At my request and on relatively short notice, Sabrina created a nine minute work for two gentlemen, which I was thrilled with. This piece, ein von viel, proved she is developing very rapidly into a skilled artist with an exceptional eye for crafting dance with good taste.…

 

Her work to date demonstrates that she is the future of dance in Canada…

 

James Whiteside and Jared Redick gave a superb performance of Sabrina Matthews’s "Ein von viel," one of the best additions to the repertoire in years. The two play in and out of the exquisite counterpoint of Bach’s "Goldberg Variations" (vibrantly played by Freda Locker) with playful phrases of luxurious weight, their limbs carving great slices of space with stretches, kicks, and off-balance turns.

 

…All 40 or so female contestants began by performing the same three-minute work to a Mozart piano sonata that Canadian choreographer Sabrina Matthews created earlier that week. "The dancers and I worked together for three hours the first day, then I had one-on-one sessions with them the next day," said Matthews after the semi-finals.

 

The piece cleverly and ably gave dancers a chance to show off their leg extensions, suppleness in the back, pirouettes and jumps…

 

Smyth clearly showed gold medal qualities. Matthews created a challenging piece for the male dancers topped by a triple jump in the air, but Smyth tore through it with gusto. He did the same afterward in his Don Quixote variation, throwing off multiple pirouettes and big jumps. At his age, he can be forgiven the show-boating (his Don Quixote drew enthusiastic female squeals)…

 

A far–out, high–energy, gorgeous gamble. Karen Kain must be breathing a sigh of relief today. The artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada took a huge risk commissioning three dramatically different new works from Canadian choreographers – and it paid off.

 

…For her ecstatic work DEXTRIS, Sabrina Matthews chose Vivaldi's joyous Dixit Dominus, and music director David Briskin neatly marshals his large force of soloists, choristers and orchestra to produce an intelligent and lively reading of the piece.

 

Yet there is darkness, a hint of despair amid the hope – in fact, Matthews works against the music here in interesting ways. The chorus appears on stage in mid-air metal baskets, dressed in grey cloaks. The soloists, also in grey, are dark figures in the corner. Christopher Dennis's lighting swaths the dancers in shadows.

 

The choreography, too, built around pas de deux, is one of desperation and competition as the dancers strive for some kind of light. The men swing the women every which way, particularly in overhead shoulder lifts, and collectively the five couples seem to be made of elastic. When they dance on their own, it is with gymnastic, acrobatic hurling.

 

Kudos to Heather Ogden and Piotr Stanczyk, Sonia Rodriguez and Jonathan Renna, Stacey Shiori Minagawa and Etienne Lavigne, Tina Pereira and Kevin D. Bowles, and Jillian Vanstone and James Shee for executing this relentless movement. And to Robert Stephen – a lone male – who is given fearsome choreography that seems to move him faster than the blink of an eye.

 

Just don't blink at the end of the piece. It begins with the dancers facing the audience, but it closes with them in the same formation – only facing to the side. In the same way that each individual section ends in calm, this finale is a whimper not a bang. But it heightens the fact that striving never really stops, it's a forever act that occurs again and again.

 

As for the striving of the diverse choreographers here, the ballet's big gamble? Innovation is an exciting program with gorgeous production values – a triumph of Canadian choreography.

 

 

…Her third short work for The National Ballet of Canada, DEXTRIS is a masterful ode to the magnificent sacred music of composer Antonio Vivaldi. Matthews has chosen to match her choreographic moxy with Vivaldi’s grand Baroque oratorio Dixit Dominus, a large–scale work for five soloists, choir and orchestra divided into nine parts. The score itself has an interesting provenance having been mistakenly attributed to Vivaldi’s younger contemporary Baldassarre Galuppi. The manuscript was rediscovered in 2005 at the Sächsische Landesbibliothek in Dresden, where it had gone unnoticed for more than 200 years. Matthews has chosen the second of Vivaldi’s three known versions of the psalm and has worked diligently to come to terms with the piece’s sheer magnitude.

 

Her choreography makes effective use of cannon sequences and the layering of voices, to find beautiful, sweeping arcs and buoyant partnering. Movements meticulously answer the score – matching men’s sections with robust baritone harmonies, duets and trios with more vulnerable solo voices. By turns, playful, celebratory and mournful, the dancers show off their dexterity in torrid entanglements of limbs and swivelling torsos. The soft-spoken Matthews radiates with energy and moves like a modern dancer, demanding complex sequences that engage the whole body – challenging the dancers to throw themselves off balance momentarily before reclaiming vertical.

 

Adding to the grandeur of Matthew’s choreography, the score is performed live by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir with 48 choir members and soloists. The choir is arrayed across the stage with the dancers on steel scaffolding especially designed for the piece. Costumes by Caroline O’Brien, a long–time collaborator with the National Ballet, and lighting design by Christopher Dennis, Resident Lighting Designer with the company, complete this visually and aurally stunning work.

 

Together and separately, these three works create a sense of agency and vision that few mixed programmes – especially those composed of world premieres by young choreographers – can boast. The National Ballet of Canada’s Innovation programme gives tremendous reason to hope for even greater works from these three immensely talented Canadian artists in years to come.

 

 

Karen Kain took a huge risk by commissioning three world premieres by Canadian choreographers, and it has paid off.

 

…Matthews chose Vivaldi’s joyous Dixit Dominus, yet there is darkness. The choreography, built around pas de deux, is one of desperation as her dancers strive for some kind of light. Working against the music creates an interesting effect.

 

Collectively, the evening is a triumph of Canadian choreography.

 

 

Veer is a world premiere. Matthews originally choreographed the duet for Tina Pereira and Keiichi Hirano to be performed as a competition piece for the Erik Bruhn Prize in March, 2007. Hirano injured himself during that fateful evening and the piece had to be put on the back burner.

 

This gala is the first opportunity to trot it out and Matthews has created a stunner. A graduate of the National Ballet School, she became a star at Alberta Ballet. She is now a full-time choreographer with a growing international reputation and for good reason. Veer conveys all the suppleness, charisma and dramatic expression she radiated as a dancer.

 

Pereira and Hirano wear designer Caroline O'Brien's matching black leotard briefs. Lightingmeister Christopher Dennis has given the stage a dark and moody look to match Franghiz Ali-Zadeh's edgy, nervous music.

 

If the title is a signpost, Matthews has depicted a volatile relationship that has taken a sudden change of direction. The woman seems to be backing away, while the man is relentless in stating his dominance. Matthews manages to convey this through partnering filled with manipulation as Hirano orchestrates Pereira's physical positioning.

 

A constant throughline is Hirano offering his hand as an invitation or a command. Pereira always takes it to begin another sequence of what can only be described as wraparound lifts where her body is forced to encircle Hirano. The movement is snaky and sensual with huge extensions as Pereira's legs go to a 6 o'clock formation and Hirano performs deep lunges.

 

The abrupt climax is Pereira's complete collapse as Hirano holds her by her arms and she slumps to the floor. The dénouement is inevitable as Pereira succumbs to moving in complete harmony. Her veer, as it were, will have to wait for another day. Matthews has managed to show off these two talented dancers to their best advantage. There is no waste in her choreography and every movement is filled with meaning.

 

Balletomanes came out en masse for Mad Hot II, the National Ballet of Canada's second annual fundraising gala at the Four Seasons Centre. And the night lived up to its name, starting with the stunning one-hour performance by the company's top dancers, staging four exhilarating pieces that earned them rapturous applause.

… 

The most striking performance was the world premiere of the abstract ballet veer, a dark, sensual and melancholy duet by up-and-coming choreographer Sabrina Matthews, who created it for the 2007 Erik Bruhn competition.

 

Modern dance aficionados such as director Atom Egoyan and his wife, actress Arsinée Khanjian, were thrilled, especially since some of the city's major showcases for the genre have disappeared.

 

"The dancers are incredible. They're up to any challenge," Ms. Khanjian raved.

 

Mad Hot II is the National Ballet of Canada´s popular annual gala that showcases the company´s own dancers. In her usual astute programming, Karen Kain put together an exciting evening for Mad Hot’s third incarnation.

 

The eye candy works included excerpts from Harold Lander’s Etudes and George Balanchine’s complete Rubies. The shorter show pieces were Sabrina Matthews’ veer and Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux.

 

veer is a world premiere that Matthews choreographed for Tina Pereira and Keichi Hirano. She has created a stunner that requires suppleness, charisma and dramatic expression. If the title is a signpost, Matthews has depicted a volatile relationship that has taken a sudden change of direction.

 

The woman seems to be backing away, while the man is relentless in stating his dominance. Matthews manages to convey this through partnering as Hirano orchestrates Pereira’s physical positioning, and what can only be described as wrap-around lifts where her body is forced to encircle his. The movement is deliciously snaky and sensual.

 

The second great strength of the Stuttgart Ballet, beside dramatic action ballets, is seeking out young talented choreographers, which over the years all of Germany has benefited from it.

…

The young Canadian Sabrina Matthews already impressed in 2006 at the young choreographers’ Noverre Society with a devout Adagio Pas de Deux. In "veil," the musical arc spans from the Middle Ages to Alfred Schnittke and choreographed to elegiac, extremely expressive duet for two couples who repeatedly plead to the top. Matthews’ expressive movements live directly from the mood of the music, with which they deal thoughtfully and variably; less directly fixed on the rhythm than Soto or Gauthier. Actually, logically, it is precisely in this expressive piece, that the Stuttgart Ballet dancers looked the best.

 

"veil" by Canadian Sabrina Matthews was next. The clearly more cheerful choreography offered frequent pace changes in the figures, with substantially calmer and slower moments than those offered by Soto. The music, which originated, among others, from Hildegard von Bingen spans from the Middle Ages into our time. The middle-part section of the performance, in particular, offered a discharge of the dance tension of this piece -staged without props- into powerful string music. This part of the ballet evening was, at the end, also received with strong applause.

 

For the former dancer Sabrina Matthews, the success of her Pas de Deux "soles," created for the 2006 Noverre evening, was the catalyst for her to concentrate completely on Choreography. To that extent, one can attribute the new evening quite still to Anderson’s ability to promote and discover new talents.

…

Sabrina Matthews’ piece "veil" for the two dance couples Hyo-Jung Kang and Tomas Danhel as well as Alessandra Tognoloni and Matthew Crockard-Villa is abstract and highly esthetic, but the graceful designs work emotionally and inspires more than in the choreography of the Spaniard. The high leg swings and the way the dancers in the duo stretch into the area and then strive apart are a little reminiscent of William Forsythe’s neo­classical works, but the Canadian has quite her own style. It again and again mixes classical Pair Pirouettes into contemporary asymmetries. Virtuo Hyo-Jung remains always en point, in order to then bend the torso deeply backwards. The dancer from the corps de ballet is a discovery in this choreography; she interprets her solos so charismatically. Which it is not to say that the other performers did not also dance very well.

 

Sabrina Matthews, who also designed the simple brown costumes - short pants for the men and bodysuits with sophisticated tops for the ladies - enhances the elegiac atmosphere of the piece by an interesting music selection. The music ranges the spectrum from Hildegard von Bingen to Alfred Schnittke’s "Sonata No.1 for violin and chamber orchestra".

 

Many of the most respected and cutting edge choreographers working today have had their beginning during the Noverre series of the Stuttgart Ballet and Ms. Matthews’ success bodes well for her future career as a dance creator in Europe.

 

Among the four pas de deux of the evening, the most acclaimed one was by Sabrina Matthews from Canada who has already earned choreographic merits in her native country. She really knows how to make the dancers look good: Alicia Amatriain's extreme flexibility and Evan McKie’s intensity as a partner are shown in the best of lights in the slow piece "Soles"

 

The chosen 10 choreographies served a broad taste pallet… Still, two pieces stood out beyond all others conceptually as well as in pure dance format. Both were (accidentally?) at the end of each of the two parts of the program. The Canadian Sabrina Matthews belongs to those contemporaries for whom dance and music harmonize, and which want to give the audience the feelings of being abducted into a world elevated from the grounds of reality. Soles was the name of her abstract and at the same time expressive Pas de Deux, whose religious as well as spiritual essence is transported by Alicia Amatriain and Evan McKie in an endless soft flow and at the same time accentuated figures, such as split positions in the air, broad arabesques, and several flying circles and lifts of the female partner, in synchrony with the lamenting music by Tomas Luis de Victoria. The piece continues a series of renowned concert pas de deux, due to its high demand which only be fulfilled by experienced dancers, and should therefore have great chances in any Gala program…

 

The exceptional ballerina Alicia Amatriain is partnered by Evan McKie in Sabrina Matthew's piece "Soles" set to spiritual vocal music by Tomas Luis de Victoria. This pas de deux of continuous movement conveys an impression of eternity. Pain, suffering and longing are expressed as a fulfillment.

 

Former Alberta Ballet dancer and choreographer Sabrina Matthews premiered her new work for the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany, May 19-20, 2006.

 

Matthews’ soles is a pas de deux set to spiritual vocal music by Tomas Luis de Victoria. It was well received by Stuttgart Ballet audiences, and Stuttgart Ballet Artistic Director Reid Anderson, also Canadian-born, expects to restage soles as part of the company’s main season.

 

Montreal-based Sabrina Matthews has scored a huge triumph in Europe with her new work, soles. The debut took place as part of Stuttgart Ballet’s Noverre Society’s Young Choreographers evening and was commissioned by the company’s Canadian-born artistic director Reid Anderson.

 

The performances took place May 19 and 20, and the duet was performed by Alicia Amatriain and Evan McKie. Matthews’s piece was singled out by German critics as being the most accomplished of the evening, and Anderson is expected to mount the work as part of Stuttgart’s main repertoire. Set to music of the Spanish Renaissance, the work was praised for its poignant depiction of pain, loss and joy of suffering. Matthews, a graduate of Canada’s National Ballet School, is a former dancer with Alberta Ballet and cut her choreographic teeth in her 10 years with that company. She left AB in 2005 to become an independent choreographer and was the winner of the 2005 Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award from the Banff Centre.

 

Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession, Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation October 30, 2004 to January 30, 2005

 

For the first time in Calgary, Glenbow Museum presented the famous sculptures of Auguste Rodin, one of the most important sculptors of the 19th century. Glenbow welcomed enthusiastic crowds to the Rodin exhibition, and due to popular demand, extended museum hours to midnight on the closing weekend. Working in partnership with Alberta Ballet, Glenbow produced the very popular Ballet in Bronze, an original dance presentation choreographed by Sabrina Matthews, which sold out for all four performances.

 

However, Matthews’ piece losing ground did exactly that. It is a modern piece with depth and soul. The dancers were dressed in flesh coloured, glossy material. The men wearing only pants, and the women in body suits with baggy blouses and matching wigs brought a uniformity to the piece that made the dancers seems almost anonymous. At times, you could not be entirely sure which dancer was which, and it added to the universality of the story Matthews portrayed through the dance. Watching, you feel a sense of loss yourself, which is the mood Matthews is aiming for. The lighting is soft and dark at moments that adds to the tragedy of the piece, and the stage set was angular and harsh, in contrast with the soft forgiving light, it conveys a feeling of conflict.

 

As for the dance itself, Matthews has mastered the art of using the dancers to their full potential. Their movements were fluid and graceful, their faces moved, and the interaction between the dancers was more than simply lift-and-spring-and-throw. It was as though they were taking part in the story themselves, rather than as people playing a part. Nothing about it seemed like orthodox ballet to me. It appears Matthews has brought the dance into the 21st century, while leaving enough classical movements for traditional ballet fans to appreciate it.

 

The performance was beautiful, with which most people in the audience seemed to agree – Matthews received a standing ovation on the opening night of the world premiere of losing ground.

 

For her new creation, Matthews too has chosen carefully, building the emotional intensity of the work, losing ground, through a combination of complex passionate movement and a slow luminous score. The score is fashioned from the music of Thomas Tallis, Brahms and J.S. Bach, with important contributions from Calgary soundscape artist Dewi Wood.

 

Massively framed by set designer Scott Reid’s evocation of vertical steel plates and dramatically lit by lighting designer Harry Frehner, losing ground’s eight characters seem to be in a state of alert as they try to connect and re-connect – bodies bending then arching back, arms spreading in both supplicating and questioning gestures – to find their way back from loneliness and isolation. The powerful work was performed beautifully by the dancers, led by Tara Williamson and Daniel Marshalsay. The standing ovation from the large crowd was richly deserved by all concerned.

 

Also on the program, and in contrast to the Balanchine works, is losing ground, a new work from Sabrina Matthews. She’s a former Alberta Ballet soloist…

 

Grand-Maître is pleased to welcome Matthews back to Alberta Ballet, and says losing ground represents "very big steps forward" in her choreography.

 

"It’s very rare that as soon as the curtain opens, you find yourself immersed in another world. But Sabrina’s piece is like that – the dancers’ bodies become poetic, and every image is full of beauty.

 

…Sabrina Matthews’ contemporary study of lost souls trying to regain their path…

 

The second work on the program, Matthews’ losing ground, premiered successfully at the Banff Centre last summer.

 

With an imaginative score woven from music by Thomas Tallis, Bach, Brahms and Calgary soundscape designer Dewi Wood, losing ground has evidently lost none of its power to affect audiences, judging from the enthusiastic response it received on Friday.

 

The dance, unfolding beneath an angled set resembling huge steel plates, is an engaging, fluid and frequently breathtaking piece that offers an endless flux of sad and wistful movement across some closed, barren landscape.

 

There’s a sense of restlessness and isolation – or people going through the motions of emotional contact but never quite achieving it, as if searching for something, or else simply intent on the arc of their own bodies.

 

Bringing the piece’s rich vocabulary of relentless reaching out, catching and letting go again to dramatic fruition are Jonathan Renna and Tanya Dobler, in an outstanding duet performance.

 

Dance to This is a ballet film that features the innovative choreography of Sabrina Christine Matthews, as set to composer Douglas Schmidt's modern classical soundtrack. This is the story of a toy ballerina's dream of becoming real, and features Matthews in a variety of urban landscapes, the Rocky Mountains, and the Alberta Badlands. A moving meditation on the power and beauty of dance. Nominated for an AMPIA award.

 

Dance to This is a ballet film that features the innovative choreography and thrilling dance performance of Canada's alluring and gifted Sabrina Christine Matthews, as set to composer Douglas Schmidt's modern classical soundtrack. Dance to This is the story of a toy ballerina’s dream to dance.

 

’Sabrina’s whole life is geared to her art. Her dedication, and her belief in art and what it can do, could shame most monks in its intensity…’

 

Says Grand-Maître: ’This pas de deux is the best work she’s ever done. What’s brilliant about Sabrina’s work is that she’s developing her own voice. A lot of young choreographers… imitate some of the big names in modern dance, such as William Forsythe, and Balanchine, and they get quick commissions that way.

 

But when you want to develop your own vernacular that’s instantly recognizable, it can take eight to ten years. Sabrina’s not taking any shortcuts. She’s really taking the long road to discover her way of choreographing and how she wants to say things.

 

…And she really has something to say.’

 

By contrast, Matthews’ fallen arm – danced by Amanda Walsh and Jonathan Renna – was a more serious and personal work. Set to Calgary composer Dewi Wood’s original and imaginative soundscape design, the piece explores fear, anguish, and the feeling of loss in the wake of a spent or disintegrating relationship – or perhaps even the memory of it. Beautifully crafted and flawlessly done, the aptly tilted fallen arm is a rich and compelling work that ultimately depends as much on the dramatic intensity in the bearing of the dancers themselves as on the bursting, wilting or back-and-forth recoil that informs much of their movement and many of its gestures…

 

Also on the program was the premier of Matthews’ fallen arm, a poetic, intense duet that seemed to take place in a distant place. The movement is intricate, and was wonderfully performed.

 

The performance opens with unbound, choreographed by Alberta Ballet soloist Sabrina Christine Matthews. The curtain unveils six dancers standing in stillness and silence, who then proceed to cut and slice their way with speed and precision through the lofty, architectural space, against a backdrop that alternates from copper to midnight blue. Towards the end of the work, the mood shifts from a focus on spatial design to romantic lyricism.

 

Transience clearly succeeds in defining Sabrina as a choreographer of tremendous talent, with a unique, distinctive style all her own.

 

If Alberta Ballet is increasingly recognized in the dance world for its youthful energy and precision, it’s because of a talented team of young dancers. Among them is Sabrina Matthews. Since she joined the company in 1995, straight form Toronto’s National Ballet School, Matthews has impressed audiences with the spirited commitment and prowess she brings to her roles. But these days, the 24–year–old Mississauga, Ontario native is also commanding attention for her abilities as a choreographer. …

In March 2003, Matthews’ third piece premieres an all Tchaikovsky program that… is part of the company’s regular season…. Through four sections set on dive dancers, the piece draws on music from the great Russian composer’s third string quartet, as well as the string sextet Souvenir de Florence and the October section from The Seasons.

 

It’s a good thing Alberta Ballet’s Jean Grand-Maître has already commissioned Sabrina Matthews for next season, because it won’t be long before other artistic directors come calling. As her latest ballet, transience, proves, Matthews is an exceptional choreographic talent. Her sense of composition is compelling, and she has an uncommon control of dynamic. Her broad movement vocabulary is influenced by contemporary dance, but draws power from a strong and articulate use of ballet technique.

 

Moving through extended silence, and a suprisingly modern-sounding selection of Tchaikovksy's music, this dance is exuberantly physical, displaying a dancer’s love of what the body can do without being the least bit gimmicky. It is equally powerful in its extended movements of quiet.

 

All five dancers were excellent, but Hokuto Kodama was particularly remarkable, with his precision and fluidity, pinpoint pirouettes and airborne leaps.

 

Ms. Matthews’ work for this program, titled delude, was an example of her growth and skills. It reflected her maturity, a keen sense of movement and her own vocabulary of dance. Delude combined classical dance background, and was influenced by the contemporary artists she has worked with. I was very impressed with her ballet, and it is a fine addition to the repertoire of Alberta Ballet.