Ballet Kelowna: The Cowboy Act Suite & Other Works

This triple-bill features a stunning lineup of signature works from Ballet Kelowna’s contemporary ballet repertoire. With Cameron Fraser-Monroe’s powerful and compelling taqəš [tawKESH], Alysa Pires’ vivacious audience favourite MAMBO, and Fraser-Monroe’s satirical The Cowboy Act Suite, this high-energy program promises to please a wide range of spectators.

Cameron Fraser-Monroe brings his classical ballet training, knowledge of traditional Coast Salish, Grass, and Hoop Dance, and experience as a contemporary dancer to taqəš [tawKESH], which means “to return something” in Ayajuthem, the language belonging to the Homalco, Klahoose, K’omoks and Tla’amin Nations. Set to several songs by Polaris Prize-winning composer and singer Jeremy Dutcher, taqəš follows the traditional story “Raven Returns the Water,” centred around ῤoho (raven) and walθ (frog).

Next, audiences will be treated to Alysa Pires’ crowd-pleasing MAMBO, a colourful joie de vivre set to a vibrant soundtrack of Latin, swing, and jazz standards by Dean Martin, Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney, Sarah Vaughn, and more.

Cameron Fraser-Monroe’s The Cowboy Act Suite is a work that explores the dichotomy between “Cowboys and Indians” set to music by Mohawk singer/songwriter Tom Wilson. While these caricatures have been portrayed on pages, stages, and in films, they are often penned from a colonial perspective. Fraser-Monroe’s intuitive take on the swashbuckling strut of the Cowboy informs this intellectual unpacking of a one-sided lens and flips the script to ask, what happens when an Indian directs the Cowboys through their history?