Blade
Behind the Scenes photographs and footage screenshots of production, “Blade”
with
Pianist & Figure Skater, Vincent Ip
Filmed: December 2017 in Toronto, Ontario
Production Release: Coming Soon
YouTube Video Link: Blade - Official
Vimeo Video Link: Blade - HD
Piano
Vincent Ip
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Music
Nocturne No. 20 in C Sharp Minor - Frederic Chopin
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Audio Recording & Mixing
Matt Antal
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Figure Skating & Choreography:
Vincent Ip
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Cinematography
Luke Saagi
Kyle Dowie
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Assistant Camera & Behind the Scenes Footage
Stelth Ng
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Directed, Produced, & Edited by Stelth Ng
DANCERS | CHOREOGRAPHERS
Dancers​
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I've made many fond memories and friendships from the incredible dancers I've been fortunate to work with. Their dedication, choreography, and general enthusiasm and energy is a constant source of inspiration for me.
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Working with them on choreography, sharing the stage at Chautauqua, NY, and producing choreographic music/dance films with them has been some of the most rewarding experiences of my artistic pursuits.
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Read more about these wonderful artists here!
Julie McLachlan
Holding her BFA in dance from York University, Julie McLachlan is a Toronto-based dance performer, choreographer and
dance instructor.
Julie has had the privilege of performing for Stand Up Dance, Le Groupe Apogee and is currently dancing with Love Letters Cabaret. She has presented choreography in The Chimera Project’s Fresh Blood and The Toronto Fringe Festival. Recently at ImpulsTanz International Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria, Julie took part in workshops with world-renowned teachers and connected with dance artists from all over the world.
As a retired competitive gymnast, Julie is also a certified gymnastics coach and specializes in teaching young dancers acrobatic skills.
Anna Pogulyaeva​
Born in Gorlovka, Ukraine Anna began dancing at the age of six. Her passion and talented were immediately recognized by her teacher who sent her to audition for the Professional Ballet School of Vadim Pisarev, Vaganova Method in Donetsk, Ukraine.
Anna was accepted and began her training in the Professional Ballet School which leads directly into National Ballet Company of Ukraine, Donetsk.
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Pogulyaeva’s natural talent landed her leading roles in ballets in the Professional Ballet School’s productions throughout her training.
While at the school Anna have the incredible privilege of studying under teachers who are decorated by the country with honours and awards for dance namely Galina Volodina awarded the “Honoured Ballet Teacher of Ukraine” and El’vira Rikova “Honoured Ballet Dancer of Ukraine”.
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Anna was hand picked while still in training to dance with the National Ballet Company of Ukraine, Donetsk an honour rarely given to a student. While with the company she had the privilege of working with Ukraine’s finest talent in productions and tours.Pogulyaeva’s graduated from the prestigious school in June 2010 with Honours.
In September 2010, Anna moved to Canada to pursue her professional career.Joining Cadence Bridges Ballet in February 2012 , Anna was promoted to Cadence Progressive Contemporary Ballet in June 2012. Pogulyaeva was able to dance with the company while attending school and has recently graduated from George Brown College Dance Performance Studies with Honours and Dean's Medal.
In 2014 Anna was invited to join the faculty of The School of Cadence Ballet where she continues to teach the Vaganova method.
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Tyler Gledhill
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Tyler Gledhill was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He trained at The National Ballet School in Toronto, Het National Balletacademie in Amsterdam, and The Pacific Northwest Ballet School in Seattle.
As a student he was awarded the Peter Dwyer Scholarship for the Performing Arts and the Lawrence Hasket Memorial Award.
Gledhill’s professional career began in The Netherlands with Intordans, touring throughout Europe and Asia.
Next he danced with The Göteborg Ballet and Cullberg Ballet in Sweden.
Tyler is now an independent artist, based in Toronto. He works with Hit & Run Productions, Opera Atelier, The Chimera Project, ProArte Danza and The Dietrich Group. For his role in DA Hoskins’ PARIS1994\Gallery in 2010, he was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding performance in a dance production.
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He has danced in works by choreographers such as Jirí Kylián, Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, Tero Saarinen, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Mats Ek and Birgit Cullberg; and created roles in works by Jo Kanamori, Nicolo Fonte, Javier de Frutos, Regina van Berkel, Patrick Delcroix and Karole Armitage.
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He has starred in two short films by director Rocco Barriuso, The Providential Lack of Anything and Swimming, as well as the web video for HIVStigma.com and commercials for Nike, Blackberry and Hakim Optical.
In 2011 and 2012 Tyler was featured in a durational live art and theatre installation, Obstructed View, by New York based artist Jonathan VanDyke.
Jeremy Nasmith​
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Jeremy Nasmith is the founder of Toronto’s Dance Teq Centre, as well as Director of Dance Teq. Jeremy teaches the Young Dancer Program as well as ballet classes with Dance Teq.
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Jeremy trained at the School of Atelier Ballet, and the National Ballet School under Glenn Gilmour. He also studied composition with Dr. Derek Holman.
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Having already performed and toured extensively with Opera Atelier in North America and Europe since 1986, in 1996 Jeremy joined the National Ballet of Canada, dancing soloist and principal roles, including Uncle Nikolai in James Kudelka’s Nutcracker, and Alain in La fille mal gardée and Puck in the Dream by Sir Frederick Ashton.
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While continuing to appear with Opera Atelier, Jeremy spent the next 7 years with the National Ballet of Canada, being awarded the rank of Second Soloist. In 2001, Jeremy the ballet left to pursue a freelance career in Toronto and Tokyo, while continuing as a guest artist with the National Ballet until 2008.
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Profoundly influenced by his time in Japan, Jeremy has choreographed more than 25 diverse works, including works for Ballet Jörgen Canada, the Fringe Festival, the Four Season Centre’s much-loved lunchtime concerts, Baroque Music Beside the Grange for the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Aradia Ensemble.
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Jeremy is also a noted fencer, experimental musician and fluent in Japanese.
Sarah Lapointe, Charlotte Ballet I
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Sarah began her training in MD at the age of two, attending Mid-Atlantic Center for the Performing Arts until age 14.
She studied at Baltimore School for the Arts before attending a summer intensive at The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, where she was offered a full scholarship to train under the direction of Bo and Stephanie Spassoff.
She competed in Youth America Grand Prix and World Ballet Competition where she earned numerous top honors and awards for her ballet technique and artistry at both the regional and international level.
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Sarah has attended summer intensives with Bolshoi Ballet Academy, The Rock School and the Chautauqua School of Dance, where, in 2014, she was awarded with the Artistic Director Award for Overall Excellence and Faculty Award for Technical Merit.
After being awarded National YoungArts Foundation Dance Finalist (Ballet, 2015) and receiving a nomination for U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts semi-finalist, in April 2015 Sarah was a guest artist with The Washington Ballet in the history breaking performance of Swan Lake featuring Misty Copeland and Brooklyn Mack.
At age eighteen, she began her professional career and joined Charlotte Ballet. In 2017, Sarah was named one of Dance Magazine’s “Top 25 to Watch”.
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Watch Sarah Dance in "Transcendence: Hold On"
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Photo and Bio taken from charlotteballet.org
Lexi Johnston, Charlotte Ballet I
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Lexi, from Kilgore, TX, started taking ballet classes at age 6 with Longview Ballet Theatre under the direction of Pat George Mitchell.
After graduating from high school, Lexi continued her studies in classical ballet and contemporary dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) under Susan Jaffe.
She graduated in May 2015 with a BFA in Dance with a concentration in Ballet. At UNCSA, Lexi performed in works by George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Susan Jaffe, Emery LeCrone, William Forsythe and Ethan Stiefel.
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She attended summer intensives at Jacob’s Pillow Ballet School, BalletX, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Miami City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, The School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Boston Ballet.
Since joining Charlotte Ballet, she has performed in various classical and contemporary works such as Mark Diamond’s Bolero, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux’s Sleeping Beauty, Dwight Rhoden’s The Groove and George Balanchine’s Rubies.
Lexi was a member of Charlotte Ballet II for the 2015/2016 season.
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Watch Lexi Dance in "Transcendence: Hold On"
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Photo and Bio taken from charlotteballet.org
James Kopecky, Charlotte Ballet I
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Born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, James grew up dancing at Dancenter North.
He trained in ballet, jazz, tap, modern and musical theater. After high school, James studied at Butler University under Marek Cholewa, Susan McGuire, Derek Reid, Cynthia Pratt, Tong Wang, Stephan Laurent and Michelle Jarvis.
In 2010, he graduated with a BFA in Dance and was offered an apprenticeship at Ballet San Jose under the artistic leadership of Dennis Nahat. In his second season, James was promoted to Corps de Ballet.
During his five years with Ballet San Jose, he was featured in a number of works including Paul Taylor’s Piazzolla Caldera, Twyla Tharp’s In The Upper Roomand Jorma Elo’s Glow/Stop.
Since arriving at Charlotte Ballet, James has enjoyed performing a number of pieces such as Alonzo King’s Map, Dwight Rhoden’s The Groove and Jiri Kylian’s Sechs Tanzes.
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Watch James Dance in "Transcendence: Hold On"
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Photo and Bio taken from charlotteballet.org
Josh Hall​, Charlotte Ballet I
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Josh started dancing at Lisa’s Dance Academy in Syracuse, NY. At age 8, he moved to North Carolina and started training at Dance Productions under Denise Britz-Clarke and Ed Phelan, and at Piedmont Dance Conservatory under Rebecca Massey Wiley and Daniel Wiley.
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He attended high school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he studied under Warren Conover, Nina Danilova, Douglas Gawriljuk, Nigel Burley and Ethan Stiefel. Josh attended summer intensives under full scholarship with Miami City Ballet, Charlotte Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
Josh has performed as Siegfried in Swan Lake and as the Snow King and Cavalier in Nutcracker
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Watch Josh Dance in "Transcendence: Hold On"
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Photo and Bio taken from charlotteballet.org
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Cara Hansvick
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Cara grew up in Evanston, IL and began dancing at Dance Center Evanston under the direction of Bea Rashid.
She continued her training at Indiana University where she received the Dean’s Scholarship to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance and an Outside Field in Arts Management.
At IU, she performed leading roles in George Balanchine’s Swan Lake, Concerto Barocco, Serenade and Elegie; Merce Cunningham’s Duets; Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies; and Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker.
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She spent summers dancing at Chautauqua Institution, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Point Park University, and Milwaukee Ballet. In her two summers as an apprentice at the Chautauqua Institution, she performed in works such as George Balanchine’s Who Cares?, Jean Pierre Bonnefoux’s Three Overtures,Mark Diamond’s Bolero and Sasha Janes’ Four Seasons. Her choreography was chosen both years to be performed during the workshop showcase and was chosen as first place in 2015.
Cara has also performed with Charlotte Ballet and Los Angeles', American Contemporary Ballet.
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Watch Cara Dance in "The Lark".
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Photo and Bio taken from charlotteballet.org
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Michael Menghini
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Michael began dancing at the age of eight. He danced with the Crooked Tree Arts Center School of Ballet under Artistic Director, Heather Raue, throughout middle and high school.
While at the school, Michael performed lead roles, including The NutcrackerRussian Soloist and Cavalier; Prince Lemon in Cippolino; Prince Charming in Cinderella; and Apollo in Pastoral Symphony.
During his training, Michael was given scholarships to train at summer intensives such as Houston Ballet, Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, San Francisco Ballet, The Juilliard School, and, most recently, the School of Dance at Chautauqua Institution, where he was given the Faculty Award for “Most Improved” and 1st Place Award for Choreography.
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While at Chautauqua, Michael performed in Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux’s Three Overtures, Mark Diamond’s Bolero, Nightwatch, & Reflections (Of a Life), Sasha Janes’ Four Seasons and Michael Vernon’s Czech Suite, as well as the lead in George Balanchine’s Who Cares?, staged by Patricia McBride.
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Watch Michael Dance in "The Lark".
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Photo and Bio taken from charlotteballet.org
Leah Chen
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A Native of New York City - Ballerina, Leah Chen is a student at the renowned School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center.
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She has studied ballet, piano, and violin since a young age, and maintains a busy schedule juggling dancing, high school courses, and college applications.
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Leah has spent consecutive summers dancing at several well-known intensives, including the Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and Opéra National de Paris Summer Intensives, as well as The Chautauqua Institution Summer Intensive Dance Program with Patricia McBride & Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux.
Her choreographic composition was selected in 2015 as one of top three final winners to be displayed at the Final Dance Gala of the Summer in The Chautauqua Amphitheatre, with live music to Vivaldi's Winter.
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Past performances in productions with the New York City Ballet as a School of American Ballet student includes five years of Nutcracker, Mozartiana, Union Jack, Sleeping Beauty, Circus Polka, Twinkliana, and The Magic Flute.
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In her spare time, Leah enjoys reading, exploring Greek Mythology, taking ballet photography, consuming French desserts & pastries, and travelling to exotic beaches. She hopes to major in History and continue expanding her knowledge of famous Literary Works.
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Watch Leah Dance in "River Flows In You".
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Photo taken from Leah Chen - Instagram.
