The Cowboy Act Suite and Other Works program features a stunning lineup of signature works from Ballet Kelowna’s contemporary ballet repertoire. With Cameron Fraser-Monroe’s 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.

taqəš | Cameron Fraser-Monroe
Photo: Abigail Wiens | The Artists of Ballet Kelowna

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).

MAMBO | Alysa Pires
Photo: Bruce Zinger | The Artists of Ballet Kelowna

Audiences will be treated to Ballet Kelowna commissioned MAMBO by Alysa Pires. The work gained worldwide acclaim after performances at Beijing’s China International Performing Arts Expo and Toronto’s Fall for Dance North Festival in 2018. Pires’ “crowd-pleasing MAMBO” (The Globe and Mail) is a colourful joie de vivre set to a vibrant soundtrack of Latin, swing, and jazz standards by musical legends such as Dean Martin, Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney, Sarah Vaughn, and more.

ST. ALBERT, AB
The Cowboy Act Suite and Other Works
(taqəš, MAMBO, The Cowboy Act Suite)
Friday, February 28, 2025 / 7:30 PM
The Arden Theatre
St. Albert Place
5 St. Anne Street
Tickets here

The Cowboy Act Suite | Cameron Fraser-Monroe
Photo: Christine Love-Hewitt | Dancers: Ashley Rabinovitch and Kurt Werner

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?