Cape Town City Ballet celebrates 75 years in Cape Town

Sunday 22 November 2009 is a spe­cial day for bal­let in Cape Town as Cape Town City Ballet (CTCB) cel­eb­rates 75 years on bal­let. This is South Africa’s premier bal­let com­pany and where bet­ter to com­mem­or­ate this mile­stone but at the newly refur­bished Artscape.

The even­ing will be com­mem­or­ated with a once off gala per­form­ance from both past and present stars of the bal­let. With a most fit­ting title the Happy Birthday Ballet will take the audi­ence through the CTCB’s his­tory. From the early begin­nings at the UCT Ballet Company, through the days of CAPAB Ballet right until the Cape Town City Ballet as it is today.

Appearing along­side the CTCB com­pany are past stars, some of whom are trav­el­ling from as far afield as Switzerland and St. Petersburg. Some of the famil­iar faces audi­ences can expect to see are Elizabeth Triegaardt, Eduard Greyling, Catinka van Vlaanderen, Carol Kinsey, Annette Middleton, Tracy Li, Janet Lindup, Allison Foat, Philip Boyd, Owen Murray, Clare Shepherd-Wilson, Veronica Paeper and many more ...

On 20 and 21 November the CTCB com­pany will be present­ing 3 per­form­ances of Balletscapes which fea­tures a new bal­let from Robin van Wyk called African Landscapes as well as works from other CTCB cho­reo­graph­ers. Also to be enjoyed by the audi­ence in these per­form­ances are excerpts from pop­u­lar bal­lets by the late David Poole, Veronica Paeper, Andre Prokovsky and oth­ers as well as the Grand Pas from Paquita. Cape Town really is in for a treat that weekend.

I have such fond memor­ies of going to see bal­lets such as Giselle, Copelia, Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet while grow­ing up. It was always a priv­ilege to be taken to the Artscape (then Nico Malan) by my mom to watch these beau­ti­ful dan­cers take to the stage and cre­ate a new world for me to dis­ap­pear into for a few hours. And with the CTCB being the only pro­fes­sional bal­let com­pany in Cape Town it is vital that we sup­port them so that they can carry on bring­ing little dan­cers dreams to life.

When and How Much?
If you would like to be a part of this week­end then make sure you book your tick­ets today. Balletscapes takes place on 20 November at 20h00 and on 21 November at both 14h00 and 20h00 with tick­ets ran­ging from R95 to R150 per per­son. The Happy Birthday Ballet, per­formed on 22 November costs R220 per per­son.  Tickets are avail­able through Computicket or you can tele­phone +27 (0)21 421‑7695.

Websites:
Artscape: http://www.artscape.co.za/
Cape Town City Ballet: http://www.capetowncityballet.org.za/

Photo Credits:
Photographs © Artscape

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