With his incendiary program Q Dance, visionary choreographer Peter Quanz continues to push a classic art form forward

One year ago, internationally acclaimed choreographer Peter Quanz’ newly minted ballet company Q Dance wowed dance fans with dazzling virtuosity and quirky charm.

Fast forward to last weekend and Quanz, 31, pushed his artistry even further with a riveting, emotionally charged program that is standing the classical art of ballet on its very head.

The three-show run on May 27 and 28 (including Saturday matinee) provided a rare opportunity to see eight Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancers chosen by Quanz performing in the intimate Rachel Browne Theatre. Seeing them clad, unusually, in T-shirts and sweats warming up onstage at practice barres before transforming into ethereal ballet dancers impeccably costumed by Anne Armit was our first clue we were in for a treat.

The 90-minute show (including intermission) opened with Yosuke Mino’s KOJI that recently won second prize at International Solo Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany. Balletomanes are used to seeing the powerfully athletic RWB soloist perform during company shows, but they may not have realized he also possesses a fierce creative voice of his own as an emerging choreographer. His 10-minute contemporary solo dealing with masks and the games people play proved he has already established his own unique movement vernacular — what some artists spend a lifetime striving for — underscored by an intensity and ability to communicate.

Quanz’ Luminous, commissioned by the Hong Kong Ballet last fall, explores romantic relationships at different stages in life, set to a sweeping orchestral score by Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich. The work begins with the full company — Vanessa Lawson, Amanda Green, Jo-Ann Sundermeier, Alexander Gamayunov, Mino, Maureya Lebowitz, Tristan Dobrowney and Harrison James — gently swaying back and forth drenched by Rob Mravnik’s hazy moonlit lighting. This delicate image of teetering on the edge suggests the emotional vulnerability of lovers that recurs throughout the work like a leitmotiv. Lawson’s heart-stopping falls caught only at the last minute by Dobrowney became the physical embodiment of complete trust and surrender. Quanz holds nothing back in this ballet of enormous depth and beauty.

His second offering, Beautiful Stranger set to Schumann’s Leiderkreis, op. 39 is more introspective. Kudos to Winnipeg baritone Mel Braun and pianist Laura Loewen for their expressive live performance, with Braun seamlessly integrated with a quartet of dancers — Lawson, Green, Sundermeier and Gamayunov. Having a translation of the all-German text would have helped contextualize the 25-minute piece while enhancing its, at times, cryptic imagery.

It’s fascinating to watch a gifted artist grow from year to year. If this show were any indication, Quanz promises to keep showing us how a centuries-old classical art form is still able to resonate today while seizing hearts like a lion.