RWB brings much more than prestige to our downtown

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/07/2024 (496 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They come tiptoeing onto the stage at the Centennial Concert Hall, an unevenly spaced row of tiny tots dressed as little bumblebees.

In the bright stage lights, one stops to try to find her parents in the darkened crowd, only to be urged back to the task of dancing by a more focused classmate.

They’re adorable — and the audience of parents and grandparents can’t help but audibly affirm this with a collective sigh. Once the little ones have made their last twirl, the music fades and the applause begins. Someone tosses a rose on stage.

This is the year-end recital of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School.

As I drink in the delight of the families around me in the hall, awaiting the appearance of my own little dancer, a wave of appreciation washes over me.

There is a feeling we are being treated, that the joy of the dancers on stage is not only earned, but deserved, and these company-owned costumes, this time in the spotlight, these sighs of appreciation and wonder have been gifted to us.

An hour earlier I had waved goodbye to my own little child as he disappeared through the stage door of the concert hall, safe under the wing of a young instructor. Somehow, in the mystical depths of backstage, hundreds of dance students are organized into their class groups, dressed in costumes provided by the school and miraculously assembled in time to tiptoe onto stage on cue.

Tiny bumblebees, hip-hop teenagers in baggy pants and sneakers, top-hatted tap dancers: Each takes their turn.

Winnipeggers seem to consider the ballet as an untouchable classical art form, reserved for high society. Many of us haven’t attended a performance in a long time, or ever.

Perhaps our grandchildren have reintroduced us to the Nutcracker in recent times, or maybe we sat together during the recital, but for many of us, our art institutions seem separate from our day-to-day lives.

Yet here in Winnipeg, the RWB deserves some recognition for the humility and steadfastness with which it supports and enriches our city, far beyond the polished seasonal performances at the concert hall or the little bumblebees on stage.

In a time when downtown is struggling, when it seems most ground-level business spaces are for lease, the RWB has invested millions of dollars in its campus.

On the corner of Graham and Edmonton, the campus thrives. All the costumes are hand-sewn in house here, and new dancer residences and infrastructure ensure more round-the-clock activity in our city’s core.

The school brings hundreds of families from throughout the city to downtown every evening and weekend for classes, and the classrooms are being updated one by one to ensure those families continue to receive world-class dance education.

In the class selections themselves, the ballet ensures space for children and adults of all ability and experience. They provide classes for adults with Parkinson’s disease and children with developmental delays. They ensure every colour of Band-Aid is easily accessible on the school office counter.

In short, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet truly loves dance, loves our city and wants us to share the joy and life-giving nourishment of the art.

They don’t position themselves above us, but instead invite and include us over and over again into their planning and celebrations.

Never compromising on the quality of what they invite us to share, the ballet seems to see Winnipeg in a different light than most of us. They bring beauty to our broken downtown, seeing it worthy of one of the most prestigious arts organizations in the country. They bring professional dance to schools.

The RWB sees all of us as worthy of beauty and grace, and invites us to share in their joy.

The RWB begins its Ballet in the Park series next week, July 24-26 at the Lyric Theatre in Assiniboine Park. I cannot help but feel this is not mere marketing of an arts organization.

This is the sharing of the feast the ballet consistently prepares for our city. These are the treasures they uncompromisingly insist we deserve, even as other facets of our city rust and decay. These are the roses they toss to us, a reversal of the expected flow of gratitude.

If you attend the performances at Assiniboine Park, be sure to pick up a free ticket in advance. And, if there mood strikes you, consider a rose or two to throw in gratitude for all this organization does for our city.

rebecca.chambers@freepress.mb.ca