1996 ESTO: STOCKHOLM - TALLINN
(top row:) Vanessa Livingston, Jesse Sorrell, Inge Faulds, Tuulika Mölder, Evelyn Koop, Don Calderwood,
Michelle Bernstein, Clare McFarquhar, Liina Guiter
(front row:) Susanna Wadsten, Heli Oder, Taimi Petersoo and Janine Romeiko.
Every four years, Estonians world-wide gather to celebrate their culture. This year was special, since it was designed to also celebrate the fact that Estonia is a free country and that many Estonians are returning to visit or live there again.
ESTO 96 began in Stockholm, with the Gala performance taking place at "Danshuset", the Stockholm dance theatre. A few days later, all participants boarded a ship that brought them all to Tallinn in Estonia, where the celebrations and performances continued.
It was a fantastic event and we are very proud and happy to have been part of it!
In Sweden
(Above:) Michelle, Clare, Vanessa, Janine
In Estonia
The company, together with Estonian performers
IN St. Petersburg, Russia
"Four Seasons" 1996
In their first season, Evelyn Koop, together with her co-director Don Calderwood and ballet master Vladimir Yablakov, set about to create a series of routines with the common theme of "Four Seasons". Costumes were designed and apparatus selected to harmonize with each routine, and at the first public performance of the Company (on June 12, 1996, at the DuMaurier Theatre) Andres Raudsepp(picture below) tied the dances together, with songs, and poems to a beautiful celebration of nature's changes.
"Spring"
"Summer"
"Fall"
"Winter"
The "Seasons" was later performed in Estonia and in Sweden during ESTO 1996, and on many other occasions.
The first Red Ribbon competition
The first Red Ribbon Competition was held in 1996 in Ontario and the Expressions participated. As their free routine, they performed one of their most popular routines ever: "Starlight Express", choreographed by Brian Foley (featuring Vanessa, Susanna, Jessie, Gloria and Talvi in these photos). They also used it at a dance competition where they won the silver medal.
In addition, it has been used at many performances.
Below are two photos from the routine done at a theatre performance:
Another popular routine was "Santorini", choreographed by Don Calderwood:
Vanessa and Susanna in front of the company