ON STAGE
The Canadian Pacific Ballet presents Short Dances for Small Spaces
Where: Maritime Museum of B.C.
When: Tonight to Saturday,
then Aug. 16 and 17, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $20, available online at urbanartsproductions.com or at the door
The courtroom floor at the Maritime Museum of B.C. will serve as the stage for a new justice-themed production by Victoria's Canadian Pacific Ballet.
Opening tonight, the performance consists of three acts, set to the music of Romantic composers Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann and American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, respectively.
The choreography references actual cases tried at the venue, some of which were murder trials, says CPB co-director Roberta Taylor.
"This is about those souls who got lost and the proverbial ghosts that still live there," Taylor says, offering as an example the piece she has arranged to the music of Jackson, based on a spate of killings on Saltspring Island in the 1860s.
Three African Americans who had fled north in the 1850s were murdered in separate incidents. Only one of the cases led to a conviction.
"There's nowhere you can go to escape all bad things," says Taylor, explaining a theme she hopes to evoke.
Set to early symphonies by Schumann, the final act puts audience members on a sort of jury duty.
"You will find yourself
sympathizing with one of the three and see the other two as really human as well," Taylor says.
She notes the unconventional performance space created unique logistical challenges.
"The audience sits on three sides, so we had to choreograph the work to be beautiful from every angle."
