National Ballet of Canada update

Bridgett Zehr and Brendan Saye / Photo by Aleksander Antonijevic

Guillaume Coté / Photo by Sian Richards

Bridgett Zehr and Zdenek Konvalina in Swan Lake / Photo by Aleksander Atonijevic

>> by Cynthia Brett
Dancers at The National Ballet of Canada (NBoC) have been making headlines both at home and internationally this spring. On April 24th, principal dancer Guillaume Côté's choreography No. 24 won third prize (2,000 Euro) at Ballet Society Hanover's 25th International Competition in Germany, where it was performed by principal dancer Aleksander Antonijevic and second soloist Elena Lobsonova. The piece, originally created for NBoC's 2010 Choreographic Lab, is Côté's second work. In other news, Antonijevic's own creative endeavour, a photography exhibit called "Secrets of the Flesh", ran May 10th through 15th at CONTACT International Photography Festival in Toronto. In a press release, he commented that, "In my photography, I continually explore the essence of shape and form. My many years as a dancer gives me an unique understanding of the effect body movement has on our senses." Finally, the company recently announced that two of its principal dancers, Bridgett Zehr and Zdenek Konvalina, will join the English National Ballet as principal dancers in the 2011/12 season, but will remain with NBoC as guest artists. NBoC wraps up this season with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (June 4th through 25th) and Mozartiana, Other Dances and In The Upper Room (June 15th through 19th).

SCDS/SECD director Amy Bowring stepping down

Amy Bowring and sons / Photo by Michael Ripley

>> by Samantha Mehra
Amy Bowring, founder/director of the Society of Canadian Dance Studies/La Société des études canadiennes en danse (SCDS/SECD), recently announced her decision to step down from the position citing the need to make more time for family and for her role as director of research at the archives/publisher Dance Collection Danse. In order to preserve the Society and move it forward, available members plan to meet in Toronto on June 24th during the Society of Dance History Scholars (SDHS) conference to determine the future governance and leadership structure for the organization. Bowring founded SCDS/SECD in 2000, with a mandate to support and publish Canadian dance research, to disseminate dance studies in schools, and provide and promote discussion of issues surrounding Canadian dance. The organization, via its website, has provided resources and facilitated the publishing of scholarly articles about dance in Canada, and has held conferences across the country. It has also collaborated with the Canada Dance Festival and The Dance Current on various dance literacy projects and is the only academic association for dance in Canada.
http://people.uleth.ca/~scds.secd/

So You Think You Can Dance Canada winner takes on charitable work

Tara-Jean Popowich/ Photo care of CTV

>> by Naomi Brand

Since winning So You Think You Can Dance Canada (SYTYCDC) Season Two, Tara-Jean Popowich has been busy with charity work. She recently returned from Burkina Faso, West Africa, where she was working with Bridges of Hope, a not-for-profit organization that promotes poverty relief and community development. Upon her return to Canada, Popowich organized a fundraiser for the organization where she taught a two-hour masterclass with all of the proceeds going to support Bridges of Hope. The SYTYCDC winner is also involved in Canadian anti-bullying campaigns and she has paired up with Chance 2 Dance Foundation, a national organization that brings dance to underprivileged children. Season four of SYTYCDC premieres on June 20th.

Ballet Jörgen's Tara Butler retires

Tara Butler in Ballet Jörgen Canada's Cinderella / Photo by Karolina Kuras

>> by Brittany Duggan
Tara Butler, principal dancer at Ballet Jörgen Canada, has retired after sixteen years with the Toronto-based touring ballet company. A native of Pickering, Ontario, Butler trained at Canada's National Ballet School graduating in 1992. She apprenticed with The National Ballet of Canada for one season before joining the Alberta Ballet for two years, and the Banff Festival Ballet for three summers. Butler joined Ballet Jörgen Canada in 1995 and has been a principal dancer ever since. As a principal with Ballet Jörgen, Butler has danced lead roles in Cinderella, Anastasia and Romeo and Juliet – a role created especially for her by Bengt Jörgen, artistic director of the company. “Only a few artists in every generation have the ability to connect in their art form with the ease and sincerity that Tara has communicated in her love for dance to so many people,” commented Jörgen by e-mail. “Tara is an extraordinary dancer, a consummate artist and a spellbinding performer.”

Butler’s transition from the stage will include coaching Ballet Jörgen’s dancers, teaching at George Brown Dance as well as teaching Bikram Yoga, a certification she received last year thanks to a retraining grant from the Dancer Transition Resource Centre. “I am happy with my decision to retire from Ballet Jörgen Canada and look forward to the many adventures ahead. Dance will always be a part of my life and will always bring me joy. I will continue to contribute to the dance world in any way that I can. I believe very deeply in this art form and the power, magic and inspiration it holds,” commented Butler via e-mail.

Butler’s final performance was in Halifax on April 19th at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. She chose Coppélia as her farewell role.

New award for emerging dance artists in Nova Scotia

Cynthia Lank, Daphne Cruikshanks, Adrian Hoffman and Francesca Nardi / Photo by Jacqueline Steudler

>> by Brittany Duggan
The Nova Scotia Talent Trust (NSTT) recently announced the creation of a new $1100 award. The award is for existing scholarship recipients who demonstrate exceptional commitment and potential in dance. Made possible through the donation of the late Robert George Jackson and his widow, Daphne Cruikshanks, the fund will be presented at December’s annual NSTT Special Awards ceremony; an event that further acknowledges artists who have already been successful with either the Spring/Summer or Fall/Winter scholarships. Established in 1944, the NSTT is a not-for-profit organization that provides scholarships to developing Nova Scotian artists in dance, music, theatre, visual arts, literary arts and film. www.nstalenttrust.ns.ca

Good Women hosts second "What's Cooking?" event

Alida Nyquist Schultz (back) and Ainsley Hillyard (front)/ Photo by Tracy Kolenchuk

>> by Cynthia Brett
To celebrate International Dance Day on April 29th, Good Women Dance Collective hosted its second annual "What's Cooking?" event at Transalta Arts Barns in Edmonton. The evening included a buffet-style dinner as well as a casual atmosphere for artists to share works-in-progress and receive feedback from the audience. Collective member Ainsley Hillyard commented in a press release that, "It seems, sometimes, that we don't want to talk about our art ... This is a barrier we wanted to break down."

Two books from Western Canadian dancers

>> by Brittany Duggan
Leap, a new novel by Jodi Lundgren, is a fictional story about a fifteen-year-old girl and her relationship with dance. Full of twists and turns, Leap captures the positive power dance can have on young girls as they wade through the social and personal pressures of growing up. A native of Victoria, BC, Lundgren herself grew up writing and dancing before moving to Seattle to pursue more training and performance opportunities, as well as a Ph.D. in English. Along with other published short works, Lundgren has written one other novel, Touched (2009). Leap was published in March by Second Story Press.

Another dance book to emerge from a Western Canadian dancer is Keltie Colleen’s Rockettes, Rockstars and Rockbottom, an autobiography about this celebrity-status dancer from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Her story starts with her move to New York City and struggle to become a dancer for The Radio City Rockettes and stumbles fast through broken hearts and career highs. Some of those highs include working with the New York Knicks, Kanye West, Taylor Swift and Panic at the Disco; dancing on the MTV Music Video Awards, 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live and Entertainment Tonight; and creating and writing for her blog: www.highkicksandhighhopes.blogspot.com. Colleen currently hosts Live Nation’s music news and her own web series “Living the Dream” on teen.com. Rockettes, Rockstars and Rockbottom was published last year by The Deadxstop Publishing Company in Chicago.

Red Sky's Sandra Laronde earns honorary degree

>> by Brittany Duggan
Sandra Laronde, founder and artistic director of Red Sky Performance, has been chosen to receive an honorary degree from Trent University. Dr. Steven E. Franklin, Trent’s president, will honour Laronde for her contribution to society through her work in contemporary indigenous performing arts. As well as being founding artistic director of Red Sky, Laronde is the director of Indigenous Arts at the Banff Centre, and has been an instrumental leader in creating links with First Peoples, culturally diverse, world indigenous peoples and mainstream communities. Past honours include the Ontario Good Citizenship Medal, the Paul D. Fleck Fellowship in the Arts and the Toronto City Council’s 2004 Aboriginal Affairs Award. Laronde will be honoured at Trent’s forty-fourth convocation ceremonies on June 1st; the other honorary degree recipients are The Right Honourable Kim Campbell, former prime minister of Canada; children's rights activist Craig Kielburger; visual artist and biologist Rick Beaver; and electrical engineer and paralympian Lauren Woolstencroft.

Dance 2 Danse Festival cancelled

>> by Brittany Duggan
Toronto’s Dance 2 Danse (D2D) Festival has been cancelled for 2011, and possibly for good. Sion Irwin-Childs, artistic director and founder, has informed artists who applied before the deadline that their submissions are currently in the process of being returned along with all application fees. The decision comes shortly after applications were due for 2011, and just one year after the festival’s founding. D2D was a summer dance festival in Toronto that catered to a range of artists and dance disciplines. The programming consisted of a curated cabaret and a series of mainstage shows chosen by lottery. Irwin-Childs has chosen not to comment.

National Ballet of Canada introduces summer intensive

>> by Samantha Mehra

For the first time, The National Ballet of Canada will host a summer dance intensive from July 4th through 15th, 2011, from 9:00am to 3:00pm daily. The ten-day summer intensive provides students, aged fourteen through eighteen, the opportunity to learn from professional dancers at the National Ballet's studios in The Walter Carsen Centre in downtown Toronto. In addition to ballet classes, students will be offered intensives in pointe, jazz, hip hop and repertoire. This year's faculty of professional dancers includes Rex Harrington, Tanya Howard, Stacey Shiori Minagawa, Kate Kernaghan, Jonathan Renna, Jonathan Arsenault and Shavar Blackwood.
https://national.ballet.ca/education/programmes/adult/Summer_Dance_Intensive

Ryerson offers new course for professional dancers

>> by Cynthia Brett
Continuing its efforts to help professional dancers earn university credit, Ryerson University is currently offering a new course in partnership with the Dancer Transition Resource Centre and Canada's National Ballet School. "Biology of a Living City", running April 4th through June 27th, is the second course Ryerson has offered as a step towards a specialized degree program for professional dancers. It follows "Critical Thinking", which spearheaded the project in Fall 2010.

Canada Council appointments

>> by Amy Bowring
The Canada Council for the Arts has made two appointments that will be important to the dance community. Anne Valois, former head of the Dance Section, has been named director of Arts Disciplines Division, and Caroline Lussier, departing administrative director of the Festival TransAmériques (FTA), has been appointed head of the Dance Section. Both women bring extensive knowledge of the Canadian dance community to their new roles. Valois’ early career included administrative work with Montréal companies Le Groupe de la Place Royale and La La La Human Steps; she was also executive director of the Festival international de nouvelle danse. She acted as a consultant with the arts councils of both Québec and Ontario. Her first role at the Canada Council was as dance and theatre officer for the Touring Office in 1986. She was made head of the Touring Office in 1990 and of the Strategic Initiatives Unit in 1991. She became head of the Dance Section in 1997 and in her capacity there has worked with the section’s officers to evolve granting programs to reflect changes in the dance scene itself. Like Valois, Lussier has also worked for La La La Human Steps; she then became assistant director of Diagramme gestion culturelle, which provides administrative services to dance artists and companies in Montréal. She has also worked as a program officer for the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, as administrative director of Compagnie Marie Chouinard, and has been with FTA since 2007.