Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award
A Brief History of Dance
Arnold Spohr endowment to bring top dance teachers to The Banff Centre
In summer 2008, Sorella Englund, former principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and one of the world’s foremost experts on the works of choreographer August Bournonville, will be the Arnold Spohr Distinguished Artist. More.
Professional Dance
Drawing on a 60-year legacy as one of Canada’s premier sites for creative development in dance, The Banff Centre’s new Professional Dance 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, the summer program was developed to maintain an intense professional rehearsal and performance schedule for young dancers, and to enhance collaborative opportunities between the seven participating ballet companies. Details on the 2008 program.
Building on the collaborative foundation that has inspired the Centre’s summer program in Professional Dance, artistic directors for the seven participating companies — The National Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Alberta Ballet, Ballet B.C., Ballet Jörgen, and Boston Ballet — have chosen faculty and dancers for the first program, which will be established at the Centre in July and August, 2008.
The new Professional Dance program will be directed by Lindsay Fischer. A former principal dancer with Het Nationale Ballet in the Netherlands and the New York City Ballet, Fischer has spent more than 10 years helping young dancers transition into professional artists, most recently as the head of the National Ballet of Canada’s apprenticeship program.
The program will incorporate the Clifford E. Lee Award in Choreography, which provides an opportunity for a Canadian choreographer to come to The Banff Centre to create and premiere a new dance piece working with the participant dance company. Past winners of the Lee Award include Mark Godden, Christopher House, Wen Wei Wang, Crystal Pite, and Sabrina Matthews.
The Banff Centre’s dance programs have become integral to the creative fabric of dance in Canada. Alumni of the Centre’s training 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.
Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award
This prestigious award, presented under the auspices of The Banff Centre, was established in 1978 by the Clifford E. Lee Foundation, to encourage the development of Canadian choreographers. The award is bestowed on the basis both of works previously created and performed, and to recognize the potential of a new work proposed by each applicant. Past recipients include, Judith Marcuse, Stephanie Ballard, Martine Epoque, Christopher House, Mark Godden, Bengt Jörgen, Crystal Pite, Shaun Hounsell, Allen Kaeja, Wen Wei Wang, Sabrina Matthews, Peter Quanz, and Simon Orlando.
Information about the next Award will be posted shortly.
⇒ Past recipients of the Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award
A Brief History of Dance in Banff
In 1947, Senator Donald Cameron invited Gweneth Lloyd and later, Betty Farrally, founders of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, to create a dance program at The Banff Centre. Lloyd and Farrally’s infectious pioneer spirit and enthusiasm, and their expertise and solid teaching methods, launched the fledgling program which attracted large numbers of talented young dancers to Banff.
Gweneth and Betty ran the program until the 1970s, and with the inclusion of world-renowned master class teachers and an impressive list of international and Canadian choreographers coming to help them mount Festival Dance, the reputation of the Dance Program in Banff grew.
Although Ms Lloyd and Ms Farrally continued to keep their very knowledgeable fingers in the pie, Arnold Spohr (director emeritus of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet) took the helm in the 70s, and in 1982 dance icon Brian Macdonald became program director. He founded Banff’s Professional Dance Program that same year. In 2002, Annette av Paul, after a remarkable career as a principal dancer, teacher, and advisor (including 18 consecutive summers as a pedagogue and coach in Banff), became the director.
Every dance company in Canada has had Banff alumni on their rosters and many of Banff’s dancers have enjoyed careers overseas. Others have become celebrated choreographers, directors, and master class teachers, both in Canada and abroad.