Alberta Ballet's Love Lies Bleeding seeks tour dates

Love Lies Bleeding, the Alberta Ballet work set to the songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, is ready to take on the world.

The ballet, choreographed by the company's artistic director Jean Grand-Maître, has tour dates set in Vancouver and Toronto in 2011 and returns to Calgary and Edmonton in 2012. It debuted in Calgary  in May 2010.

Marketing manager Juliet Burgess says the company also has ambitions to tour in Europe and Asia — in part to recoup some of the $1.5-million cost of creating the new ballet.

"We're pitching it to the world," she said. "We would love to perform in the U.S. and the U.K. and have approached ballet companies about producing it."

Ballet BC was an early convert to the new work, which combines 14 songs by John with Grand-Maître's athletic choreography. Loves Lies Bleeding, with a storyline based loosely on John's life, will play in Vancouver Oct. 13 to 15.

Burgess says much is resting on the Toronto performance of the ballet, which is being brought to the city's largest theatre — the Sony Centre — by Mirvish Productions. It will play in Toronto Nov. 8 to 13.

"We hope that it will get great reviews there and that could lead to more dates overseas," she said.

John first approached Grand-Maître about creating the ballet after seeing his choreography set to the music of Joni Mitchell in The Fiddle and the Drum. Grand-Maître's latest pop production is Fumbling Toward Ecstasy, based on the music of Sarah McLachlan.

John approved a tour for Love Lies Bleeding last year, after seeing it on DVD.