The Little Match Girl
North American Premiere
November 13 & 14, 2026 | Vancouver Playhouse
Belle Spirale Dance Projects and Vancouver Chamber Choir join forces for the North American premiere of an ambitious and deeply moving interdisciplinary collaboration — a full-evening reimagining of David Lang's Pulitzer Prize-winning choral composition, The Little Match Girl Passion, brought to life through dance.
Featuring 10 Belle Spirale dancers alongside 16 singers performing live on stage, The Little Match Girl is a production of rare emotional power and breathtaking artistic vision.
Suitable for audiences ages 12 and up, it is a work that speaks across generations — an urgent and beautifully crafted invitation to see one another more fully.
As part of this production we are proud to support Covenant House Vancouver and further engage our audiences in education, discourse, and how to take action to support youth experiencing homelessness. Find out more about their life-changing front-line work and support youth in our community here: covenanthousebc.org
Kevin O’Day | Photo by Peter Smida
Choreographed by acclaimed choreographer
Kevin O'Day
This powerful and quietly urgent work follows a young girl moving through an urban landscape of indifference — reaching for warmth, recognition, and human connection in a world that too often looks away. Each match she strikes is more than a flicker of comfort; it is an act of hope, a fragment of memory, a quiet assertion of dignity. Her final match burns brightest of all — a moment of solace and reunion that transcends suffering.
A seventeen-year artistic journey comes full circle.
We've been building toward this moment with Kevin O'Day for nearly two decades. Since we first collaborated at Ballet BC in 2009—Sylvain as rehearsal director, Alexis as a young dancer—Kevin has been both mentor and creative partner. His two creations for Ballet BC shaped our artistic DNA, and our friendship has deepened through years of independent collaborations.
The Little Match Girl represents a culmination of that artistic journey: a chance to produce Kevin's work in Canada with the full force of Belle Spirale and Vancouver Chamber Choir behind it. We are also excited to welcome special guest artist and Kevin’s longtime collaborator Alba Nadal, formerly with Royal Danish Ballet and Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.
Photos Top to Bottom (unless otherwise specified): Emma Galvin | Sophia Makarenko, Will Jessup & Lazaro Silva | Marisa Gold, Brenna Metzmeier & Emma Galvin
Photos by Sylvain Senez