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Biography

Evan McKie was born in Toronto, Ontario and trained at Canada’s National Ballet School under such mentors as Glenn Gilmour, Peggy Baker, Laurel Toto and Mavis Staines. Thereafter Evan accepted offers to attend The Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C and the John Cranko School in Germany. He began his career as a member of Stuttgart Ballet under the direction of fellow Canadian Reid Anderson and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2008. In 2012, Evan appeared with The National Ballet of Canada as a Guest Artist and became a Principal Guest Artist in 2013. In 2014, he joined the company as a Principal Dancer.

Evan is also a notable guest artist with the Paris Opéra Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet and the Tokyo Ballet and performs in ballet galas and festivals around the world. Numerous in-demand choreographers who have created roles on him include Wayne McGregor, Marco Goecke, Mauro Bigonzetti, Christian Spuck, Kevin O'Day, Demis Volpi, Louis Stiens and Douglas Lee. Evan has also worked with legendary dance-makers John Neumeier, William Forsythe, Crystal Pite, Hans Van Manen, Jiří Kylián and the late Glen Tetley. Evan has commissioned works by Juliano Nunes, Douglas Lee, David Dawson and Andonis Foniadakis for performances at home in Canada and abroad. He has also commissioned musical compositions such as In Time We Trust by Kirill Richter. “Of all of today's international dance stars, McKie is one of the very brightest” hailed Danse Magazine, Paris.

“If there was an Oscar for ballet dancers, he’d surely be nominated for roles in Onegin, The Winter’s Tale, Hamlet, Nijinsky, Apollo, The Sleeping Beauty and more.”
LaNotte Magazine

In 2012, Evan won Italy's prestigious ApuliArte prize for achievement in dance after dancing in The Sleeping Beauty and Onegin. German TANZ Magazine named him one of its International Dancers of the Year in 2013 and again in 2014. He has also won critics’ choice nominations for Most Outstanding Male Dancer by London, New York, Tokyo and Paris-based critics in Dance Europe magazine over the years. In 2016, Evan received the My Entertainment World award as all-around fan-favourite for roles such as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, the title role in Onegin and Leontes in The Winter’s Tale and has since been nominated for Outstanding Ballet Performance as Diaghilev in Nijinsky and as a leading soloist in Wayne McGregor’s ensemble-piece, Genus.

Since joining the National Ballet, Evan has also made celebrated company debuts as Eugene Onegin in Onegin, the title role in Apollo (noted by the Hamilton Spectator as one of its Top 10 Performances of 2019), King Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, the Knave of Hearts in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Genus, Chroma, Diaghilev in Nijinsky, Karenin in Anna Karenina, Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire and the Phlegmetic lead in The Four Temperaments. He also performed the title role in The Nutcracker, Siegfried in Swan Lake and both Romeo and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. Evan has since debuted as Man #1 in Crystal Pite’s Emergence and was named one of the Top 5 Dancers in the World, 2020 by La Notte Magazine, alongside Misty Copeland, Marianela Nunez, Matthie Ganio and Victoria Tereshkina.

Offstage, Evan is a visual artist and a guest writer for Dance Magazine US and Japan. He is also a member of Dance Magazine’s international advisory board. He is involved in research initiatives in the field of neuroplasticity and gender studies and has also recently volunteered at Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health developing and leading a workshop using the ever-emerging benefits of dance/choreography as a recreational therapy tool. In 2016, he was awarded the inaugural Kirov Academy Alumni Award for his outstanding contribution and commitment to the arts and in 2017, he was named Honorary Advisor to Dance Collection Danse; Canada’s Dance Archive. Evan also holds a certificate in Interpersonal Relations and Leadership from HEC, L’école des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris and has recently completed his Certification in Executive Leadership from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.