Overview
Celebrating 60 Glorious Years!
Established as a classical company by founder Celia Franca in 1951, it is the only Canadian ballet company to present a full range of traditional full-length classics. The company's repertoire includes works by the world’s most celebrated 20th and 21st century masters, Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, John Cranko, William Forsythe, James Kudelka, Jirí Kylián, John Neumeier, Rudolf Nureyev, Glen Tetley, Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor and Alexei Ratmansky. In addition to its classical repertoire, the company also embraces contemporary works and encourages the creation of new ballets and the development of Canadian choreographers.
Canada's premier dance company has performed for over 10 million people. The National Ballet performs annual Fall, Winter and Summer seasons plus The Nutcracker. The company has toured in Canada and the United States, and throughout the world including performances in Great Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Israel, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy and Mexico. In the coming year The National Ballet of Canada will appear at the Los Angeles Music center, The Kennedy Center in Washington, and the prestigious Sadler’s wells Theatre in London England.
The National Ballet of Canada is committed to outreach and education for families and youth who may not otherwise have the opportunity to experience the joys of ballet. The company has a wide range of age appropriate programs designed to engage with schools and kids in the GTA and communities all over Ontario. Our signature program for students is YOU dance. YOU dance stands for Youth, Outreach and Understanding and is designed to introduce students in grades four, five and six to the world of dance through FREE workshops and performances. Workshops are led by an Artist educator and present a learning experience for both students and classroom teachers.
The company employs 120 artists, dancers and musicians, as well as production and administrative staff. All of the costumes and sets are built in our Scarborough production centre. We are the pre-eminent builder of full ballet productions in North America and these works are rented out to ballet companies around the world.
To learn more about the history of the company visit our Virtual Museum.
Awards & Nominations
2011: The National Ballet of Canada wins a Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Sound Design/Composition in the Dance Division for the North American premiere of Chroma.
2009: The National Ballet of Canada wins four Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Production, Outstanding Performance, Outstanding New Choreography and Outstanding Sound Design/Composition in the Dance Division for the world premiere of Emergence.
2008: The National Ballet of Canada's website is a finalist in the Canadian New Media Awards.
2008: The National Ballet of Canada is nominated for two Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Production and Outstanding Performance in the Dance Division for 24 Preludes by Chopin.
2008: The National Ballet of Canada's 2008/09 season brochure won Best of Category in Web-Booklets at the Excellence in Print Awards 2008. The award was presented by the Ontario Printing & Imaging Association to St. Joseph Print Thorn for their superb production of the publication.
2005: Michael Levine wins a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for Best Scenic Design for The National Ballet of Canada's production of The Contract (The Pied Piper) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
2002: The National Ballet of Canada is awarded the Lieutenant Governor's Award for the Arts (The Jackman-Bickell Award) for demonstrating exceptional private sector and community support while maintaining a high level of excellence.
2001: A commemorative National Ballet of Canada silver dollar created by the Royal Canadian Mint.
1996: The National Ballet of Canada wins a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Choreography for The Nutcracker.
1973: The National Ballet of Canada wins an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Program-Classical Music for the television production of The Sleeping Beauty.
1969: The National Ballet of Canada wins an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety or Musical Programme for the television production of Cinderella.
1956: The National Ballet of Canada presented Key to the City of Alexandria, Virginia on a tour of the U.S.A.
Suggested Resources
Books
Videos
Articles
More
Books
Passion
to dance: the story of The National Ballet of Canada
By: James Neufeld. Toronto: Dundurn Press,
2011.
Passion
to dance is the story of The National Ballet of
Canada – the people who dreamt the company into existence, the determination
needed to keep it afloat, the bumps on the road to its success, and above all,
its passion for dance as a living, evolving art form.
The
ballet class: a history of Canada's National Ballet School 1959-2009
By: Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt. Toronto:
Canada’s National Ballet School, 2010.
A powerful, compelling and entertaining
look at the evolution of a school at the forefront of dance training
internationally.
Reflections
in a dancing eye: the role of the artist in contemporary Canadian society
Edited by: Carol Anderson & Joysanne
Sidimus. Banff, AB: Banff Centre Press, 2006.
Forty-seven prominent Canadians - artists,
politicians, scientists, academics and business leaders - examine the role of
arts and artists in Canada, basing their answers on the same set of questions.
Karen
Kain: Canada’s prima ballerina
By: Melanie Jones. Canmore, AB: Altitude
Publishing Canada Ltd, 2005.
One of Canada's best loved and most
respected dancers of this century, Karen Kain's rise to ballet stardom is an
inspirational story of dedication and passion. This is a story of artistry and
ambition - the joys and the sacrifices of a prima ballerina.
Beyond
the dance: a ballerina's life
By: Chan Hon Goh & Cary Fagan.
Toronto: Tundra Books, 2002.
Beyond
the dance: a ballerina's life tells the story of ballerina
Chan Hon Goh’s early childhood in Communist Beijing, her family's flight to
Canada, her rigorous training and her artistic achievements, including being
the first Chinese-born Principal Dancer in the history of The National Ballet
of Canada.
Encyclopedia of theatre
dance in Canada
By: Susan Macpherson. Toronto: Dance
Collection Danse, 2000.
The ETDC/EDTC is the most comprehensive
Canadian dance reference book and includes over 200 entries on artists,
teachers, and companies, a list of music for dance, and over 60 entries on
choreographic works. It is a must-have for academics, journalists, and
educators.
Dancing
from the heart, a memoir
By: Frank Augustyn and Barbara Sears.
Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 2000.
Opening with his childhood in
working-class Hamilton, Ontario, Dancing
from the heart is Augustyn’s account of his active dancing career, and his
perspective on Canadian ballet. With humour, insight, and an appreciation of
the art form, he talks about fighting the prevailing attitude in Canada that
said “real men don’t dance,” and explains the trials and tribulations that the
male dancer must sometimes endure at the hands of his ballerinas. He tells
lively and revealing stories about the companies, dancers, and choreographers
he has known and worked with, and he reflects on marriage, fatherhood, and his
post-dance career as a TV producer, as a teacher, and as Artistic Director of
the Ottawa Ballet.
Power
to rise: the story of The National Ballet of Canada
By: James Neufeld. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1996.
The precursor to Passion to dance: the
story of The National Ballet of Canada.
Miss
O: my life in dance
By: Betty Oliphant & Mikhail
Baryshnikov. Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1997.
Betty Oliphant came to Canada as a war
bride for the benefit of her young children. In Toronto, she quickly began teaching,
choreographing for the opera and for pantomimes with Johnny Wayne and Frank
Shuster. When Celia Franca established The National Ballet of Canada, Betty was
Ballet Mistress for eight years and later served the company as Associate
Artistic Director. Her own school became the core of Canada’s National Ballet
School, founded in 1959 to ensure that future students would receive the best
dance training without sacrificing their academic schooling. She succeeded
beyond anyone's expectations. The graduates of Canada’s National Ballet School
now light up stages around the world.
Karen
Kain: movement never lies, an autobiography
By: Karen Kain, Stephen Godfrey &
Penelope Reed Doob. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1995.
The sumptuously illustrated autobiography
of the internationally acclaimed ballerina Karen Kain.
National
Ballet of Canada: a celebration
By: Celia Franca. Photographs by: Ken Bell.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1978.
An illustrated history of the first
twenty-five years of The National Ballet of Canada, including the memoirs of
its Founder and Artistic Director Celia Franca and nearly 300 photographs
(studio shots, publicity shots and stage shots) taken by Ken Bell of the
performances and of the company off stage.
To be
a dancer, Canada's National Ballet School
By: Gloria Varley. Photographs by: Peter
Varley. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1971.
An intimate portrait of life at Canada’s
National Ballet School.
Δ Top
Videos
History of The National Ballet
of Canada Ballet Talk by James Neufeld
Presented by: The National Ballet of
Canada, November 16, 2011.
Appel
Salon Star Talk with Karen Kain
Presented by: Toronto Reference Library,
October 11, 2011.
Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The
National Ballet of Canada, discusses the company's 60th Anniversary
with Toronto Star's Michael Crabb.
Celia Franca: tour de
force
Directed by: Veronica Tennant. CTV/Bravo!,
Sound Venture Productions and Veronica Tennant Productions, 2006.
Celia Franca: tour de force is a revealing
portrait of the indomitable Artistic Director who founded the internationally
respected National Ballet of Canada. A non-conformist in London's ballet
hierarchy, Celia swiftly gained recognition as a dramatic dancer, innovator,
and choreographer. Invited to Canada in 1950 to do a 'feasibility study', Celia
Franca said, "I think you need me here!". The rest is history.
The dancers’ story
Directed by: Mark Adam and Veronica
Tennant. Sound Venture Productions, Veronica Tennant Productions in association
with the CBC, 2002.
The
dancers' story is a choreographed documentary
weaving past with present using the vocabulary of dance. In celebration of The
National Ballet of Canada’s 50th anniversary, a sampling of five generations of
dances – from the legendary pioneers (Celia Franca, Lois Smith, Grant Strate,
Brian Macdonald, Robert Ito and others) to the prominent alumni (Karen Kain,
Veronica Tennant, James Kudelka, Vanessa Harwood, Nadia Potts, Kevin Pugh, Rex
Harrington and others) to the company's current and future stars (Guillaume
Côté, Chan Hon Goh, Sonia Rodriguez, Xiao Nan Yu and others) – gather back at
the ballet barre. Decade by decade, this compelling reunion for the camera is
shot in St. Lawrence Hall, the company's original home. "The Dancer's
Story" is a novel blend of documentary and freshly filmed dance
performances.
Making
ballet: The Actress
By: The National Ballet of Canada. A
Cinerouts productions inc, 1995.
Filmmaker Anthony Azzopardi goes
backstage to capture the birth of a ballet. Choreographer James Kudelka and
world-famous prima ballerina Karen Kain rehearse and develop his new piece The Actress. Kudelka created the work,
which explores the career and life of a famous thespian, especially for Kain in honour of her 25th Anniversary with the National Ballet, a
dancer well-known for her strong dramatic ability.
Δ Top
Articles
“The
NBOC through the decades.”
By: Michael Crabb. The Toronto Star, November 11, 2011.
“Celia Franca in
Canada: the early years.”
By: Cheryl Smith. Dance Collection Danse magazine, No. 64, 2007.
James Kudelka
Entire issue, Dance Collection Danse magazine, No. 49, 2000.
Visit national.ballet.ca/media/media_coverage
for more articles.
Δ Top
More
Arts Alive
ArtsAlive.ca is a performing arts
educational website produced by the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada. The goals of ArtsAlive.ca are to engage younger generations of
Canadians in information, multimedia resources and activities pertaining to the
performing arts, and to provide free performing arts-related primary and
secondary resources to students, parents and teachers to aid them in learning
about and teaching the topics presented.
A brief history of Canada’s
National Ballet School
An overview of the evolution of Canada’s
National Ballet School.
Dance
Collection Danse
Dance Collection Danse, Canada's national
dance archives and publisher dedicated to the preservation of Canadian
theatrical dance history, is a multi-faceted organization involved in
collecting, publishing, distribution and dissemination, research and education.
Archival holdings represent the work of dance artists, companies and events
related to theatrical dance dating back to the nineteenth century. These
include choreographic notes, moving images, programs, oral histories, sets,
props, costumes, personal correspondence, house programs and other artifacts
illustrating a dynamic and rich Canadian theatrical dance legacy.
Interact @ national.ballet.ca
Watch videos, visit the Virtual Museum and
follow company activities on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and Tumblr.
Karen Kain @ CBC
Digital Archives
As Canada's public broadcaster, the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has been producing award winning programming
since 1952. The Archives site is your gateway to CBC's extensive collection of
Canadian and International footage.
Media @ national.ballet.ca
Media releases, kits and more articles
about Karen Kain and The National Ballet of Canada.
Veronica
Tennant
Website of former Principal Dancer
Veronica Tennant.
Δ Top