Swan Lake

On June 30, 2021, Karen Kain stepped down as Artistic Director after a brilliant career with The National Ballet of Canada that began in 1969, when she first joined the company as a member of the Corps de Ballet. She was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1971 following a sensational debut as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and quickly achieved international fame as one of the great classical dancers of her era. Karen is the longest-serving Artistic Director since Founder Celia Franca and a Canadian dance icon of global influence.

Karen was born in Hamilton, Ontario and trained at Canada’s National Ballet School. After joining the National Ballet, she quickly distinguished herself as an artist of extraordinary depth and versatility, and she formed an historic dance partnership with colleague Frank Augustyn. In 1973, the pair competed at the prestigious International Ballet Competition in Moscow, with Karen winning the Silver Medal in the Women’s Category and both dancers receiving a special prize for Best Pas de Deux.

Karen performed in many of the great classical and contemporary works of her time, collaborated with international choreographers on new roles and appeared as a guest artist with such companies as Paris Opéra Ballet, Roland Petit’s Le Ballet de Marseille, Bolshoi Ballet, London Festival Ballet and Vienna State Opera Ballet. She also developed a close creative partnership with Rudolf Nureyev and performed with him often.

In 1998, Karen became Artist-in-Residence with the National Ballet following her retirement from dancing in 1997 and the role was expanded to Artistic Associate in 1999. She was appointed Artistic Director of the National Ballet in 2005. The following year, she restaged Rudolf Nureyev’s The Sleeping Beauty for the company’s inaugural season at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.

During her tenure, the National Ballet embarked on 23 international tours and 29 Canadian tours, commissioned or acquired 71 works for the repertoire and received worldwide acclaim for the calibre of its dancing. These successes include the company’s first-ever Russian tour, landmark appearances in London, England and Paris, France, the co-commission of Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale with The Royal Ballet, the North American premiere of John Neumeier’s Nijinsky and the launch of the $104 million Soaring Campaign, the largest fundraising campaign in the company’s history. Karen also appointed three Choreographic Associates, established Creative Action to support Canadian choreographers and expanded the company’s education and community engagement initiatives, reaching over 100,000 students and community members each year.

Karen has received many awards and honours for her accomplishments. She is Companion of the Order of Canada, holds the Order of Ontario, was the first Canadian recipient of the Cartier Lifetime Achievement Award and was named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Government of France. Karen received a Governor General’s National Arts Centre Award in 1997, a Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in 2002 and the Barbara Hamilton Memorial Award in 2007.

From 2004 to 2008, Karen was Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts and in 2007, the Karen Kain School for Arts opened in her honour. In 2011, she received the Distinguished Artist Award from the International Society for the Performing Arts and in 2019, Karen became the first Canadian to be honoured with the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award, the highest honour conferred by the Royal Academy of Dance.

On July 1, 2021, the Board of Directors named Karen Artistic Director Emerita of The National Ballet of Canada.

Christopher Stowell, born in New York City, danced with San Francisco Ballet for 16 years. As a Principal Dancer, he performed leading roles in full-length classics and contemporary works. He had roles created for him by such choreographers as Helgi Tomasson, William Forsythe and Mark Morris and was renowned for his interpretation of the George Balanchine repertoire, appearing in nearly every Balanchine ballet performed. Following his performing career, Christopher was Artistic Director of Oregon Ballet Theatre from 2003 to 2012. In 2017, he was named the first Associate Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, a position he held until 2022. Christopher’s influence extends globally through his work as a choreographer, teacher and coach with companies across North America, Europe and Asia. He has also served as a répétiteur staging the works of Balanchine, Mark Morris and Christopher Wheeldon. In June of 2025, Christopher begins his tenure as Artistic Director of Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Robert Binet is a choreographer, curator and leader who has created works for The National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet and more. Robert was Choreographic Associate with The National Ballet of Canada from 2013 to 2024 creating 16 works for the company, including The Dreamers Ever Leave You, an immersive ballet first performed at the Art Gallery of Ontario and later toured within Canada, the US, UK and Germany as well as the original choreography for Karen Kain’s Swan Lake. Robert’s most recent creation was Dark with Excessive Bright for The Royal Ballet which was hailed as “intoxicating” by The Times.

In November 2024, Robert was appointed Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Fall for Dance North, Toronto’s premier international dance festival. Prior to this, he served as Director of Artist Development Programmes for The National Ballet of Canada where he created the Creative Action programme which supported the development of over 200 new works by Canadian choreographers from 2018 to 2024. In 2023, Robert was the Choreographic Mentor at the Venice Biennale College Danza and guest curator for Dance: Made in Canada festival. In the same year, Robert received the Sandra Faire Next Generation Award from Dance Collection Danse, awarded to an individual under 40 who is making a significant impact on dance in Canada.

Gabriela Týlešová is an award-winning internationally acclaimed designer whose work spans the full spectrum of the arts, designing for opera, theatre, large scale events, dance and film. Gabriela was born in former Czechoslovakia and studied art in both Europe and Australia, graduating in design from The National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney and cinematography at The Australian Film Television and Radio School. Gabriela has worked as a designer over numerous productions around the globe, winning multiple awards including the Helpmann Award for Best Set Design and Best Costume Design, Green Room Award for Best Set Design and Best Costume Design, APDG Award for Best Set and Costume Design and the Sydney Theatre Award for Design. Gabriela’s career highlights include Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies (Australia, US, Japan, China and Europe), The Phantom of the Opera for Handa Opera on the Sydney Harbour, Cinderella (UK and Broadway), First Wives Club (Broadway), The Sleeping Beauty for The Australian Ballet, Swan Lake for The National Ballet of Canada and Finnish National Ballet and more. Gabriela has recently created the designed for the musical ANASTASIA for Det Ny Theatre in Copenhagen, was in Japan for the re-opening of Love Never Dies, and is currently working on Muriel’s Wedding The Musical, opening in Leicester, UK in April 2025.

Bonnie Beecher has designed over 400 productions across Canada and internationally for theatre, opera and dance. For The National Ballet of Canada, Bonnie designed the lighting for the weight of absence and one hundred word for snow, both choreographed by Dominique Dumais. Her work has been seen in most theatres in Canada including Shaw Festival, The Stratford Festival, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Atelier, Soulpepper Theatre, National Arts Centre, The National Ballet of Canada, Tarragon Theatre, The Citadel and Ballet BC. International work includes lighting designs for Dutch National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Glimmerglass Opera, The Royal Opera of Versailles, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Royal Shakespeare Company, New Zealand Opera, Ballett Dortmund, Royal Flanders Ballet, The Opéra national du Rhin Ballet, State Ballet of Georgia, Ballet Im Revier, The Dusseldorf Ballet and Karlsruhe Ballet in Germany. Bonnie also designed the lights for seven world premieres for Stuttgart Ballet and collaborated with the Kevin O'Day in Mannheim, Germany for 14 seasons from 2002 to 2016 where she designed the lighting for more than 25 world premieres for the company.

A Canadian media designer and technologist, Sean Nieuwenhuis’ work has been seen in stage productions and special events around the globe. His studio, Sensory Overload Productions Inc., provides technical and production design services to a wide variety of large-scale corporate communications projects. Selected credits: Going Home Star, Handmaid’s Tale (Royal Winnipeg Ballet), Madama Butterfly, Whiteley (Opera Australia), Gounod’s Faust (Metropolitan Opera), Macbeth (LA Opera), Nixon in China (Royal Swedish Opera), WOO Dublin, San Francisco, Kansas City (Vancouver Opera), SUMMER, Dr. Zhivago, Jesus Christ Superstar (Broadway), Tommy, Spamalot, JCS, Man of La Mancha, Wanderlust, Cabaret, Evita (Stratford Festival), The Ballad of Johnny and June, Sideways, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (La Jolla Playhouse), A Word or Two (Ahmanson), Rear Window (Hartford Stage), Manchurian Candidate (Minnesota Opera) Magic Flute, Lillian Alling (VOA), 2025 & 2017 Invictus Games Opening & Closing Ceremonies and Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Opening & Closing Ceremonies.

Read Bio >

Read Bio >

Jeff Morris joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1995. Born in Toronto, he studied technical theatre production and administration at Ryerson’s Theatre School (now Toronto Metropolitan University). From 1990 to 1995, he was Production Stage Manager for Toronto Dance Theatre, including the company’s debuts in Berlin, Warsaw, Tokyo and at the Joyce Theater. He was Production Stage Manager for Dancers for Life (1991 – 1997), Stage Manager for Theatre Passe-Muraille (Never Swim Alone) and for the Fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists. Since joining the National Ballet, Jeff has stage-managed a wide range of the company’s unique classical and contemporary repertoire, including the world premieres of James Kudelka’s The Four Seasons, Cinderella and An Italian Straw Hat, Crystal Pite’s Emergence and Angels’ Atlas and Guillaume Côté’s Le Petit Prince and Frame by Frame (with Robert Lepage). Company premieres include John Neumeier’s The Seagull, A Streetcar Named Desire, Nijinsky and Anna Karenina and Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale. He is a board member and instructor for SMArts and Festival CoDirector for dance:made in Canada/fait au Canada.

Alex Wommack (she/her) was born and raised in Waco, Texas and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Her passion for ballet led her to work with Alabama Ballet while completing her undergraduate degree. At Alabama Ballet, she stage-managed works by Jiří Kylián, Agnes de Mille and Sir Frederick Ashton. Following graduation, she moved to Seattle and joined the Stage Management team at Seattle Opera, where highlights included Porgy and Bess, The Barber of Seville and Flight. In 2017, she worked with Pacific Northwest Ballet as an Assistant Stage Manager for George Balanchine's The Nutcracker and then joined the company as Stage Manager in 2020. She is a member of AGMA and served two terms as the staging staff representative for the Northwest area on the National Board of Governors. Outside of her professional work, Alex is actively involved with Books to Prisoners, an organization that fosters a love of reading and help break the cycle of recidivism in American prisons.

Former Stage Manager with The National Ballet of Canada from 2015 to 2023, Liliane Stilwell has stage managed The Merry Widow, Onegin, Giselle, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio. Previously she served as stage manager for the Canadian Opera Company for 22 years. Highlights include Don Quixote, Barber of Seville, Lucia di Lammermore, La Cenerentola, Otello, Marriage of Figaro, Götterdämmerung (complete Ring Cycle), Macbeth, La Bohème, Eugene Onegin, Madama Butterfly and was part of the team that took Oedipus Rex to the Edinburgh International Festival. Liliane was production stage manager for Grease and stage manager for Robin Hood and Cinderella at the Elgin Theatre, Dirty Dancing at the Royal Alexandra Theatre and Hairspray at the Princess of Wales Theatre. Other credits include Tom Jones, Speed –The-Plow, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Big River, Carousel, Me and My Girl and Roar of the Greasepaint-Smell of the Crowd. Liliane has stage managed several industrial shows in Canada and the US. Prior to stepping to the other side of the production table as stage manager, Liliane spent many years as a performer for television and the stage, culminating in a run of Buddy Holly at Shubert Theatre on Broadway.