Victoria Harbour Ferry Water Ballet

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Sunday, July 7th, 2013
10:45 AM to 11:00 AM

The Victoria Harbour Ferry is in its 21st year of performing The Harbour Ferry Ballet on the waters of Victoria�s inner harbour. The ballet that began in 1993, as a 10 minute performance to entertain guests and locals and to showcase the agility of the sweet little pickle boats and has become an icon of the City�s harbour, alongside the Empress Hotel, the Parliament buildings and the hub of tourist activity, the Causeway.

Every Sunday morning from May to September, the little boats line up at 10:45 AM, in front of the Victoria Causeway in front of the Empress Hotel and begin their dance. You will never see a ballet like this one anywhere else in the world, as the proud little ships and a proud team of Harbour Ferry Captains seek to entertain everyone who looks on.

When the charming little green boats were originally brought to Victoria 20 years ago, the Skippers were amazed at their manoeuvrability, so pulling together the first �ballet� harnessed the fascination of pushing the adorable and functional boats to their limits, while not having any passengers on board.

The original manoeuvres of the dancing boats were new and complex and certainly not anything that anyone had ever seen performed on the water. The Harbour Ferry Captains who volunteered to become �ballerinas� back in 1993 had no idea just how big their little performance would become. However, what they quickly became aware of was that they needed practice and lots of it and that they needed to start learning on shore.

Back in 1993 if you walked by the Westbay Marina parking lot you would often see five men, all over 50, in Harbour Ferry uniforms, walking around the parking lot, practicing their ballet moves. These were brave men indeed since they were subject then and still are now, to a little teasing from their fellow Captains.

Today the ballet performance is 20 minutes in length. There are now five boats in the performance and the �dance steps� have become much more complex are based on a combinations of military marching manoeuvres, a few RCMP Musical Ride manoeuvres and a touch of choreography from the minds of the Ballet Leader and even a professional ballet choreographer.

The Victoria Harbour Ferry Water Ballet has always been performed to the music of the Blue Danube Waltz and with over 350 performances to date, it has been the subject of tens of thousands holiday photos, news article in papers around the globe and TV shows from as far away as Australia.

Ballet Captains can be spotted in their new red jackets and shirts that proudly display the Harbour Ferry Ballet crest.