Building on the collaborative foundation that has inspired The Banff Centre’s new summer program in Professional Dance, artistic directors for the seven participating companies have chosen faculty and dancers for the first program, which will be established at the Centre in July and August, 2008.
Drawing on the Centre’s 60 years as one of Canada’s premier sites for creative development in dance, this new program will bring dancers to Banff for five weeks of intensive training, followed by a week of mainstage performances that will include a new choreographic work as part of the annual Banff Summer Arts Festival. Directed by Lindsay Fischer, head of the National Ballet of Canada’s apprenticeship program, this summer program was developed to maintain an intense professional rehearsal and performance schedule for young dancers, and to enhance collaborative opportunities between the participating ballet companies.
“This program is a response to the need for skills development at a professional level, and for guidance through the transition from having a dream to having a career,” Fischer says. Beyond the opportunity to work with stellar faculty from across Canada, he emphasizes the unique opportunity for this summer company to develop and perform a new work as part of the Clifford E. Lee Award in choreography.
Dancers and faculty, including Peggy Baker and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Stephane Leonard, were recommended by the participating artistic directors. Originally a group of five, including Karen Kain of the National Ballet of Canada, Gradimir Pankov of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Andre Lewis of Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Alberta Ballet’s Jean Grand-Maître, and John Alleyne of Ballet British Columbia, they have since been joined by Bengt Jörgen of Ballet Jörgen and – the only non-Canadian company – Mikko Nissinen of Boston Ballet. The artistic directors are also currently choosing the recipient of the 2008 Clifford E. Lee Award, one of Canada’s most prestigious awards for emerging choreographers.
“The dancers selected for this program are all on the cusp of a career breakthrough,” says Sarah Iley, vice president, programming, at The Banff Centre. “They’re dreaming of a centre-stage role, and this intensive program of training, rehearsal, and performance will make all the difference.”
The Banff Centre’s dance programs have become integral to the creative fabric of dance in Canada. Alumni of the Centre’s programs fill the lists of corps and principal dancers in companies across the country and overseas, and the Centre’s creative and production residencies in dance have brought Canada’s top choreographers, artistic directors, and their companies to Banff’s studios and stages.