National Ballet of Canada - Creation of The National Ballet of Canada

Creation of The National Ballet of Canada

In 1951, the two major ballet companies in Canada were the Royal Winnipeg Ballet headed by Gweneth Lloyd and the Volkoff Canadian Ballet founded by Boris Volkoff and based in Toronto. Although both of these companies were well renowned, they were biased in their selection of dancers and often held auditions in their founding cities. With a desire to create an unbiased Canadian ballet troupe, and inspired by the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, a group of ballet enthusiasts set out to create the National Ballet of Canada. Both Lloyd and Volkoff were interested in being the first artistic director of the company, but organisers feared that these two people might ruin the company and its mandate. Instead, it was agreed by the organisers that the only way to create a truly unbiased ballet company was to hire an outsider named Celia Franca as artistic director.

Franca had been to Canada twice in her life, and would not have the same biases a Canadian would in selecting dancers for the company. Furthermore, she had many connections within the dance community and be able to expand the company’s influence on the international stage. However, she was not interested in heading this new company. She had refused similar invitations in Australia and South Africa and liked living in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, when she came to Canada in 1951, she was begged by the founders to accept their invitation. Franca accepted the job and became the first artistic director, while Volkoff would be the Resident Choreographer and Lloyd would be the Artistic Consultant and Choreographer. Conductor George Crum would take on the role of conductor, as well as musical director.

In August 1951 The National Ballet of Canada launched its first cross-country audition tour. By the end of the month, the ballet troupe had chosen 29 dancers and was rehearsing for their first performance in the St. Lawrence Hall. It was during these rehearsals that major decisions for the future of the ballet company happened. For example, Franca chose to perform classic ballets, as she believed this would allow the dancers to be properly judged by the international dance community.

The National Ballet of Canada's first performance was in the Eaton Auditorium on November 12, 1951. The program included Les Sylphides and Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor.