Various efforts in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century have also been undertaken particularly in British Columbia , by dance companies such as the Karen Jamieson Dance Company, but also elsewhere, to explore the potential interaction of Aboriginal dance traditions with non-Indigenous forms in French and English Canada.
The phenomenon of dance as performance has a long history and arose when particular sequences of movement became too complex for everyone in a community to learn, or were reserved for a privileged few.
It became customary for some to dance and others to watch. In Europe, where by the 18th century dance had largely relinquished its religious and ritual functions and evolved into a form of entertainment, a further distinction arose between increasingly professionalized theatrical dancing and dance in all its other manifestations.
It is a distinction that persists and is fully reflected in the way dance has evolved in Canada. The modern history of dance in Canada begins with the implanting of European culture from the 16th century onward. In both its theatrical and social dimensions, dance in Canada has reflected the traditions of its immigrant cultures.
Although born in the courts of Renaissance Italy, classical ballet, as we know it, took shape in France and quickly became popular across Europe. It was thus natural for Canada's French settlers to enjoy ballet. There are isolated instances of rudimentary performances, often pageants or masques that included drama and music, occurring in New France during the 17th century. As the art became more sophisticated and technically evolved, performances by itinerant troupes of dancers also became popular.
The French, and later the British, brought with them their own social dances and movement rituals but, despite the presence from the midth century of local dancing teachers in Canada's principal colonial settlements, theatrical presentations of dance were generally imported.
While some continued to practice established traditions, others created contemporary, fusion work which was an amalgamation of older and newer movement vocabulary, and embraced a wide scope of cultural influences. Vancouver-based Kokoro Dance, co-founded by Barbara Bourget and Jay Hirabayashi, is an example of a company whose aesthetic and choreographic output are influenced by ballet, jazz, modern dance, dance theatre, and the modern Japanese dance form known as butoh.
The work of mid-career and emerging dance collectives in Vancouver, such as The Plastic Orchid Factory, The Tomorrow Collective, The Collective, Move: The Company, and others also straddle a variety of movement practices from hip hop, to ballet, to martial arts, to theatre, and transplant the work in theatres and in outdoor settings.
She observed that it continued unabated in the face of the clergy's serious opposition, which was to endure in French Canada until the Quiet Revolution of the s. The British Conquest of did little to dull the local appetite for dance. Writing in the early s, the Englishman George Heriot observed: "The whole of the Canadian inhabitants are remarkably fond of dancing. Celeste Keppler, a famous French dancer, made several Canadian appearances during the s and '30s.
A pattern was established. Canada's immigrant population amused itself with the social dances it had packed in its cultural baggage, yet was generally content to hire its professional dance entertainment from abroad.
With its close proximity to the United States, Canada became an integral part of the North American touring circuit. As a network of railroads spread across the country, it became easier for touring ensembles to penetrate the interior. Serge Diaghilev's Ballet Russe, with its legendary star Valslav Nijinski, made its only Canadian appearance in Vancouver in , but the company's various namesake successor troupes became popular attractions across the country.
Arnold Spohr , later to become a central figure in the development of Canadian ballet, was inspired to become a dancer after attending a performance of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in Winnipeg in There were also visits by Loie Fuller, Ruth St.
Denis, Doris Humphrey and Martha Graham, all pioneering exponents of the new Modern Dance , or "barefoot ballet" as it was disparagingly dubbed by traditionalists. Even so, although a small but dedicated audience of dance aficionados was emerging, the immediate prospects for professional theatrical dance in Canada remained unpromising. After a successful stage career, Roper taught in Vancouver from to She was a fine pedagogue.
Many of her school's more than 70 graduates enjoyed later careers in musicals and reviews and about a dozen emerged as fully fledged classical ballet dancers.
Eight of these were accepted into major American-based troupes. Since audiences of that era had come to associate Russia with the highest standards in ballet, it was not uncommon for Western dancers to adopt Russianized names. Volkoff, born in Schepotievo in , was authentically Russian.
He arrived in Toronto in and initially staged dance numbers to be performed between movies at producer and conductor Jack Arthur's Uptown Theatre. In Volkoff opened his own school and in adventurously took a group of students to the Internationale Tanzwettspiele of the Berlin Olympics, performing his works inspired by Aboriginal legends.
In the Volkoff Canadian Ballet made its formal debut, vying for the legitimate title of first Canadian ballet company with a little group in Winnipeg, established almost at the same time by recent English immigrants Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally. Both companies, professional in ambition but essentially amateur, struggled to stay afloat through the war years. The second, held in Toronto, combined with a visit the same year by the British Sadler's Wells Ballet, spurred a local group of balletomanes to dream of a "national" company.
The growing popularity and success of the Winnipeg Ballet fuelled a spirit of civic competitiveness among the Torontonians, but it required the artistic and leadership skills of invited English immigrant dancerand choreographer Celia Franca to realize their dream.
Her Canadian National Ballet - soon renamed, without any official public mandate, the National Ballet of Canada - made its debut in November , much to the consternation of the Winnipeg Ballet.
The smaller Prairie troupe, having turned fully professional in , regarded itself as Canada's premier ballet company, a position it boldly reasserted in its successful application for the right to add "Royal" to its name. In the company was officially retitled the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.
Les Ballets Chiriaeff which was choreographed by Chiriaeff made its public debut in , was a major hit at the Montreal Festival, and in was professionally reconstituted for the stage as Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Skeptics derisively noted that the troupe was neither grand nor notably Canadian, but Chiriaeff survived to disprove them all, the company continuing to produce acclaimed works. Each of these ballet companies developed a distinct character, an amalgam of artistic ideals and a pragmatic understanding of audience tastes and expectations.
Under Spohr's direction, , the Royal Winnipeg Ballet built on the populist foundations of its founders. With rarely more than 26 dancers, it remained compact and mobile, and became known for its generally accessible "mixed bills" - programs of works spanning a variety of dance styles and themes, from classical ballet to jazz, from abstract dance to comic narrative works.
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet blossomed under Spohr, who worked his dancers hard to improve their performing ability while supplying them with often challenging repertoire. Spohr was tireless in seeking out interesting young choreographers, several of whom, notably Brian MacDonald and Norbert Vesak , were Canadian.
Their creations helped give the company a distinctive repertoire and made it very attractive to presenters at home and abroad. In , the trail-blazing Royal Winnipeg Ballet became the first Canadian dance company to perform in London.
Three years later it toured triumphantly to Paris, Leningrad and Moscow. In , it toured Australia, and later to South America and Asia. Long before we called this land Canada, Aboriginal dancers were practicing dance. Over time, Indigenous dance has been severely affected by decades of assimilation tactics, resulting in a huge decline in practice. In the late s, artists and native groups began investing more time and money into preserving dance as part of Aboriginal and Canadian culture.
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet used the European medium of ballet to bring Aboriginal issues to light with their critically acclaimed productions of Going Home Star. They much preferred to host traveling troupes and companies from around the world. Throughout the s and s, European visitors and dancers frequently wrote about how much Canadians loved dance.
Eventually, as technology advanced and made it easier for people to get around, Canada became part of the US touring circuits, which resulted in fantastic performers like Martha Graham , Anna Pavlova , and Ruth St. Example Activities: Ballet companies Contemporary dance companies Dance companies Folk dance companies Jazz dance companies. Establishments or individuals primarily engaged in: organizing and promoting, but not producing, dance productions see Promoters presenters of performing arts, sports and similar events , performing in artistic and cultural productions, or providing technical expertise necessary for these works see Independent actors, comedians and performers , providing food and beverages for consumption on the premises and also presenting live dance entertainment, such as exotic dance clubs see Food services and drinking places.
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