Sydney Dance Company is a contemporary dance company in Australia. They have performed at the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Joyce Theater in New York, the Shanghai Grand Theatre in China, and the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow.
The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca, the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 by artistic director Hope Muir. Renowned for its diverse repertoire, the company performs traditional full-length classics, embraces contemporary work and encourages the creation of new ballets, as well as the development of Canadian dancers and choreographers.
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America.
Brian Ronald Macdonald was a Canadian dancer, choreographer and director of opera, theatre and musical theatre.
Sir Richard Alston CBE is a British choreographer. He has been resident choreographer and artistic director for the Ballet Rambert and is currently artistic director at The Place. His works include "Windhover" (1972), "Soda Lake", and "Pulsinella" (1987).
Louis Robitaille, is a Canadian ballet dancer and artistic director. He was discovered at a high school dance performance and received a scholarship to train at Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal. He danced with Anik Bissonnette in Eddy Toussaint's dance company, where they garnered acclaim. He also danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens as a principal dancer.
Vadym Heorhiyovych Meller was a Ukrainian and Soviet painter, avant-garde Cubist, Constructivist and Expressionist artist, theatrical designer, book illustrator, and architect. In 1925 he was awarded a gold medal for the scenic design of the Berezil Theatre in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris.
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet was a New York City-based contemporary ballet company.
James Kudelka, OC, is a Canadian choreographer, dancer, and director. He was the artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada from 1996 to 2005, now serving as the National Ballet's artist in residence.
Paul-André Fortier is a Canadian choreographer and dancer living in Montreal. He is a recipient of the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement.
Gweneth Lloyd, OC was a co-founder of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, a ballet teacher and choreographer.
David Earle is a Canadian choreographer, dancer and artistic director. In 1968 Earle was co-founder and co-artistic director of Toronto Dance Theatre alongside Patricia Beatty and Peter Randazzo, where Earle choreographed new modern dance pieces. In 1996 Earle started his own company called Dancetheatre David Earle where he continues to choreograph new works, to teach, and to create with the next generation of modern dancers. David Earle has received many accolades; a member of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Jean A. Chalmers Award for Distinction in Choreography, also an honorary doctorate degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
Eva von Gencsy was a dancer, choreographer and teacher. After immigrating to Canada from Europe she performed with prominent Canadian dance companies Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. After discovering jazz dance she founded a new style of dance called ballet-jazz. She created Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal in 1972 and became their first artistic director. After leaving the company she continued to teach and showcase her new style of dance across Canada and around the world. She died in Montreal of complications due to cardiac arrest.
Boris Vladimirovich Volkoff, was a Canadian-Russian ballet dancer, director, choreographer and ballet master. After studying dance in Warsaw and Moscow he defected from Russia and eventually settled in Toronto. He created the Boris Volkoff School of Dance which trained ballet dancers, and the Boris Volkoff Ballet Company which is arguably considered the first ballet company in Canada. He gave his dancers and studio to the National Ballet of Canada to raise the profile of Canadian ballet. He regretted this decision and attempted to revive his company which ended in failure. He was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in 1973, one year before his death.
Rachel Browne was a dancer, teacher and choreographer based in Winnipeg. In 1964, she founded Canada's longest running modern dance company, Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers, and she remained its artistic director until 1983. She remained with the company as a fundraiser and advisor, and continued to teach dance. She was awarded the Order of Canada in 1997 and the Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers performance venue was renamed The Rachel Browne Theatre in 2008. She died in 2012 in Ottawa while visiting to watch a performance at the Canada Dance Festival.
Geneviève Salbaing was a Canadian dancer, choreographer and director. She was born in Paris but moved to Casablanca shortly afterwards. She began taking classes at three years old and returned to Paris to continue her training. After dancing with the Washington Concert Ballet for three years, she moved to Montreal and danced for various choreographers. After getting injured she turned her attention to choreography and co-founded Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal. She became its artistic director and opened dance studios in various Canadian cities to train dancers in the ballet-jazz style. She retired as its artistic director in 1992. In 1987 Salbaing was appointed a member of the Order of Canada and in 2012 she became an officer of the National Order of Quebec.
Miriam Elaine Adams is a dancer, choreographer, and dance archivist from Toronto. After performing with the National Ballet of Canada, she co-founded 15 Dance Laboratorium with her husband Lawrence Adams. It was the first theatre to present experimental dance in Toronto. In 1983, Miriam and Lawrence launched Encore! Encore! to document the works of six Canadian choreographers from the 1940s and 1950s, and in 1986 they launched a centre for archiving dance and publishing books called Arts Inter-Media Canada/Dance Collection Danse (DCD).
Roudolf Kharatian is an Armenian ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, director and painter. He is a People's Artist of Armenia (2012). He is the Principal Choreographer and artistic director of the National Ballet of Armenia at the Spendiaryan National Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Annette av Paul is a Swedish-Canadian ballet dancer who had a 30-year dance career performing, teaching, and directing companies across Canada. Av Paul was born in Rönninge, Sweden, about 30 kilometres outside Stockholm on February 11, 1944. Her mother was a dance and piano teacher and her father an artist and writer. She studied at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and in 1962, at the age of 17, was apprenticed to the company, becoming principal dancer in 1966.
Leni Wylliams was an African-American dancer and choreographer.