Passion and precision converge in Ballet Vancouver's February mixed program, Classical Masters, celebrating the sweeping romanticism of classical ballet alongside the bold neoclassical sensibility of contemporary choreography set to masterworks of classical music.

Featuring the Vancouver premiere of Joshua Beamish's Romeo and Juliet Balcony Pas de Deux — set to Prokofiev's soaring score — and the Canadian premiere of Self Portrait by Taiwanese choreographer Tsai Hsi Hung, set to Schubert, the program also marks the world premiere of the company's first original commission by former Royal Winnipeg Ballet Soloist Yosuke Mino, whose singular creative voice brings his Japanese heritage into dialogue with the classical ballet form through the music of Bach.

The program concludes with Beamish's deeply personal male duet burrow — originally created for the Royal Ballet in London — an intimate and profoundly moving portrait of love set to Shostakovich, tracing the arc of a relationship between two men with tenderness, complexity, and quiet humanity.