Raymond Smith is a Canadian ballet dancer and teacher, who was a principal dancer of the National Ballet of Canada from 1980 to 1995. [1]
Raymond Smith was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and immigrated to Canada at the age of seven. [2] He began dancing lessons in London, [3] Ontario, at the age of 11, and entered Canada's National Ballet School [4] at the age of 12. Upon graduating in 1975, he joined the corps de ballet of the National Ballet of Canada, [5] making his professional debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in Coppélia . [2] He was promoted to the rank of second soloist in 1978, to first soloist in 1979, [6] and to principal dancer in 1980. [7] [8] During the 1985-86 season, he was a principal dancer with London Festival Ballet. [9] Smith performed as a guest artist at La Scala, [10] with Scottish Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, [11] Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and Royal Winnipeg Ballet. [12] He also appeared as a contemporary dancer with the Desrosiers Dance Theatre at the Calgary Olympic Arts Festival in 1988. [13] His decade-long stage partnership with ballerina Veronica Tennant was particularly admired by critics. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [2]
Smith retired from the stage in May 1995, following a performance as one of the Stepsisters [19] in Ben Stevenson's Cinderella. [2] He subsequently worked as a ballet master for Ontario Ballet Theatre, [20] Ballet BC [12] and BalletMet. [21] Since 2004 he has been on the faculty of Canada's National Ballet School. [22] [23] [24]
Smith's repertoire included La Sylphide (James), Napoli (Gennaro), [25] Giselle (Count Albrecht, [26] pas de quatre [27] ) Coppélia (Franz), [28] [29] Swan Lake (Prince, [30] [31] pas de trois [32] ) The Sleeping Beauty (Prince Florimund, [14] [33] Bluebird [34] ), Celia Franca's production of The Nutcracker (Prince), [35] Don Quixote (Basilio), [15] [36] the third act of Raymonda (Jean de Brienne), [37] Michel Fokine's Les Sylphides [7] and Le Spectre de la rose , [7] Frederick Ashton's Romeo and Juliet (Romeo, Mercutio [38] ), La Fille mal gardée (Colas), [39] The Two Pigeons (Young Man) [40] and Monotones II, [41] John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet (Romeo), [42] [17] [43] Onegin (Lensky, [44] Onegin [16] [45] [46] [47] [48] ) and The Taming of the Shrew (Lucentio), [49] [50] [51] Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow (Camille de Rosillon; [52] [53] [54] a role filmed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [55] ), George Balanchine's Serenade , Concerto Barocco , [56] The Four Temperaments (Melancholic, [57] Sanguinic [58] ) and Symphony in C (third movement), [59] Antony Tudor's The Leaves Are Fading, [60] Kenneth MacMillan's Elite Syncopations, Song of the Earth (the Man) [61] and Concerto, [62] Glen Tetley's Sphinx (Oedipus), [63] Alice (White Rabbit), [64] La Ronde (the Count) [65] [66] and Tagore, [67] Maurice Béjart's Song of a Wayfarer, [68] Harald Lander's Etudes , [69] Anne Ditchburn's Mad Shadows (Patrice; a role filmed by the CBC [70] ), Robert Desrosiers' Blue Snake [71] (filmed by the National Film Board of Canada [72] ), William Forsythe's the second detail [73] and several ballets created by James Kudelka [74] [75] [2] and John Alleyne. [76] [77]
Esther Murillo, Constantin Patsalas and Raymond Smith have all been promoted from second soloists to first soloists.
Promoted are: Raymond Smith from first soloist principal dancer...Smith made two important debuts in the National's spring season this year: Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and the Rose in Le Spectre de la Rose. He has also been seen as the Prince in Swan Lake, the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, the leading role in Les Sylphides, the young man in The Two Pigeons and the Prince in The Nutcracker.
Raymond Smith, principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada since 1980, will retire at the end of the Toronto company's spring season for a career as a ballet teacher. Smith trained at the National Ballet School and joined the National Ballet in 1975. He became second soloist in 1978 and first soloist in 1979, before being promoted to principal dancer.
No fewer than seven dancers are on leave of absence, including principal dancer Raymond Smith, who will be appearing with London Festival Ballet
Along with 21 of its 34 members, the Hong Kong Ballet will present dancers from Vancouver`s Goh Ballet and a couple from the National Ballet - Chan Hon Goh and Raymond Smith.
Her longstanding partnership with Raymond Smith has also paid off. Stiff and awkwardly shy when he first appeared in principal roles several seasons ago, Smith is fully at ease now, perhaps because he has worked consistently with Miss Tennant, and their rapport is obvious. He is also a strong dancer who could become quite special with extra coaching.
Raymond Smith, as Basilio, had a pleasant warmth and good humor, and there really does seem to be a strong stage partnership between him and Tennant.
If there are scorch marks on the stage of the O'Keefe Centre this morning blame Veronica Tennant and Raymond Smith...From the exciting but coltishly unrefined soloist of a decade ago, Smith has matured into an intelligent, sensitive dancer who brings to Onegin just the right measure of psychological complexity and poignancy.
Partnering Tennant on Sunday was National Ballet principal Raymond Smith, a spry and passionate dancer who more than complements Tennant's zeal. While not a virtuoso, Smith is endowed with a sensitive and supple technique and a generous heart and mind that communicate themselves every moment to his audience. He brings to the role of Romeo an intense glow of physical pleasure. When he sees Tennant's Juliet, he feels fascination, as if for the first time. He is bold and irrepressible and he wins Juliet's affections with his boyish sense of abandon and candor. During the balcony scene, he is like a man drunk on happiness. He is so fresh and free that he holds Tennant's Juliet in rapture. He ignites her passion and her excitement is palpable. When they touch, the proverbial sparks fly, and Tennant, the most senior ballerina in the National Ballet company, looks every inch a young woman breathlessly and wonderously in love.
Veronica Tennant, who earlier this month retired from the company, always seemed at her best when performing with favorite partner Raymond Smith.
But must the stepsisters always be treated as a drag act? It is admittedly the easiest route to make them the butt of the ballet's comedy. And to do him credit, Ben Stevenson gave messrs. Schramek and Smith some cleverly clumsy footwook to execute in the first act dance lesson and second act ballroom scenes.
Raymond Smith, former principal dancer with the National Ballet, is undertaking his first season as Ontario Ballet Theatre's ballet master.
In Raymond Smith, the company has a homegrown find, who needs to be put into the hands of a great teacher to realize his very high potential As Gennaro, he remained himself while still taking a cue from Mr. Schaufuss's personal explosive style.
The rapport was increased in the second act, in which Smith's dancing grew so consistently strong one regretted that his character was forced to weaken. Even as a new Wili, Miss Tennant's Giselle clearly remembered her former life only too well, and the sense of loss with which she made her goodbyes to Albrecht resulted in an unusually poignant ending.
The company danced very well, highlighted by a pas de quatre from Colleen Cool, Linda Maybarduk, David Roxander and Raymond Smith that was both charming and exciting.
Lightheart's enthusiasm was infectious, inspiring Smith to be a vigorous and faultlessly supportive partner, and the surrounding corps de ballet to dance cohesively and lyrically.
The late Eric Bruhn's engaging choreographic conception of Coppelia is back, its pleasures further enhanced by the make-believe delights of Maurice Strike's gingerbread sets and the spirited dancing of Kim Lightheart as Swanilda and Raymond Smith as Franz.
With the help of Raymond Smith dancing his first Prince in Toronto, this was a swan that won the audience over from the first flutter of her arms.
As the Prince, Smith has grown tremendously in assurance. Both his partnering and his dancing in the adagio sections were far smoother and his acting more convincing than they were last spring.
The first act trio looked mismatched and brittle, although Raymond Smith's variation had some beautiful work in it.
Raymond Smith, being Raymond Smith, also did well to give his role some dramatic inflection, changing from a narcissistic ne'er-do-well to a warm and happy man.
Veronica Tennant as the Snow Queen/Sugar Plum Fairy "was as radiant and regal as her prince, Raymond Smith was elegant and dashing."
The saving grace came in the form of Goh's partner, National Ballet principal Raymond Smith, he of the straight and sturdy legs and stratospheric leaps. Seeing him airborne for much of his part of the Don Quixote pas de deux is to understand why he is now one of Canada's finest male classical dancers. Smith is in complete and compelling command of every step he makes.
The best technical display was given by Kimberly Glasco dancing the female lead in Raymonda Act III. A fine dancer whose confidence grows with each role she tackles, Glasco was sharp and compact in the pas de deux she danced with Raymond Smith and neatly poised during her solo.
...the company's newest male principal, Raymond Smith, showed in his first-ever performance of La Fille Mal Gardee that he is becoming smoother technically without losing his strange combination of bravado and stage fright. For a male dancer, he has an unusual stage personality - which Veronica Tennant has rightly called his "radiance" - and it will be fascinating to see what happens to this delicate theatrical alchemy as Smith develops even more.
She was given four days' notice that she would perform Monotones II, and by Wednesday evening had rehearsed the role only twice with her partners, Raymond Smith and Peter Ottman.
The Saturday matinee brought a first, impressive Romeo from soloist Raymond Smith.
Mind you, it scarcely hurt that she was lucky enough to have as her Romeo Raymond Smith, a securely centred dancer with an elegant sense of line and the supportive instincts of a true partner.
Olga and Lensky, the doomed lovers who are the foil to the main couple were equally good in both performances...Raymond Smith was closer to Pushkin, more tender and mild, with Cynthia Lucas more lightheaded.
The ballet's dramatic power culminates in the final pas de deux danced by Tennant and Smith in the last scene. This was a spine-tingling performance that had the capacity house rivetted and amazed. Smith danced like a man with nothing to lose; Tennant like a woman on the verge of losing her honor. They were a pair of desperadoes who sacrficed all to the dance. Between the daring lifts and the rapid-fire movements that had both performers flying over the stage, Tennant found the resolution to her character's conflict deep within her soul. This was a world-class performance.
Mr. Smith's Onegin was superb - a stunningly effective portrait of a fop whose gradual breakdown was traced from scene to scene. As a classical dancer, Mr. Smith is more polished than powerful. He has a light elegant jump and as a partner, he easily carried off the one-arm Soviet-style lift in Act I. He has presence and individuality.
Her Onegin, the under-rated Raymond Smith, is a dancer who performs best when he is inspired by a partner, and in Lendvai he has found the chemistry he needs to create a character that is as pompous as he is melancholy. The couple's first act "dream" pas de deux crackled with electricity while the passion and anguish that exploded between in the third act was positively gripping.
Raymond Smith's Onegin is also unusual, so basically decent and vulnerable that you feel Onegin's pain when he's driven to cruelty. The melancholy angst that can look like arrogance is not his nature but an unfortunate affliction.
Margaret Illmann (Bianca) and Raymond Smith (Lucentio) gave a clean and graceful account of their work together
Margaret Illmann, with her jeweled footwork, and Raymond Smith capitalized on the ballet's most pithy choreographic passages for Bianca and Lucentio.
The most stunning Valencienne and Camille were guest artist Evelyn Hart and Raymond Smith. So burning was their love, that the stage sizzled. Run, don't walk, to see this couple dance Giselle together next week. It is a partnership made in heaven.
Raymond Smith is nicely young and heedless as the innocent Camille.
Raymond Smith makes the flighty Camille a perfectly believable lover, etching in the subtlety of his performance a hint of shame at betraying his addled boss by bedding his wife.
Balanchine's Concerto Barocco, a company revival, featured a dazzling Karyn Tessmer, Lorraine Blouin and Raymond Smith in the lead roles.
Raymond Smith's Melancholic, seen on Thursday night, was appropriately limp and heavy
Ransom again excelled in the Melancholic variation, followed by a smooth Sanguinic pas by Margaret Illmann and Raymond Smith, an inward Phlegmatic turn by Harrington, and a regal showing by Gizella Witkowsky in the Choleric variation.
Kim Lightheart and Raymond Smith demonstrated speed and attack in the Allegro Vivace.
This is an elegiac work about time and memory, married harmoniously to an Antonin Dvorak composition for strings. It begins with a light-hearted, springy opening that was particularly graced by Margaret Illmann's long, soft lines in a duet with Raymond Smith.
Helping draw out the subtlety in Tessmer's performance was her partner, principal dancer Raymond Smith, who was quick, light and animated in his role as the Man.
National Ballet of Canada's exemplary character-dance training helped focus the chaotic Wonderland scenes with sharply honed cameos: Raymond Smith (a teasing White Rabbit), Jacques Gorrissen (a brutal Ugly Duchess), Serge Lavoie (a noble Gryphon), David Peden (a raunchy March Hare), etc.
Raymond Smith wittily sketched out the Count by modifying the speed and rhythm of his steps and gestures.
Raymond Smith, as The Count, was a haughty match and their partnering was magnificent.
Raymond Smith, always an interesting dancer, is the solitary figure who opens the work, excluded from the circular motifs of the ensemble.
The most exciting presentation was Song of a Wayfarer, danced with supreme elegance and commitment by Raymond Smith and Tomas Schramek.
All the same, last night's performance, headed by a regal Martine Lamy, opposite a supportive Raymond Smith and a lithe Heremy Ransom, was a respectable one, and that is already saying something.
Raymond Smith has some electrifying moments as Patrice, especially during the solo he performs after being mistreated by Surmeyan's malevolent Lanz.
Blue Snake is always marked by a poetic inventiveness. Sarah Green's dance as a pointy-headed creature attached to a balloon is a study in apt dynamics, the double duet between Raymond Smith's Triangle Man and his double, Mr. Ottmann, an essay in human duality while the whirling fantasy creatures tell us that a spiritual dimension may lie hidden where least expected.
The cast - Dominique Dumais, Jennifer Fournier, Sarah Green, Martine Lamy, Emily Molnar, Caroline Richardson, Philippe Dubuc, Nicholas Khan, Paul Winston, Robert Tewsley, Raymond Smith, Nils-Bertil Wallin and Ottmann - cannot be complimented too highly for coping so well with the work's physical demands and nervous combustion.
The only real major talent among the occasional pieces was revealed in James Kudelka's All Night Wonder, to music from Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes. Toronto's Veronica Tennant, in a red dress, and Raymond Smith, in his underwear, danced this love-with-aperfect-stranger duet with terrific thrust.
The most notable deviation was an extended quasi-romantic pas de deux for Raymond Smith and Jennifer Fournier that found both dancers, Smith in particular, in stunning form.
Working with Alleyne, principal Raymond Smith finds "artistic freedom. It's a real challenge - artists don't have a whole lot of freedom in ballet. Traditionally it's a dictatorship. John's the boss, but it's a democracy. He's got a calm way of drawing stuff out of you so everything flows."