The Ballet Kelowna program being presented March 5 at the Key City Theatre has five different works showcasing a variety of dance styles and is sure to please all who attend.

"Because there's a mixed repertoire you know you're going to have certain people coming and expecting to see traditional ballet and you're going to get a younger audience who is interested in something a little more contemporary," said David LaHay, founding artistic director of Ballet Kelowna. "Quite often, your traditionalists see the contemporary for the first time and go home really loving it. We're opening everybody's eyes to the infinite variety of what dance is these days.

"I think they're going to be pleasantly surprised and as our tagline says, they will be moved."

The mixed repertoire program begins with Dvorak Dances, a classical dance set to the music of Antonin Dvorak. Also on the program is a new commission for the spring season called Capture by Gioconda Barbuto, in which the dancers do a lot of contemporary dance movement. There will also be the Flower Festival at Genzano Pas de Deux, danced in the Danish style, which means the male and female each get equal representation on the stage. Next is stage within, Ballet Kelowna's fall commission. It tells the store of a dancer coming to the end of her career saying goodbye to her audience and her moment in the spotlight. The program finishes with the fast moving In Stride, where the dancers are asked to take all the rules of classical ballet and more or less throw them out the window, LaHay said. After the dancing portion is complete Ballet Kelowna does a question and answer period and interacts with the audience.

LaHay will be doing a master class with local ballet students on March 4 and said he enjoys these classes for a number of reasons.

"It's good for not only the dancers to have a guest teacher and give them probably a lot of the same corrections but in a different voice, which reinforces the dance training local teachers are trying to give them but it's also very interesting for me because then I see what's happening around the province," he said.

Ballet Kelowna was formed in 2002 and has been performing in Cranbrook for the last seven years. It does about 50 presentations in a year and has started to tour in Alberta in addition to its many B.C. shows.

"I'm firmly passionate about touring because it's very important for the audiences to see the dancers but it's also very important my dancers get opportunities to perform. The more chances you get, the better an artist you become," LaHay said. "I also think it's important for local dance students to see professional dancers because there's a little ballet school everywhere you go and one never knows where the next great ballerina will come from and they need to be inspired."

Ballet Kelowna will perform at the Key City Theatre on Saturday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the show are available at the theatre box office or by phone at 250-426-7006.