Media Release

The National Ballet of Canada Hosts Positioning Ballet Conference for First Time in North America

February 4, 2025... Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced that the company will host Positioning Ballet, a global conference welcoming 36 Artistic Directors from 17 different countries, for the first time in North America. The conference will take place at The Walter Carsen Centre and Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, February 28 to March 2.

Positioning Ballet was founded in 2017 by Ted Brandsen, Artistic Director of Dutch National Ballet, to provide a visionary and sustainable peer network supporting Artistic Directors of ballet and dance around the world. The conference brings together Artistic Directors of companies internationally to share issues, challenges, successes and concerns with their peers as well as external experts from the worlds of business, sport and the wider arts and cultural sectors.

“It is a great honour for The National Ballet of Canada to host such an important conference to connect with Artistic Directors and their dance organizations to support and strengthen leadership, partnerships, inclusion, diversity, health, well-being and safeguarding of dancers to ensure that our artform remains relevant, creative and forward looking,” said Muir.

The Positioning Ballet Conferences are a follow on of Rural Retreats, first launched in the UK in 2003 by Assis Carreiro who was then the Artistic Director and CEO of DanceEast. Carreiro will facilitate the Toronto discussions. For the first time, the conference is being held outside of Europe in North America. Artistic Directors in attendance will engage in discussion and hear from an impressive panel of Canadian guest speakers including Caroline Ohrt from the National Arts Centre, Weyni Mengesha from Soulpepper Theatre Company, Laura Stein from Bruce Mau Design and Sharon Rudy from Korn Ferry Organizational Consulting.

About Positioning Ballet 

Positioning Ballet Attendees
Cervilio Amador, Cincinnati Ballet
Melissa Barak, Los Angeles Ballet
Filip Barankiewicz, Czech National Ballet
Tara Birtwhistle, Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Robert Bondara, Poznan Ballet
Federico Bonnelli, Northern Ballet
Ted Brandsen, Dutch National Ballet
Kathleen Breen Combes, Ballet Rhode Island
Daniela Cardim, Ballet Arizona
Raphael Coumes-Marquet, Ballet am Rhein
Christine Cox, BalletX
Fernando Duarte, National Ballet of Portugal
Jurgita Dronina, Lithuanian National Ballet
David Hallberg The Australian Ballet
Christopher Hampson, Scottish Ballet
Susan Jaffe, American Ballet Theatre
Ty King-Wall, The Royal New Zealand Ballet
Pontus Lidberg, Ballet de l'Opéra de Nice
Linnar Looris, Estonian National Ballet
Ingrid Lorentzen, The Norwegian National Ballet
David McAllister, West Australian Ballet
Hope Muir, The National Ballet of Canada
Gennadi Nedvigin, Atlanta Ballet
Kevin O'Hare, The Royal Ballet
Simone Orlando, Ballet Kelowna
Krzysztof Pastor, Polish National Ballet
Nina Poláková, Slovak National Ballet
Eric Quilleré, Ballet Opéra Bordeaux
Mario Radačovský, Brno Ballet
Adam Sklute, Ballet West
Christian Spuck, Staatsballett Berlin
Jonathan Stafford, New York City Ballet
Christopher Stowell, Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Francesco Ventriglia, Alberta Ballet
Wendy Whelan, New York City Ballet
Feng Ying, National Ballet of China

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Season Sponsor: BMO Financial Group

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 with the Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage; and the Government of Ontario with the Honourable Stan Cho, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming and Minister of Sport.

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