André Gingras, 1966-2013

André Gingras / Photo by Jochem Jurgens

>> by Jaimée Horn
After having battled colon cancer for several years, dance artist André Gingras died on February 17th at age forty-six, in Breda, The Netherlands. Born in Canada, he studied theatre, English literature and contemporary dance in Toronto, Montréal and New York City. Gingras began his work as a choreographer in The Netherlands in 1999. His desire to explore a highly physical and visual language, drew inspiration from martial arts, free running, and the physical symptoms related to specific medical conditions. His work has been commissioned by several prestigious artists and companies worldwide, and has toured internationally to great acclaim. In March 2010, he became artistic director of Dance Works Rotterdam, bringing new life to the company through his international network. A public memorial service will be held on March 22nd in The Netherlands, to celebrate his life and honour his numerous artistic contributions. According to Dance Works Rotterdam, Gingras' friends in New York and Canada will be sharing in the celebrations from a distance.

Nancy Lima Dent, 1919-2013

Nancy Lima Dent, 1957 / Photo by Jim Griffin, courtesy of Dance Collection Danse

>> by Amy Bowring
Pioneering modern dance choreographer Nancy Lima Dent died on February 15th, age 93, at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. Born in Toronto to Italian immigrant parents, Lima Dent was not allowed to study dance as a child but did study piano at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. Her father was interned during World War II and during this time Lima Dent began ballet lessons with Boris Volkoff. At Volkoff's studio, she was introduced to modern dance through Elizabeth Leese and discovered an immediate affinity for this form of movement. She left home to pursue dance when her father was released from the internment camp. Living a hand-to-mouth existence, she put every cent she could into her training and staged her first work in 1946, Set Your Clock at U235. With its anti-atomic weapon theme, this was the first of many works Lima Dent created that included social or political commentary. She worked for a decade with the New Dance Theatre under the umbrella of the United Jewish People's Order and was its director from 1950 through 1955. She ran a dance program for the Canadian Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers' Union in Sudbury, Ontario, from 1955 to 1957 and then returned to Toronto and set up the Nancy Lima Dent Dance Theatre. Her works were performed at the Canadian Ballet Festivals in the 1950s and at several modern dance festivals in Toronto in the early 1960s. Working with choreographers such as Yoné Kvietys, Ruth Lau, Birouté Nagys and Bianca Rogge, Lima Dent was part of a group that laid the groundwork in the mid-1960s for the boom period modern dance would experience in the 1970s.
More: dcd.ca/exhibitions/limadent/index.html

Jeni LeGon (1916-2012)

 Jeni Legon with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson / Photo courtesy of American Tap Dance Foundation archives

>> by Jacqueline Hansen
African-American dancer, teacher and actor Jeni LeGon died on Friday, December 7th, 2012, at age ninety-six in Vancouver. According to the American Tap Dance Foundation (ATDF), LeGon was one of the first African-American women to develop a career as a tap soloist. She challenged stereotypical female roles at the time, by donning pants when others wore skirts, and performing toe stands, acrobatics and complex rhythmic dancing. LeGon, born Jennie Bell, grew up on the south side of Chicago. The ATDF says LeGon landed her first job in musical theatre when she was thirteen years old. It was the beginning of an incredible career that spanned her lifetime, and included performing with stars such as Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, the Nicholas Brothers, Fred Astaire and Fats Waller. LeGon also played roles in Hollywood films, including the 1935 musical Hooray for Love, at a time when the industry was primarily white-dominated. LeGon settled in Vancouver in 1969 where she became a well-respected and beloved teacher. Canada's National Film Board produced the documentary Jeni LeGon: Living in a Great Big Way in 1999. LeGon is survived by her husband, drummer Frank Clavin, and will be remembered as a great dancer and teacher and as a pioneer for black performers.

Arts patron Walter Carsen dies at 100

 Walter Carsen / photo courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada

>> by Naomi Brand
Described by The National Ballet of Canada as its "greatest patron", businessman and philanthropist Walter Carsen died on October 8th, 2012 at the age of 100. Carsen’s generosity is unmatched in the history of The National Ballet of Canada. He underwrote twelve productions for the company, funded tours, campaigns and led the donations for construction of the ballet’s permanent home in Toronto, named in his honour. "He helped us achieve what we wanted to do. He was an inspiration through his generosity, leadership and great enthusiasm and he was also a great friend to the company," said Artistic Director Karen Kain in a statement. In addition to his support of the ballet, he established the annual $50,000 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts and donated to the Shaw Festival, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the United Way, among other charities.

Carsen was born in Germany and came to Canada in 1941 where he built his fortune distributing photo and optical supplies. Among his many honours, Carsen was appointed as a member of the Order of Canada in 1995 and, in 2002, was promoted to officer of the Order of Canada. “When I see a need I believe in, I want to help," said Carsen in an interview with the Toronto Star earlier this year. "Money is here to be spent. Give it where you love it and where it gives pleasure to others.”

Leland Windreich (1926-2012)

Leland Windreich / Photo courtesy of Dance Collection Danse

>> by Kaija Pepper
Leland Windreich – a rare breed of writer who established himself as an important dance historian and critic – uncovered one of Canada’s great art stories: the Vancouver-Ballet Russe connection. Starting in 1938, seven dancers who had trained in the small west coast city joined one of two famed Russian companies: Colonel de Basil’s Ballet Russe or Serge Denham’s Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

Lee, as he was known to friends, died in Vancouver in July at age 85, still engaged in the art form he loved, though mostly via the internet due to limited mobility. His lifetime involvement with dance began as a boy in San Francisco devouring movie musicals starring Eleanor Powell or Ruby Keeler. By the time he immigrated to Canada in 1961 (for a University of Victoria librarian’s post), ballet was his passion.

Several of Windreich’s countless reviews and articles are collected in his book, Dance Encounters. Windreich also edited Dancing for de Basil: Letters to her parents from Rosemary Deveson 1938-1940, covering the time Deveson toured with the Ballet Russe under the stage name Natasha Sobinova. In June Roper: Ballet Starmaker, Windreich wrote about the teacher who created the hothouse where those seven dancers bloomed. These books, published by Dance Collection Danse, are Lee Windreich’s legacy, his gift to the dance community.

Rachel Browne, 1934-2012

Rachel Browne in Flowering

>> by Amy Bowring
Canadian dance icon Rachel Browne died in Ottawa on Saturday, June 9th. Founder of Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers and its accompanying professional school, Browne was in Ottawa for the Canada Dance Festival (CDF) where students from five of Canada's professional dance schools, including the School of Contemporary Dancers, were performing Jean-Pierre Perreault's Joe et Rodolphe at the National Arts Centre. Browne returned to her hotel late Friday night and died in her sleep at the age of 77; the cause of death has not been made public. A funeral will be held in Winnipeg on Friday, June 15th at 2:30pm in the Piano Nobile reception area of the Centennial Concert Hall. Plans are being arranged for a memorial in Toronto in September; details will be made available when public.

Born in Philadelphia, Browne studied piano and dance as a child. After high school, she moved to New York and took ballet classes with Benjamin Harkarvy. In New York, she and some friends also formed a ballet group called The New Century Dancers – anyone who joined had to be enlightened in socialism or communism. In 1957, Browne left New York when Harkarvy invited her to accompany him on a move to Winnipeg to direct the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Browne left the company in 1961 and began to raise a family; however, she still attended company class or would do barre exercises in her kitchen. During these years, she began to teach for fellow RWB dancers Jill and Nenad Lhotka. When she choreographed for her senior students, she discovered that her natural way of moving was not balletic in nature. She began to choreograph more and founded Contemporary Dancers in 1964. She developed a repertory company that performed her work as well as that of others, such as Robert Moulton. The socialist ideals of her upbringing along with feminism and environmental issues informed her work. She resigned as artistic director in 1983 but remained closely tied to the company for the remainder of her life while also setting works on other companies and individuals. Through her teaching and choreography, she has influenced and mentored multiple generations of dance artists across Canada including Stephanie Ballard, Tedd Robinson, Sharon Moore and Andrea Nann, among numerous others. Several artists performing at CDF dedicated their shows to Browne’s memory. Writer-choreographer Carol Anderson published a biography of Browne, Rachel Browne: Dancing Toward the Light, in 1999.

Ken Roy (1963-2012)

Ken Roy

>> by Jacqueline Hansen
On January 28th, 2012, Canada lost one of its premier contemporary dancers, Ken Roy, after a year-long battle with cancer. The forty-eight-year-old is being remembered by Canada’s dance community as a great dancer, an artist and a friend, and for his intensity, passion and generosity. Originally from Nova Scotia, Roy began his career with Le Groupe de la Place Royale in Ottawa. He went on to perform in over thirty productions and six films dancing in the works of Jean-Pierre Perreault, Louise Bédard, Daniel Léveillé and Sylvain Émard, among others. Roy shared his experience and knowledge of contemporary dance as a teacher for nearly twenty years, including seven years at Concordia University. His colleagues and students at the university attempted to describe the mark Roy has left on them: “The impact Ken had on the people he met and the emptiness he leaves in our hearts goes beyond what can be communicated with words.” A tribute to Roy’s career will be held this spring, organized by members of the Montréal dance community.

Jacques Gorrissen (1945-2012)

Jacques Gorrissen (1996). Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann

>> Naomi Brand
Jacques Gorrissen, Belgian-born dancer and longtime National Ballet principal character artist died on January 20th, 2012, at the age of sixty-six. Born in Ghent, Belgium, Gorrissen studied dance at the Royal Flemish Opera School and upon graduation joined the Royal Flemish Opera Ballet in Antwerp. In 1968 he joined The National Ballet of Canada, was promoted to soloist in 1972, and was a principal character artist from 1985 until 1998. Gorrissen's range as a character dancer extended from the comic to the tragic. He earned both critical and audience acclaim in such roles as Dr. Coppelius in Coppélia, Friar Laurence and the Duke of Verona in Romeo and Juliet, the Master of Ceremonies and the Tutor in Swan Lake, the Catalabutte in The Sleeping Beauty, and Gamache and Sancho Panza in Don Quixote, among others. Gorrissen also danced several roles in works by James Kudelka including The Four Seasons (1997), a featured role in Pastorale (1990), Tesman in Hedda (1983) and The Balloon Seller in Washington Square (1979).

Condolences can be sent to Morley Bedford Funeral Home.
http://national.ballet.ca/thecompany/guest_bio/Jacques_Gorrissen/

Canada loses two early RAD members

Alison Sutcliffe, 1936

Dorothy Scruton

>> by Amy Bowring
In recent months, Canada has lost two of its earliest Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) members: Dorothy Cox Scruton died on October 22nd at age 100 and Alison Sutcliffe Brigden died on December 30th at age 102. Born in Winnipeg but trained in dance in England, Scruton’s name appears in the 1931 city directory for Victoria as the principal of the Western School of Dancing; she is listed by the RAD as its first Canadian teacher in 1932. Scruton and her daughter moved to London, ON, in 1947 where she set up a school that would operate for more than sixty years; she taught ballet, Revived Greek Dance and many other areas of the performing arts. Scruton also established summer schools at Alma College in St. Thomas, ON, and Huron College in London. In 1995, Scruton was the first Canadian to receive the RAD’s President’s Award. Among her pupils are Donna Bayley and Ross Brierton … A Toronto native, Brigden studied with Leon Leonidoff and danced in his vaudeville productions in the 1920s. She performed with New York’s Metropolitan Opera Ballet for three seasons before returning to Toronto immediately after the 1929 stock market crash. She taught ballet, Spanish and modern dance for the Toronto Conservatory of Music throughout the 1930s and choreographed a number of productions at Hart House Theatre. She spent her summers training in Europe and England with Elsa Brunelleschi, Kurt Jooss, Mary Wigman and Phyllis Bedells. Bedells coached her through her elementary and intermediate RAD exams. One of her pupils was Bettina Byers, first organizer for the RAD in Canada.
www.dcd.ca/exhibitions/sutcliffe/

Candace Loubert (1947-2011)

Candace Loubert / Photo courtesy of LADMMI

>> by Samantha Mehra

Candace Loubert, co-founder of Les Ateliers de danse moderne de Montréal Inc. (LADMMI), died on October 28th, 2011. Loubert co-founded LADMMI with Linda Rabin, initially under the name of the Linda Rabin Danse Moderne School, where she was the artistic director until 1996. Prior to this, Loubert enjoyed a career as a performer in Europe, as well as dancing for Montréal's Les Grands Ballets Canadiens for five years, putting to use her extensive training in ballet. She also danced in Linda Rabin's groundbreaking work The White Goddess (1977) alongside a group of other young dancers including Margie Gillis and Stephanie Ballard. While artistic director of and teacher at LADMMI, Loubert found time to pursue creative research specifically on body work, while also tackling her interest in masks and other diverse visual arts practices. Rabin said of Loubert: [translated] "Candace's exceptional gift was her extraordinary capacity to nurture and support creativity in an original and profound manner. Through body work and a range of artistic media – painting, drawing, clay sculpting and mask making – she created space for the imagination to flourish. Those who were fortunate enough to experience her teaching knew the depth of her supportive nature, understanding and compassion."

Alexander Grant (1925-2011)

Alexander Grant with ballet master David Scott / Photo by David Street

>> by Jaimée Horn
Alexander Grant, beloved dancer and former artistic director of The National Ballet of Canada, died in London on Friday, September 30th at the age of 86. Grant had been ill for eight months following a hip surgery that resulted in infections and pneumonia. The dynamic performer will be fondly remembered for his roles in ballets such as Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée, as well as his influential presence in the international ballet scene. His classical technique and interpretation of demi-character roles distinguished him as an outstanding performer, “one of the few great, as opposed to merely magnificent, dancers of our time” according to New York Times dance critic Clive Barnes. Born in New Zealand in 1925, Grant began his dance training at the age of seven. He was quickly offered a ballet scholarship in London where he went on to perform with the Royal Ballet for thirty years. He was artistic director of The National Ballet of Canada from 1976 through 1983 and brought several Ashton ballets into the repertoire including La Fille, Monotones, Les Patineurs, The Dream and Two Pigeons. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award from the Royal Academy of Dance in London, as well as the 2009 De Valois award for outstanding achievement in dance.

David Y.H. Lui (1944-2011)

>> by Amy Bowring
Vancouver-based impresario and producer David Y.H. Lui died on September 15th, 2011. Lui had an extensive forty-year career in the arts and was dedicated to his passions of dance, music and musical theatre. The Vancouver native is credited with helping to develop audiences through his presentation of a wide variety of companies and artists, and even began this role while studying at the University of British Columbia in the 1960s. Among the dance groups he brought to the city were the Martha Graham Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Sadlers’ Wells Royal Ballet and Maurice Bejart’s Ballet of the XXth Century. At the time of his death, he was working to bring Alicia Alonso and the National Ballet of Cuba to Western Canada in February 2012. He helped to found Ballet British Columbia and the cultural program of Vancouver’s Dragon Boat Festival; he served on many boards including the Dance Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts and British Columbia Arts Council. Lui worked tirelessly to fundraise for multiple causes including the Scotiabank Dance Centre. Mirna Zagar, executive director of the Dance Centre, remembers her friend as a visionary and in her speech at the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Dance Centre she stated, “David was always either getting out of a project, working on one or envisioning the next.” He received multiple honours for his work including the Order of Canada (2001) and Queen Elizabeth II Gold (2004) and Silver (1977) Jubilee Medals. David Y.H. Lui – A Celebration will be held on Sunday, October 23rd at 2pm at the Vancouver Playhouse to commemorate his life and work.

Yoné Kvietys (1924-2011)

>> by Amy Bowring
Lithuanian-born Yoné Kvietys died on July 17th in Calgary. Laban-trained, she immigrated to Canada in 1948 and began working with ballet teacher Boris Volkoff in Toronto. She soon moved to Montréal where she worked with Ruth Sorel and collaborated with fellow Lithuanian émigré Birouté Nagys; the two performed a psychological dance-drama at the 1954 Canadian Ballet Festival. Kvietys returned to Toronto in 1956 and set up a studio and company; among her dancers in the 1960s were Donald Himes, David Earle and Susan Macpherson. Kvietys was part of a team of modern dance artists who organized a series of festivals in Toronto in the early 1960s; she also presented choreographic workshops providing dancers, such as David Earle, with opportunities to stage their own works. In 1966, Kvietys moved to Calgary where she taught modern dance and developed the roots of what would become the dance program at the University of Calgary; Lisa Doolittle and Margaret Dragu were among her Calgary students. In 1972, she shifted disciplines and began a career as a visual artist eventually teaching at the Alberta College of Art.

Amelia Itcush (1945-2011)

Amelia Itcush in David Earle's Angelic Visitation #1, 1968 / Photo by Eric Dzenis

>> by Amy Bowring
Saskatchewan-born Amelia Itcush died on May 27th. A charter member of Toronto Dance Theatre (TDT), she performed in such seminal works as David Earle’s Angelic Visitation #1; he described her interpretation in a 2002 interview: "Amelia was a technical phenomenon and a tremendous asset. She had absolute commitment to the emotion of every piece." Itcush left TDT in 1973 but stayed intimately connected to dance through her studies of the Alexander and Mitzvah Techniques and her incorporation of their principles into dance. She was the first certified teacher of Mitzvah after working with its founder, Nehemia Cohen. She later expanded on these movement practices to develop the Itcush Method. In 1980, she was appointed the acting artistic/educational director for the Prairie Dance Lab Association in Regina. She won the Jacqueline Lemieux Prize in 1982 for her work in integrating Mitzvah Technique into dance. Over the course of her career, she taught in several Canadian cities and also in Japan, and frequently gave workshops at New Dance Horizons in Regina and at her studio in Davidson, Saskatchewan, where she mentored several artists and teachers.

Clifford Collier (1929-2011)

Cliff Collier, c. 1946 / Photo by Page Toles / Photo courtesy of Dance Collection Danse

>> by Amy Bowring
Dancer and archivist Clifford Collier died in Toronto on February 21st of cancer. Collier started dancing in 1947 with Boris Volkoff in Toronto and performed with the Volkoff Canadian Ballet, including several appearances at the Canadian Ballet Festivals. He left the Volkoff studio in 1952 and studied for a short period with Willy Blok Hanson performing with the Willy Blok Hanson Trio on television. He also spent time in Ottawa where he performed with Nesta Toumine’s Ottawa Classical Ballet. In 1953, Collier moved to Montréal where he danced in television productions choreographed by Brian Macdonald, Heino Heiden and Elizabeth Leese. After sustaining an injury, he returned to Toronto where he began to teach, first with Janet Baldwin and then Gladys Forrester. In 1960, he began to choreograph and stage high school productions of Broadway shows for several Toronto schools. Collier entered the dance program at York University when it opened in 1971. He then devoted his energies to research and the development of archival resources pursuing a Masters of Library and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario. Collier developed a descriptor thesaurus for the archival software Canadian Integrated Dance Database produced by Dance Collection Danse and spent many years working with the Ontario Genealogical Society and the Lesbian and Gay Archives. A memorial will be held on March 19th at 2pm at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.

Glenn Gilmour (1938-2011)

Glenn Gilmour / Photo by Jeannette Edissi Collins

>> by Jacqueline Hansen
Long-time National Ballet School (NBS) teacher Glenn Gilmour died on February 5th, 2011 in Toronto at the age of 72. A native of Windsor, Ontario, Gilmour began what would end up being a lifelong career in ballet at the Renee Russell School of Dance. On scholarship, Gilmour travelled to Toronto to train with Betty Oliphant and Celia Franca in 1958, the year prior to the founding of the National Ballet School. That same year, Gilmour joined The National Ballet of Canada, where he was later promoted to principal dancer. Gilmour also danced abroad, training and performing in England with Ballet Rambert and the London Ballet. Upon retiring as a dancer, and after completing NBS’ Teacher Training Program in 1972, Gilmour continued to share his passion for ballet as a teacher. "Mr. Gilmour", as he was known, taught for over four decades at Canada’s National Ballet School, longer than anyone else in NBS history. Gilmour was also a Fellow and Examiner for the International Cecchetti Society of Teachers of Dance. A celebration will be held for Gilmour at Canada’s National Ballet School on Saturday, May 7th.

Lois Smith (1929-2011)

David Adams and Lois Smith in the National Ballet's production of Antony Tudor's Lilac Garden / Photo by Ken Bell, courtesy of Dance Collection Danse

>> by Michael Crabb
Lois Smith, The National Ballet of Canada’s (NBoC) first prima ballerina, died at her home in Sechelt, BC, on January 22nd after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s. She was 81. Smith and then husband David Adams forged a charismatic partnership that dazzled audiences during NBoC's first decade. The media dubbed them “Mr. and Mrs. Ballet.” Dancing on stages great and small across North America as well as on CBC Television, Smith helped establish NBoC’s reputation as a credible classical company. “She had a beautiful body, grace, line and poise,” recalls Grant Strate, a fellow NBoC charter member and its first resident choreographer. “Lois was truly a ballerina from Day 1.” Smith performed all the major classics but was also much acclaimed as Catherine in Antony Tudor’s masterwork, Lilac Garden. After Adams severed his connection with NBoC in 1963 to dance in Britain, Smith was often partnered by Earl Kraul until chronic injury compelled her to retire in 1969. Smith then opened her own school in Toronto, which was later integrated into the Performing Arts Program of George Brown College. A Vancouver native, she returned to her home province in 1988 but remained active in the dance community as a guest teacher, adjudicator and advisor.

Ahmed Hassan (1955-2011)

>> by Amy Bowring
Composer and musician Ahmed Hassan died on January 12th of urospesis after a lengthy struggle with multiple sclerosis. Born in Cairo, Hassan moved to Halifax with his family in 1969. He entered Dalhousie University to study biochemistry but after a chance encounter with percussionist Ricardo Abreut of Toronto Dance Theatre, Hassan changed course to study music. He was inspired by ancient traditions of music making such as breath work, harmonic overtone chanting, clapping, drumming, didgeridoo, caxixi and berimbau. Largely self-taught, Hassan also studied with Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos in New York who had a significant influence on him. Hassan, in turn, went on to inspire a new generation of musicians and composers such as Debashis Sinha who commented, “His music is a total abandoning of ego and self – he was someone who really gave himself over when he made music.” Hassan was connected to Canada’s dance community throughout his career beginning by accompanying Sara Shelton Mann’s dance classes in Halifax and then Peter Boneham’s classes in Ottawa. Hassan participated in the 1980 National Choreographic Seminar in Banff. He was a founding member of the Vancouver collective EDAM (Experimental Dance and Music) and also composed music for the artists of Terminal City Dance in Vancouver. He moved to Toronto in the early 1980s to work with Desrosiers Dance Theatre where he collaborated with composers John Lang and Jean Dorais, among others. With Lang, he created the music for Desrosiers’ Blue Snake for The National Ballet of Canada; the National Film Board documentary Inner Rhythm records their creative process. Other choreographers with whom Hassan worked include Peggy Baker, Lola MacLaughlin, Jennifer Mascall, Karen Jamieson and Serge Bennathan. His Fourteen Remembered, a requiem to commemorate the lives of the murdered women of Montréal’s École Polytechnique, was performed annually from 1998–2001. Hassan was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis in 1987. He married dancer-choreographer Peggy Baker in 1990 who remained his loving and devoted partner throughout his illness. A memorial will be held at 2pm on January 16th at The National Ballet School’s Currie Hall.

Susan McNaughton (1952-2010)

Susan McNaughton / Photo by Cylla Von Tiedemann

>> by Samantha Mehra
Dance artist and academic Susan McNaughton died on December 4th, 2010. Born in Toronto, McNaughton received a certificate in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music. Later, she pursued a fruitful career as a dancer, choreographer, model and teacher in Toronto beginning in the early 1970s. Commencing her dance training at the Gladys Forrester School of Dance in the Royal Academy of Dance ballet technique, McNaughton went on to study modern dance with Bianca Rogge and took class, taught and performed with various artists at Toronto Dance Theatre – notably David Earle, Peter Randazzo and Patricia Beatty. McNaughton also taught at the Pavlychenko Studio and was part of its core faculty for several years before its closing. After spending many years as a co-coordinator of the dance program at the Etobicoke School of the Arts, in west Toronto, McNaughton pursued her intellectual interests and took to scholarship, presenting at conferences and publishing several articles, one of which appears in the soon to be released Fields in Motion: Ethnography in the Worlds of Dance (edited by Dena Davida). She completed two Master's degrees at York University, one in dance (2002) and one in social anthropology (2005). Her Master's research in dance focussed on the creation and performance of choreographer Lata Pada's Revealed by Fire. A continual seeker of knowledge, McNaughton was in completing a Ph.D. in social anthropology at York University, where her research centered around the involvement of Sri Lankan Tamil women in the creation of temple-based Hindu worship practices in Toronto. The university has granted her Ph.D. posthumously.

Lucy Potts (1921-2010)

Lucy Potts, 1964 / Photo courtesy of Canada's National Ballet School

>> by Natasha Frid
A cornerstone of Canada's National Ballet School (NBS), teacher Lucy Potts died on December 21st. Speaking four languages fluently, Potts taught French at NBS from its inception in 1959 until she retired in 1986. She also held the role of academic principal during her career there. She is remembered for taking her male students for a run around the building before class so that they could focus quietly on their studies. She was a key player in the special relationship that developed between NBS and the Bolshoi Ballet, accompanying Betty Oliphant as translator on their first visits to Russia. Originally from Constantinople (Istanbul), her upbringing and education were unusually cosmopolitan; during her school years, she and her mother moved continually between Germany, France and England. Potts settled in the UK in 1938, where she worked as a translator at the international news agency Reuters. In 1941, she married Robert Edmund Kitchener Potts, and in 1952, the couple moved to Toronto with their two children. Her husband died tragically in 1964 at the age of forty-nine. Potts' volunteer work at the University of Toronto earned her an Arbor Award. Potts' daughter, Nadia Potts, attended NBS and became a principal dancer with The National Ballet of Canada, and later the director of the dance program at Ryerson University where she continues to teach.