This week, the Times Colonist's Arts writers look back at the most memorable moments from the past year.
There's no need to shuffle off to Buffalo, or New York, or any other big city for that matter, considering all this city has to offer when it comes to top-drawer dance, visual arts and opera.
Here we shine the spotlight on just a few highlights from the past 12 months:
1. Ballet Victoria's Carmen and Other Works, February
Artistic director Paul Destrooper crafted a mixed program that offered an extraordinary visual feast. His Carmen was an alluring gem with demanding choreography. He spiced up the program by pairing the piece with a crowd pleaser set to Leonard Cohen's songs.
2.Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Peter Pan, March
This delightful production, complete with petulant Tinkerbell and glitter-encrusted croc, gave spring a big lift -- literally. With harnesses, aerial cables and wire-savvy technicians, the show took flight to Neverland and Peter showed off his high-flying swordsmanship.
3.Melbourne's
Chunky Move,
April
Who doesn't want to dance better at parties? This Ozzie group showed everyone how, while offering an intimate, touching, sometimes hilarious insight into the male psyche. Great dancing and clever video clips punctuated the quasidocumentary.
4.The Magic Flute, Pacific Opera Victoria, April
The drama and comedy in Mozart's late masterpiece both shone through in Glynis Leyshon's clever, thoughtful production, which boasted orchestral playing at once lively and elegant (under Timothy Vernon) and a cast and chorus equally as deft as singers and actors.
5.Hubbard Street Dance Chicago,
May
Here for the first time, these ferocious American dancers wrapped up the Dance Victoria spring season with an explosion of fearsome speed and ingenious moves. A playful, classy, humorous offering that even explored some Japanese animation styles.
6.Canadian Pacific Ballet's Victoria
and Albert, May
The 19th-century love story of Queen Victoria and her consort, Prince Albert, was a colourful new offering and ideal entertainment on the Victoria Day weekend. The scenery, choreography and gorgeous costumes all reflected the style of the time.
7.National Ballet of Canada, special performance,
September
Ten of the company's best dancers performed a unique show here for one night only, in a program chosen by artistic director Karen Kain. The previously promised Sleeping Beauty was shelved due to financial constraints -- no one minded.
8.Decidedly Jazz DanceWorks' Wowandflutter,
October
The audience slipped into a time machine and enjoyed 75 minutes of frantic, full-on dance that ran the gamut from prehistory to outer space. Choreographer Kimberley Cooper "went to crazy places in my head," and the audience enjoyed the trippy wizardry of that ride.
9.The Rake's Progress, Pacific Opera Victoria, November
A triumph. Glynis Leyshon's ingenious staging of this eclectic fable made for exuberant and colourful theatre; Timothy Vernon's orchestra gave an often radiant account of Stravinsky's notoriously tricky score; and the cast and chorus exuded energy and personality.
10.Vision into Reality: Colin Graham and West Coast
Modernism, fall
and winter
Michael Morris curated a masterful exhibition that is both homage to first gallery director Colin Graham and a fascinating reflection on the institution's early expansion from Edwardian restraint to modern sophistication. It continues to Jan. 10.
-- With files from Kevin Bazzana
