The National Ballet of Canada is opening its 2024/25 season next week with a mesmerizing multimedia performance created by the acclaimed choreographic duo Sol León and Paul Lightfoot. First created in 2005, Silent Screen merges dance and silent film, immersing audiences in a theatrical journey set to the music of Philip Glass.

In Europe, León and Lightfoot have been celebrated for their choreography for more than three decades, establishing themselves at the prestigious Nederlands Dans Theater, first as dancers, and eventually as house choreographers. Silent Screen holds personal significance for the duo—the film features footage of their daughter, and Lightfoot shared with NBC that the piece was created during “a time of letting go of being a dancer and focusing more on being choreographers.” 

NBC First Soloist Hannah Galway will perform in Silent Screen and is thrilled to bring León and Lightfoot’s piece to life for the first time in Canada. Embracing the duo’s unique style was what Galway describes as “a wonderful learning experience.”

“These are titans of the ballet industry. I’d watch their pieces on YouTube when I was in school. It feels very surreal to now be in a room with them,” Galway says. “I’m trying to savour and hold on to every minute, every hour that I get with them.”

Hannah Galway and Sol León in rehearsal for Silent Screen. Photo by Karolina Kuras.

Silent Screen is an emotional and theatrical experience, bringing together the expressive, evocative natures of both dance and silent film. Throughout the piece, everything is constantly in motion. A silent film is projected on shifting screens around the dancers, which contract and expand to mimic the motion of a camera lens. 

“The opening pas de deux that I do with my partner, Chris Gerty, we are within the film,” Galway says. “However, we are real, the screen is playing out behind us, and we’re interacting with the film.”

The piece takes on an abstract narrative that packs an emotional punch, as the performers move through a broad range of human emotions. “As a character in this piece, I begin hopeful. I become doubtful. And then, all hell breaks loose,” Galway says. “Then we come back to, well, everything is okay—it’s not, but we’re making it okay.”

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Like her character in Silent Screen, Galway herself has experienced a range of emotions during this process, something she hopes will translate as audiences watch this one-of-a-kind performance unfold.

“The best thing about art is being able to feel something, and I’ve felt a lot throughout this process,” Galway says. “If I can make the audience feel how I feel, if they can feel even an ounce of how impacted I felt by this process, I’d be satisfied.”

Silent Screen will be on stage at The National Ballet of Canada from November 9-16, in a triple bill alongside Sir Fredrick Ashton’s Rhapsody and a solo performance of Body of Work by Guillaume Côté.

Also at the National Ballet this season, audiences can look forward to the haunting romantic classic Giselle, on stage from November 20 – 24, and the beloved holiday tradition of The Nutcracker, running from December 6 – 31.