Canadian Pacific Ballet

Classical ballet takes center stage at fledgling Canadian Pacific Ballet. Led by Co-artistic Directors Roberta Taylor and Graham McMonagle, CPB is bucking current ballet convention by preserving ballet’s traditional legacy and stressing style over athleticism. The lone classical ballet company in Victoria, British Columbia, 2-year-old CPB has quickly made a name for itself alongside the city’s other cultural institutions, the Pacific Opera Victoria and the Victoria Symphony. 

 

Working with a modest $275,000 Canadian annual operating budget, Taylor and McMonagle have been able to stretch those dollars into two fully produced, full-length ballet evenings along with four repertory programs each season. They have done so by wearing a number of hats; Taylor also serves as resident choreographer and creates new works for the company, while McMonagle works as wardrobe master and a company dancer.

 

The company’s repertoire includes rarely performed classical works such as La Esmeralda (after Perrott and Petipa) and Gâité Parisienne (Léonide Massine), along with new works choreographed in the romantic and classical vernacular.

 

Though the company employs only 15 dancers, Taylor hopes to increase that number to 21 by fall 2008, and more than 30 as soon as the budget allows. The increased numbers would help Taylor realize another of the company’s goals: to produce larger 19th-century works, including those of August Bournonville. 

 

“The atmosphere around the studio is one of support,” says 22-year-old dancer Patrick Johnstone. “We all work off and with each other.”

 

Calgary native Elizabeth Harries, 19, concurs, “We are a tight-knit group, and Bobby and Graham are really knowledgeable and like to pass on that knowledge to us. It has helped me grow so much as dancer and a person.”

 

To groom new dancers and help acclimate them to the company’s style, CPB offers a two-tier apprentice program in which second-tier apprentices work directly with the company.

 

Apropos for a company with a repertoire so heavily influenced by the past, CPB is housed in a heritage building constructed in the late 1800s during the heyday of many of the ballets the company seeks to revive. The 3,500-square-foot facility contains two studios with basket weave under-flooring, offices and a wardrobe shop that boosts the company’s income by offering custom costume rental and sales as well as costume construction workshops.

 

Taylor is committed to preserving classical dancing in Victoria and on tour. “Keeping that voice alive is something I have been passionate about for a long time,” she says. “I want to make sure that ballet’s romantic and classical styles are here for the future generations to experience.”