The National Ballet of Canada

The National Ballet of Canada was founded in Toronto in 1951 by Celia Franca, a British dancer and choreographer recruited to build a national ballet company essentially from nothing. Franca served as artistic director for over two decades, establishing both the performing company and its affiliated ballet school, and shaping the company's classical, Royal Ballet-influenced style. The company has shared the Canadian Opera Company's Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts since it opened in 2006, and rehearses out of the Walter Carsen Centre in the city's west end.

A principal dancer becomes artistic director

Karen Kain, one of the National Ballet's most celebrated principal dancers through the 1970s, 80s and 90s, became the company's artistic director in 2005, leading it for close to two decades before stepping down in the 2020s. Her career, from star dancer to the company's administrative leadership, is one of the more visible throughlines in the company's history, tying its founding generation to its present-day repertoire of classical and contemporary work.

Sources

• The Canadian Encyclopedia — National Ballet of Canada
• Wikipedia — National Ballet of Canada

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