Biography
An acclaimed dancer, teacher and director, Hope Muir’s 33-year career spans both the classical and contemporary worlds and two continents. Born in Toronto, her family relocated to the United Kingdom when she was 15. She studied ballet in London, England at Peter Schaufuss’ newly formed London Festival Ballet School (now English National Ballet School). Upon graduation, she danced with English National Ballet, performing choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, August Bournonville and John Cranko among others. In 1994, she joined the renowned Rambert Dance Company (RDC), under the direction of Christopher Bruce CBE. She performed with RDC for 10 years, dancing repertoire of Christopher Bruce, Jiří Kylián, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, Twyla Tharp, Javier De Frutos and Merce Cunningham. In 2004, she crossed the Atlantic again to dance with the famed Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, adding William Forsythe, Nacho Duato and Lar Lubovitch to her repertoire.
After a 20-year career as a dancer, Hope retired from the stage and became a sought-after guest teacher and rehearsal director. She joined Scottish Ballet in 2009, becoming Assistant Artistic Director in 2015. In 2017, she was appointed Artistic Director of Charlotte Ballet in North Carolina. On January 1, 2022, Hope was named Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada.
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Known for her commitment to collaboration and innovation, during her tenure as Artistic Director at Charlotte Ballet, Hope commissioned 12 world premieres, six US premieres and brought in many new choreographers to the company. She also established the highly successful Choreographic Lab.
As a guest teacher and rehearsal director, Hope worked with English National Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures Company as well as The Juilliard School and North Carolina School of the Arts, coaching both classical and contemporary technique. She has assisted numerous choreographers on staging their works internationally including Christopher Bruce, Javier De Frutos and Helen Pickett, among others. She was also invited by Emily Molnar to be Guest Rehearsal Director for Ballet BC and worked as Rehearsal Assistant at The Royal Ballet in London.
In 2009, Hope assisted Crystal Pite on the creation of her award-winning work Emergence for The National Ballet of Canada. She has since supported in staging the work for companies around the world. Hope also staged Christopher Bruce’s Rooster for the National Ballet in 2008 and was a guest teacher with the company in 2011.
A leader of bold vision, Hope is driven by constant curiosity and the desire to cultivate new voices, collaborate in new ways and move the artform of ballet forward. Committed to creating an inclusive, supportive working environment, her deep love and respect for the artform, and its artists, informs every decision she makes.
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