Kurt Werner to take final bow as Ballet Kelowna unveils new season

Kurt Werner performs in Ballet Kelowna’s Mustard. Werner, the company’s longest-serving artist, will retire in May after 15 years with Ballet Kelowna.

Photo: Dave Mai / Ballet Kelowna

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Kurt Werner, Ballet Kelowna’s longest-serving company artist, will take his final bow next spring after 15 years with the company, closing a 2026–27 season that will also bring A Streetcar Named Desire back to the Kelowna Community Theatre.

Werner is Ballet Kelowna’s longest-serving company artist, and his retirement will be woven through both the opening and closing programs of the new season.

The season begins Nov. 6 and 7 with Four Voices, featuring works by four choreographers and two world premieres.

Ballet Kelowna dancer Donaldo Nava will make his solo choreographic debut with a new work created for Werner. The piece uses solos and a duet to explore relationships and the connections formed through dance.

Kelowna-raised choreographer and Ballet Kelowna rehearsal director Joanna Lige will also premiere a new work examining ecological destruction, grief and the resilience of the natural world.

The program also includes artistic director Simone Orlando’s Acts of Remembrance, set to music by Canadian composer Owen Belton and inspired by First World War battles including Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele, as well as Trey McIntyre’s The Reassuring Effects (of Form and Poetry).

Ballet Kelowna will turn to Tennessee Williams in February with John Alleyne’s full-length ballet adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Originally created for Ballet BC, the production is set in post-Second World War New Orleans and features an original jazz score by B.C. composer Tobin Stokes.

Ballet Kelowna previously staged the work in 2018.

The production also has a personal connection to Orlando, who danced the role of Blanche DuBois during her career with Ballet BC under Alleyne.

A Streetcar Named Desire runs Feb. 12 and 13, 2027.

Werner’s farewell comes May 14 and 15 with Double Take, pairing a new commission from Ontario choreographer Alyssa Martin with the return of Robert Stephen’s Mustard.

Martin’s new ballet takes inspiration from Danish choreographer Harald Lander’s 1948 Études, using classical ballet technique as a starting point while drawing on Martin’s background in contemporary dance, musical theatre and absurdism.

For Werner, the return of Mustard will have particular significance.

Adapted from Kat Sandler’s award-winning play, Mustard centres on an imaginary friend who refuses to disappear. Werner originated the title role when Ballet Kelowna premiered the work in 2024 and will return to the character for his final performances with the company.

Werner trained in the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School’s Professional Division and received the Brian Macdonald Dance Award at the Banff Centre in 2015.

He founded Kelowna’s Evolve Arts Collective in 2018 and has also presented choreography at the Kelowna Fringe Festival and Theatre on the Edge Festival.

All three programs will be presented at the Kelowna Community Theatre.

Season subscriptions are on sale now. Single tickets for the 2026–27 season are scheduled to go on sale Sept. 14.