Kelowna. “In addition to offering Cameron the space and resources to create meaningful work that is sure to have a lasting impact on dance in Canada, we are thrilled that he will also join the Company as a dancer in Vernon, as well as on tour to Ontario, B.C., and Newfoundland and Labrador.”

Founded in 2002, Ballet Kelowna is the sole professional dance company in BC’s Interior. The organization is committed to its role as a leader in the region through encouraging, promoting, and developing Canadian dancers and choreographers. The Company performs annually for more than 12,000 audience members in Kelowna and on tour, and provides unique dance training opportunities and outreach programs. Artistic Director and CEO, Simone Orlando, is an award-winning choreographer and former dancer with Ballet BC and The National Ballet of Canada.

Dance fans can preview video highlights of taqəš and Other Works on ticketseller.ca.

The Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre presents taqəš and Other Works on Saturday, November 12 at 7:30PM. The show runs 80 minutes with one intermission. Tickets are $45 for adults, $42 for seniors, and $40 for students. For tickets, please call 250-549-SHOW (7469) and for video previews, please visit our 2022-23 SPOTLIGHT Season online at: www.vdpac.ca.

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Ticket Link: https://www.ticketseller.ca/tickets/event/taq%C9%99%C5%A1-and-other-works

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ujVXyzf2wI

About Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre

The Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre Society is a non-profit, charitable organization devoted to fostering artists, their work, and live performance in all genres and for all ages. The Society operates the Performing Arts Centre’s (VDPAC) on behalf of the Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) and with the support of over 30 staff and 200 volunteers. Each year, we present our SPOTLIGHT Season of over 30 diverse performances, complemented by over 125 concerts, festivals, and special events. We select professional touring productions to entertain, enlighten, move and amuse our patrons. Altogether, they offer audiences of all ages a world of unforgettable live theatre experiences. Please visit: https://vdpac.ca/ & https://ticketseller.ca/

Facebook: @vdpac
Instagram: @vernonperformingarts

For more information, media can contact:

Angela Pells

Marketing Director

250-542-9335

[email protected]