Early Life and Training
Raised in Warwick, Rhode Island, Hodgkinson was active from an early age in ice skating, gymnastics and ballet. From age eight to ten she studied at the Festival Ballet Providence Center for Dance Education under teachers Christine Hennessey and Winthop Corey who noted her talent when she played Clara in The Nutcracker. Hodgkinson also had additional summer training in Boston and New York City. A friend of the family suggested the National Ballet School in Toronto for the talented youngster, and her parents agreed because they wanted a school that combined academic training and supervised boarding.
At age eleven Hodgkinson began her studies at the National Ballet School after a successful audition. She joined the National Ballet of Canada in 1990 at age sixteen and was promoted to second soloist in 1993, and then to first soloist in 1995 after her successful debut as the Swan Queen/Black Swan in Erik Bruhn’s Swan Lake. When James Kudelka assumed control of the company in 1996, he made Hodgkinson a principal dancer.
Read more about this topic: Greta Hodgkinson
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