The National Ballet of Canada and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet will share a stage in Vancouver next February as part of the cultural Olympiad accompanying the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

The Olympic ballet gala, featuring contemporary dance from the two classical ballet companies, is one of 35 new arts projects announced Monday by Vancouver 2010 organizers.

It will be the first time in two decades that the two companies have performed together.

The National Ballet will perform choreographer Marie Chouinard's 24 Preludes by Chopin while the Royal Winnipeg Ballet presents Itzik Galili's trademark Hikarizatto.

Taiwan's U Theatre martial artists will perform The Sound of the Ocean and Toronto performing arts company Red Sky Performance will dance Tono.

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will play with violinist Adrian Anantawan and again with vocalist Daniel Bernard Roumain.

The Lost Fingers are coming from Quebec, American jazz improviser Anthony Braxton is bringing his Sonic Genome Project, TAO will supply Japanese taiko drumming and François Houle will offer French-Canadian folk tales and music .

Theatre projects include:

  • White Cabin, a darkly comic work from Russia's Akhe Theatre.
  • BASH'd: A Gay Rap Opera, from Edmonton-based playwrights and performers Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow.
  • Body and Soul, by Canadian playwright Judith Thompson.
  • Rick: The Rick Hansen Story, a family show by Manitoba Theatre for Young People about the paraplegic athlete.
  • The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan, from Old Trout Puppet Workshop.

The program starts on Jan. 22, 2010, and runs throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to March 21.

There will be more than 600 ticketed and free performances and exhibitions in 50 venues in Metro Vancouver and British Columbia's Sea to Sky corridor.