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Sabrina Matthews

Age 31

Bio Born in Toronto, trained at Canada's National Ballet School.

Background Works created for Alberta Ballet, Boston Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Banff Centre, Genée International Ballet Competition plus two other works for the National Ballet of Canada.

Innovation piece DEXTRIS for 10 dancers, a 48-member choir and five solo singers.

Inspiration The second version of Vivaldi's oratorio Dixit Dominus. A choreographic response to the oratorio's uplifting nature, its image of the state of pure self without emotional baggage, and the weight, density and layers of emotion within the music. Spiritually optimistic rather than religious.

What's different The choir, positioned on raised scaffolds and clothed in grey opera cloaks, becomes the set which leaves only nine metres of bare stage for dance. Dancers wear flesh-coloured costumes to contrast the warmth of their skin with the cold industrial look of the scaffolds. Work involves more than 100 people.

The moves Athleticism within classically based movement. The development of the piece through pas de deux (Matthews's favourite ballet convention) which requires heavy lifting by the men.

Quote "The challenge for the dancers is to find a continuous emotional connection while finding the stamina to put their bodies through a highly demanding physicality, and achieving both at the same time. The challenge for me has been how to come to grips with the grandeur of a musical masterpiece so that movement and music become one."

Crystal Pite

Age 38

Bio Born in Terrace, B.C., raised in Victoria. Studied tap, jazz, ballet and acting while attending public high school.

Background Over 30 commissions for original works including Frankfurt Ballet, Cullberg Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Alberta Ballet, Ballet Jorgen Canada, Dance Victoria. Was resident choreographer for bjm_danse (formerly Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal) and is currently associate choreographer at Netherlands Dance Theatre.

Innovation piece Emergence for an ensemble of 38 dancers.

Inspiration American populist science guru Steven Johnson's Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software. Focus is on the emergence theory, or the way that complex structures arrive out of simple parameters such as the egalitarianism of the beehive. The piece explores the collective intelligence of the swarm and the complex separation of tasks, paralleled by the simple rules of ballet technique that combine to create complex movement patterns.

What's different The piece is self-generating. Pite taught six different simple movement phrases to six different groups of dancers that became the basis for the complex choreography. Dancers had to link the phrases and find a way to make the transitions work. An original score by Owen Belton evokes the swarm.

The moves The deep, wide positioning of the legs, the dropping of weight, the different use of the spine, more of the rope and less of the rod.

Quote "My particular challenge was to deliver the strength of the ensemble. I love the torque of two opposing ideas happening in the body at the same time. A new movement idea is introduced before the old idea ends. I like people to look like they are being danced as opposed to dancing."

Peter Quanz

Age 29

Bio Born in Kitchener, grew up in the small Mennonite village of Baden, Ont. Attended arts high school in Kitchener, the Banff Centre summer dance program and Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. Background Set works on the Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Kirov Ballet, Banff Centre, Pennsylvania Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and has an upcoming work for Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Will have created pieces for all three major Canadian ballet companies within one year.

Innovation piece IN COLOUR for 27 dancers including nine soloists.

Inspiration British film director and visual artist Derek Jarman's Chroma: A Book of Colour, written when he was going blind. Piece explores the raw emotional landscape and the tension of different colours while showing off the technical prowess of the National dancers.

What's different Commissioned an original symphonic score from 23-year-old Russian composer Anton Lubchenko, who received the highest marks in composition at St. Petersburg's Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory since Rachmaninov.

The moves The balancing of the corps de ballet against the principal dancers. Contrasting demands of upper body positioning versus fast footwork. Frequent use of extreme torso bends both sideways and back. Diagonal patterning rather than a grid.

Quote "The greatest challenge has been the music which is highly percussive and difficult to count. The time signatures keep changing and the repeats are never quite the same. It took me countless hours to come to grips with the logical structure that lies beneath its unpredictability."

Innovation: World Premieres by Peter Quanz, Crystal Pite and Sabrina Matthews runs at Toronto's Four Seasons Centre from Wednesday to March 8.