Sabrina Delafield

Classical 96.3

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Paula Citron on the Arts

The National Ballet School's Annual Spring Showcase gives you bang for your buck. You get a wonderfully diverse program, excellent dancing, and a close encounter for a reasonably priced ticket. You also see the stars of tomorrow.

The program is really interesting. The classic is La Sylphide, Act II, with contemporary works by Toer van Schayk, Peggy Baker and James Kudelka. The gild on the lily is Rudi van Dantzig's lusciously romantic "Four Last Songs" to Richard Strauss' immortal music.

Looking at young dancers - it's hard to pick who will go the distance, but here are the standouts for me. Nadine Drouin has a beautiul classical style, Naoya Ebe and Brock Hayhoe have Prince written all over them, Edward Carr is developing charisma, Alyson Yamada has real presence, while Sabrina Delafield has the supple body and emotional layering that draws the eye. Only time will tell.

The National Ballet School's Annual Spring Showcase continues at the Betty Oliphant Theatre until Friday.