It should be opening night. Adrenaline and excitement filled, chilled champagne, a great opening night outfit. Anticipation of a theatre filled with your beautiful faces waiting to see the premiere of the endless hours of work we have put our hearts, minds and bodies into…

I’ve felt a lot of things in the past few weeks, we all have. Tonight, instead of feeling blue about not presenting Beautiful Noise (and, all the gods help me, you will see it next season) I feel romantic, remembering opening nights past. I must dream of what the future will bring, it will have bleakness yes, but tonight I want to be hopeful. Opening night is a night of promise, a ritual of transformation from studio to stage, an end and a beginning, a moment unlike any other. We are jazz artists, and I have to believe that given the long and troubled history of jazz, that jazz will make it through this unstable time and bring us all with it.

I’m thinking about how lucky I am to have had so many wonderful opening nights with this company, too many to count. Since we have been in this DJD Dance Centre chapter of our history, we have had seven opening nights. Here are the promotional videos for those works, reminisce with me and feel romantic for the next time we can have an opening night together.

In the spirit of jazz,

Kimberley Cooper
Artistic Director