Salmon Arm product dances back to B.C.

Corps de ballet: Eric Nipp has a title role in Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s production of Moulin Rouge.

A former Salmon Arm resident has danced his way into a title role with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

A member of the corps de ballet, Nipp plays the ominous Zidler in the Moulin Rouge – The Ballet, which portrays a lurid rowdy Paris of the late 1880s.

An original story, Moulin Rouge – The Ballet tells the tale of laundress-turned-can-can star Nathalie and her romance with a painter named Matthew.

Drawn to Paris by the city’s throbbing allure of ambition and desire, Matthew and Nathalie tempt the fates as they seek love and destiny in the world’s most infamous cabaret – the Moulin Rouge.

Nipp began dance training at the age of 11 and is a graduate of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School’s professional division.

As a student, Nipp was the recipient of the Antonio Klockow Memorial Bursary. He graduated from the professional division in 2005 and then completed a year in the school’s aspirant program.

Nipp made his professional debut in 2005 in the ballet’s Nutcracker, where he danced the roles of a Russian, a soldier and a parent. In 2006, he joined Ballet Kelowna where he danced for a season.

Nipp returned to Winnipeg to join the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as an apprentice for the 2007-08 season. Most recently, he was promoted to the corps de ballet.

Nipp enjoys dancing both classical and contemporary ballets. He made his debut with the company performing in the world premiere of Mauricio Wainrot’s Carmen, The Passion. He also performed in Nutcracker, Balanchine’s Serenade and The Sleeping Beauty, which toured British Columbia.

Nipp’s repertoire also includes Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet and Carmina Burana.

Choreographed by Jorden Morris with music by a number of French composers including Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Jacques Offenbach, and Jules Massenet, Moulin Rouge – The Ballet features opulent costumes, dramatic set design, and high-kicking can-can choreography.

Originally built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, the Moulin Rouge is synonymous with pomp, grandeur and heady romance. Best known as the birthplace of the provocative can-can dance, during its heyday the cabaret was an extravagant place featuring huge dance floors, wall-to-wall mirrors, and elegant galleries.

This excess was accompanied by a wild atmosphere on stage featuring gaudy can-can girls in long skirts and heavily frilled undergarments, who performed high kicks, splits, cartwheels, and other acrobatic tricks, all the while attempting to entice their male clientele.

Moulin Rouge – The Ballet takes to the stage of the Kelowna Community Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 and 17. For tickets, call 250-860-1470 or go to www.ticketmaster.ca

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