Ballet Schools- Canadian Pre-Professional Schools

[mom2]

I guess that depends on how you define "East"......................

[dancemomCA]

G2B4 - I think this thread is wonderful - a wealth of new information, I just lost my post, and am tired now, so will reply in morning. The Atlantic Ballet is a relatively new ballet company in the Maritimes - DS knows of a young male dancer who was just hired as an apprentice with this company. As far as I know, there is no training facility or school attached to it.

[G2B4]

Well, if we're doing companies now ... ! Here's a start ... I really can't figure out who's who in Quebec.

 

Professional Ballet Companies

BC

http://www.balletbc.com/

http://www.balletvictoria.ca/

http://www.balletkelowna.com/index2.htm

http://www.balletdeprintemps.com/performances.htm

http://www.canadianpacificballet.org/

AB

http://www.albertaballet.com/users/folder.asp

MB

http://www.rwb.org/index.html

ON

http://www.balletjorgen.ca/

http://www.national.ballet.ca/performance.php?0607_season

QC

http://www.grandsballets.com/en/index.cfm

NB

http://www.atlanticballet.ca/

 

Other Professional Dance Companies (I'm kind of wondering if we should do these ... there are so many pickup companies in Vancouver that they are very hard to keep track of ... but hey, a job's a job, right?!)

BC

http://www.kokoro.ca/

http://www.sourcedanceco.com/

AB

http://www.decidedlyjazz.com/

ON

http://www.tdt.org/files/tdt.html

 

 

I took out the rest of the apprentice type programs because they all belonged to the schools mentioned earlier.

 

Now I took out what I found from SK because it was a school not a company! Sorry!

[cbmr]

Based on your original criteria - I think you have identified all the major Canadian schools. I do think there is also excellent training in most major Canadian cities. However, having boys/mens classes is rare, as many males that persevere in dance end up at the top schools. Those that choose or end up staying home are integrated in the female classes.

 

Most students that successfully audition for the Banff Summer programs are from these other pre-pro schools as RWB, NBS, Quinte and Goh run their summer programs at the same time and their students must attend their own programs. (not sure about the Goh students).

 

To assist your research, here is a link for Canadian dance schools and companies:

 

http://themediaweb.com/links.htm

 

Many are for recreationsl school and other forms of dance too.

[tutumonkey]

Well if you're going to be mentioning companies I think we have to include Jeunesse Classique in Calgary. It is affiliated with the International School of Ballet which is one of those schools that is not quite pre-pro but certainly turns out its fair share of professional dancers. Jeunesse Classique is for dancers 8 to 20 years of age and performs the Nutcracker at Xmas and also has a spring show ( this year we performed the Kingdom of the Shades and the Polevetisian Dances from Prince Igor).

 

The school is similar to Alberta Ballet and follows the RAD curriculum. We have very few boys or men so that knocks us out of the pre-pro section. This year one of our senior dancers was invitied to dance a Balanchine piece with Alberta Ballet after a professional dancer went out with an injury so I feel the training is really quite good. This dancer also was awarded the first RAD Solo Seal in 25 years for an Albertan dancer. Every year we have dancers go to NBS and RWB and top US summer programs such as Boston and ABT New York. This school is one of those undiscovered gems. Enrollment is about 350-400.

 

But back to the company. The companies repertoire includes Nutcracker, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Coppelia, Les Sylphide, Kingdom of the Shades, Polevetsian Dances. As you can see it has a very classical attitude. DD dances here for the performance opportunities and top notch training. Tutumonkey

[Mel Johnson]

We have very few boys or men so that knocks us out of the pre-pro section.

 

Let's not assume that criterion to be a universal truth. I can remember some times in the early 60s when boys were mighty thin on the wood at the old SAB. Entire levels sometimes had NO boys.

[G2B4]

Well if they didn't have any for the advanced level they could use Mr. B. couldn't they?! A male teacher is a wonderful thing for a pre pro too ... just to up the barre a bit more! A male and a female teacher please ....

[Mel Johnson]

My teacher was at SAB during WWII. She told me that practically everything that was draftable was gone from the school. The receptionist used to give every girl a dollar and told them to go out and hire somebody, anybody, for pas de deux class. I can hear it now, "DIBS ON HARRY THE WINO!"

[Gracey]

I think there was something about that in the book "but first a school" or something like that

[G2B4]

Yikes, Mel! Reminds me of something in Gelsey's book, the moral of which was "Be very nice to the boy!"!

[G2B4]

The information on BC (post #18) has been updated to include information from the three universities and the academic half day program for the pre-pros.

[Guest sparklesocks]

What about Ballet Creole in Toronto? (I think that's the name of it.) Does anyone know about this school/group?

[cbmr]

I'm sorry, I don't know anything about the comapny, but here is their website:

 

http://www.balletcreole.org

[dancingin the sun]

I was wondering about critera number one: winning international competitions? Which Canadian schools are strong in this area? The Goh Ballet seems to have a lengthy list of winners: do the other major schools enter competitors or is it not as big as a focus?

[Gracey]

Actually I think Goh is the only school with students regularly in the more professional competitions. I know NBS has had a student here and there over the years compete in various, as did RWB and Academy of Ballet and Jazz, but Goh is much more consistent in sending students to compete.