Dance in CanadaA Power Point: by Ben Ely

The Influence of Ballet in Canada

• Dance in Canada covers a wide variety of styles, but if one was to be chosen prominent in would be the teachings of Ballet

• Canada even has a multitude of prestigious ballet companies such as• Royal Winnipeg Ballet • the National Ballet of Canada based in Toronto • Ballet Jörgen Canada based in Toronto • Les Grands Ballets Canadians based in Montreal • the Alberta Ballet based in Calgary • Ballet BC based in Vancouver • Ballet Kelowna • Ballet du Printemps based in Vancouver • Ballet Victoria • Canadian Pacific Ballet based in Victoria • and the Goh Ballet in Vancouver.• Canada’s secondary dance of choice is a rebellious form of ballet labeled as

Modern Dance. Canada has multiple companies for this school of dance as well, companies such as:

• Toronto Dance Theatre• O Vertigo in Montreal• Compagnie Marie Chouinard in Montreal• Par B.l.eux founded by Benoît Lachambre in Montreal• Danny Grossman Dance Company in Toronto• Mocean Dance in Halifa• and Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers.

Dance influence in Canada

• Canada is also home to hundreds upon hundreds of Ukranian dance troupes

• These foreign dance troupes bring unique styles of movement to Canada’s culture through professional and semi-professional companies such as the Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company

• immigrant communities within Canada continue spreading their own dance traditions including Esmerelda Enrique Spanish Dance Company, le ballet compagnie en France and Ballet Creoleboth– Both very large and successful companies with affiliated schools

running in Toronto

Native Dance in Canada• Since Canada takes up the main portion of North America, The main cultural

dancing stems all from tribal dancing of the Northern American Indians

• These north American dance festivals, still held today, are called Pau Wau’s – meaning “spiritual leader”

• A Modern Pau Wau consists of an event where event where both Native American and non-Native American people meet to dance, sing, socialize, and honor American Indian culture. – Pau Wau’s can be anywhere from 5 to 6 hours, to a full 3 days

• A Pau Wau is often a setup of a series of large circles, the center circle being the dance arena

• The style of dancing done is typically called the Intertribal dance, which is characterized by the beating and “singing” of primarily a single drum for anyone and everyone to come up and dance a dance of any style

• This culture of dance is highly representative of northern Americans friendly and communal culture of not excluding

anyone from a chance to be family

Sources• Chris Glazner, Roxanne Solis, and Geoff Weinman; Southern Native

American Pow Wows; "The Arena and Staff”• Becky Olvera Schultz (2001); Powwow Power; "What is a powwow and a

brief history";• Glazner, et al.; "Dance Styles”• Hatton, O. Thomas (1974). "Performance Practices of Northern Plains

Pow-Wow Singing Groups", p.85-86, Anuario Interamericano de Investigacion Musical, Vol. 10, pp. 123-137.

• Roberts, Chris (1992). Powwow Country, p.85-86• *Hatton, O. Thomas (1974). "Performance Practices of Northern Plains

Pow-Wow Singing Groups", p.128, Anuario Interamericano de Investigacion Musical, Vol. 10, pp. 123-137.

• Nettl, Bruno (1989). Blackfoot Musical Thought: Comparative Perspectives. Ohio: The Kent State University Press