The National Ballet of Canada

YOU dance First-Ever York University Residency and Livestream

Livestream Reaches 20,000 Students Across Canada

April 17, 2023… Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director, and Barry Hughson, Executive Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced that for the first time the YOU dance residency will be held at York University April 17 – 21, 2023.  

The residency at York University is the company’s first in the community of Jane and Finch and features 65 movement workshops for 1,950 students from ten schools, five free performances by the National Ballet’s RBC Apprentices and one performance for over 300 family members and neighbours in the community. The performance will also feature the students’ original works from the Children and Youth Dance Theatre as well as a performance by students of York University’s Department of Dance.

As part of the residency, a performance of YOU dance will be livestreamed from the Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre at York University on April 21, 2023. The livestream engages students from 185 school boards across 179 cities in every province and territory in Canada, including for the first time, the Dechno First Nations community of Nahanni Butte, Northwest Territories. The livestream will be led by Lisa Robinson, Senior Manager, Education and Community Engagement. 

New this year, the National Ballet’s Senior Teaching Artist Annemarie Cabri is working with students from Driftwood Public School to create a new work that will be performed during the residency, with audio compiled in collaboration with Story Planet, a non-profit organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of children and young people in Toronto’s equity-seeking communities.  

YOU dance, the National Ballet’s signature education and community engagement programme, introduces students in grades four to six to the world of dance through free interactive workshops and performances. Since its inception in 2007, YOU dance has reached nearly 360,000 students, using the power of dance to inspire movement, creativity, imagination and confidence. 

More information about YOU dance > 

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BMO Financial Group presents the 2022/23 season.  

Scotiabank is the Lead Sponsor of YOU dance.  

YOU dance is supported by Ballet Club Relevé, Susanne Boyce and Brendan Mullen, Maxine Goldberg, Elizabeth A. & Richard J. Currie, O.C. and the Steve and Sally Stavro Foundation. 

The RBC Apprentice Programme is sponsored by The RBC Emerging Artists Project.  

Additional support for the RBC Apprentice Programme is provided by Turnout. 

The National Ballet of Canada’s Education and Community Engagement programmes are generously supported by the Anna McCowan-Johnson Dance Accessibility Fund at The National Ballet of Canada, Endowment Foundation. 
 
The National Ballet of Canada gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Ontario Arts Council; the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council; the Government of Canada – Department of Canadian Heritage, through The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism; and the Government of Ontario through The Honourable Neil Lumsden, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

Genevieve Penn Nabity. Photo by Edwin Luk.

For more information, please contact: