National Ballet Of Canada Tickets

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Rows and rows of powdery white swans elegantly glide across the lake and a love-struck Romeo tries to woo his Juliet with bold arabesques and sweeping releves. A mouth-watering Land of Sweets crammed with chocolates, marzipans and candy canes and ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy, with overarching overtures of Tchaikovsky's music creating a befitting soundscape. Rather than this simply being a depiction of a poet's fantasy, it is but a glimmer of the multifaceted world of ballet performances brought to staged life by the National Ballet of Canada. In its six-decade history, the National Ballet of Canada has defined the traditional take on classical ballets as well as posited itself as one of the definitive institutions in crafting nouveau ballet renditions. Through the establishment of The National Ballet School of Canada, the National Ballet of Canada has been serving the local and international ballet community by nurturing and graduating some of the most distinctive performers in the field.

The creation of the National Ballet of Canada played out like a ballet revolution. Up till the mid-twentieth century, Canada's ballet scene was dominated by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Volkoff Canadian Ballet, managed by Gweneth Lloyd and Boris Volkoff respectively. These entities were highly selective when it came to their inductees, apparently to the point of being biased in their auditions. As if launching a virtual coup d'etat, a group of ballet stalwarts invited Celia Franca from the UK based Metropolitan Ballet to establish the National Ballet of Canada and be its first artistic director.

With the ballet company coming into existence in 1951, The National Ballet School of Canada arrived on the scene 8 years later as a result of the combined efforts of Celia and Betty Oliphant. Over the course of more than half-a-century, The National Ballet School of Canada has seen hundreds of ballet students pass through its intensive Summer School Program as well as the exclusive full-time Professional Ballet and Post-Secondary Programs. The school's alumni have gone on to perform in more than 65 ballet companies across the globe, with some notable ones being the National Ballet of Canada itself as well as American Ballet Theater and London's Royal Ballet.

Taking charge of the newly formed National Ballet School of Canada in the summer of 1951, Celia Franca soon initiated a nationwide audition tour in the fall and staged its first performance in November the same year in the Art Moderne interior of Eaton Auditorium. 29 dancers panned from across the country performed the classical ballets Les Sylphides and Prince Igor. Over the decades, it has brought forth performances of famous ballets such as Cinderalla, Don Quixote, La Fille Mal Gardee, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Widow as well as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty adorned by the famed compositions of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's scores. The artistic contributions of the National Ballet of Canada have been acknowledged by around a dozen accolades over the years, including a double Emmy whammy for Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty in 1970 and 1973 respectively to a trove of six Dora Mavor Moore awards for Chroma, Emergence and The Nutcracker. The current artistic director Karen Kain has been associated with the National Ballet of Canada in various capacities for almost 50 years, starting with her induction into The National Ballet School of Canada at the age of 11. Having worked with internationally acclaimed ballet companies such as the Vienna State Opera Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet as well as a 15-year stint with her alma mater's company, she brings invaluable experience and unparalleled vision to the National Ballet of Canada in an administrative position.

Having built up a scintillating legacy that boasts of a fleet of 70 dancers and a resident orchestra as well as amassing a repertoire of performances across stages in Europe, Hong Kong, Japan and Mexico, the National Ballet of Canada is poised to conduct its 60th anniversary celebrations in full bravura. A refreshingly new production of Romeo and Juliet was commissioned by the world renowned Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmanksy over the original John Cranko version that had been a company staple since 1964. The contemporary performance will be an eclectic blend of classical ballet moves and modernistically interpreted emotions that become heightened in respective executions. So book your National Ballet of Canada tickets now to immerse yourself in a ballet reverie that will leave you with indelible memories embellished with inspirational dancing, vivid hues and rich musical overtones.