Canada’s National Ballet School's live performances for Creative Challenge
Canada’s National Ballet School has recently staged live dance performances across Toronto for the first Creative Challenge. On 6, 7 and 14 June student choreographers from Canada’s National Ballet School and their artistic collaborators presented free public ‘pop-up’ dance performances in various locations across Toronto for the school's project, Creative Challenge. This encourages the next generation of dance artists to be inventive, collaborate across disciplines and perform new works in unexpected public places.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buADPfbPNkY
Students were invited to create a choreographic work for presentation in a non-traditional performance venue for Spring 2014 by the Artistic Director and CEO. The students collaborated with an artist from a different art discipline and shared their creative process with their fellow choreographers, while also recording their work to be shared via online blogs, videos or photographs. The Creative Challenge has been seen to empower and encourage students to expand their outlook on the creative potential of their classical ballet training, by establishing meaningful collaborations with other artists, in addition to promoting public access to dance and the arts.
Six students took part in this year’s Creative Challenge by presenting performances across Toronto in June, and a further five international students (from the Dutch National Ballet Academy, The Juilliard School, Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and The School of The Hamburg Ballet) have also embraced this challenge and will be performing similar works in their respective cities. As a result there will also be Creative Challenge performances taking place in Amsterdam, New York City, Charlottetown (Canada), Winnipeg (Canada), and Hamburg in addition to Toronto.
Established in 1959, Canada’s National Ballet School is a world leader in the training of professional dancers and teachers. Dedicated to teaching and celebrating dance, it is committed to promoting the art of dance through community engagement in addition to offering recreational and professional programmes.