The National Ballet of Canada
Creative Team Bios

THE LEAVES ARE FADING

Antony Tudor, Choreographer
Antony Tudor was born in London in 1909 and grew up close to Sadler's Wells Theatre. He began to study dance in 1928. In 1930, Marie Rambert established her Ballet Club (later to become Ballet Rambert) and hired Tudor as caretaker, secretary, dancer, stage manager, pianist and later as a teacher at her Ladbroke Road Studio.

His first ballet was Cross-Garter'd in 1931, inspired by episodes from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and within a few years he had created several successful ballets. In 1936, he created his first masterpiece, Jardin aux Lilas, in which he revealed his ability to convey subtle nuances of feeling through dance. This was followed in 1937 by Dark Elegies, set to Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder.

Later in 1937, Tudor left Ballet Rambert to form Dance Theatre, a company with choreographer Agnes de Mille. This was short-lived and he subsequently established London Ballet. It was in 1938 that he created Judgement of Paris, Soirée Musicale and Gala Performance. These entered Ballet Rambert's repertoire in 1940 when Ballet Rambert and London Ballet amalgamated during World War II. By this time Tudor had left England for the US to join Ballet Theatre (later American Ballet Theatre). He maintained a nearly 50-year association with the company, choreographing iconic narrative works that are now considered the company’s artistic “conscience”. He was also a gifted teacher and devoted himself by carrying on a tradition of excellence that has influenced generations of dancers and choreographers.

In his final years, he received numerous awards and honours including the Capezio Award, Handel Medallion of the City of New York, Kennedy Center Honor and the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award from the Royal Academy of Dance.

Antony Tudor died in New York City, NY on April 19, 1987.

Amanda McKerrow, Stager
Amanda McKerrow has the honour of being the first American to receive a gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow in 1981. Since then, she has been the recipient of numerous other awards, including the Princess Grace Dance Fellowship. She had the honour of training with Mary Day at the Washington School of Ballet and was a member of the company until she joined American Ballet Theatre under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1982. She was appointed to the rank of Soloist in 1983 and became a Principal Dancer in 1987. Amanda danced leading roles in all the major classics and had numerous works created for her by many of the great choreographers of the 20th century. She has also appeared as a guest artist throughout the world. Amanda is now the sole Trustee of the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust and together with her husband John Gardner stages his ballets around the world. Amanda is also in demand as a master teacher for both students and professional dancers and has also enjoyed staging numerous ballets for professional companies and universities both in the US and abroad. She is currently Co-Director of the Colorado Ballet Academy Summer Intensive.

Patricia Zipprodt, Costumes
Award-winning designer Patricia Zipprodt made her debut with The National Ballet of Canada with her designs for the company's premiere of Antony Tudor's The Leaves Are Fading, which she originally designed in 1975 for American Ballet Theatre. Patricia is known for her Tony award-winning designs of Broadway revivals of Cabaret, Sweet Charity and Fiddler on the Roof. She has ten Tony nominations, three Tony wins and a Drama Desk Award. Her film credits include the design of The Graduate. Well known in the world of dance, Patricia has designed Coppélia and Lym Taylor-Corbett's Estuary for American Ballet Theatre, Dances from The Sleeping Beauty for New York City Ballet, William Whitener and Ann Reinking's Sondheim Suite for Pacific Northwest Ballet, Jerome Robbin's Les Noces, Dybbuk Variations, Dumbarton Oaks and Watermill, The Sleeping Beauty for New York City Ballet and works by Anna Sokolow and William Whitener for Ballet Hispanico. Patricia has designed Tannhauser and The Barber of Seville for the Metropolitan Opera, Naughty Marietta, Katerina Ismailovaand The Flaming Angel for the New York City Opera and Lord Byron for the Juilliard Opera. For the National Theatre for the Deaf, of which she was a founding member, Patricia has designed both sets and costumes. In 1988 she designed The Fall of the House of Usher for the American Repertory Theater. Patricia received distinguished Alumni Awards from both Wellesley College and the Fashion Institute of Technology and taught at Brandeis University of Massachusetts. Patricia Zipprodt passed away July 17, 1999 in New York City, New York.

Jennifer Tipton, Lighting
Jennifer Tipton is well known for her work in theatre, dance and opera. Her recent work in theatre includes To Kill A Mockingbird for London and on tour, Samuel Beckett’s First Love for Zoom and all of Richard Nelson's Rhinebeck plays. Her recent work in opera includes Ricky Ian Gordon's Intimate Apparel with libretto by Lynn Nottage, based on her play by the same name, at the Lincoln Center Mitzi Newhouse Theater. Her recent work in dance includes Liz Gerring’s Harbor at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and Amy Hall Warner’s Somewhere in the Middle for the Paul Taylor Company. Among many awards she has received the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2001, Jerome Robbins Prize in 2003 and in 2008, she was awarded the USA “Gracie” Fellowship and a MacArthur Fellowship.

ing Cho Lee, Scenery
Ming Cho Lee was considered one of the finest stage designers in the world. Born in Shanghai, China, Ming’s curiosity in the theatre was sparked by the operas his mother took him to see. He arrived in Los Angeles on a student visa in 1949 and enrolled as art major at Occidental College, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1958. In graduate school, Ming transferred from painting to theatre studies; he made the transition, he said, because he believed in the visual interpretation of ideas and found it increasingly difficult to create paintings without a subject. Along with one year of formal graduate work, Ming’s informal studies included Chinese landscape painting in Shanghai, where he had a private tutor, as well as five years with Jo Mielziner in New York, first as an apprentice and then as assistant designer. Ming’s career was launched in 1962, when he was appointed principal designer for Joseph Papp's Public Theater and the New York Shakespeare Festival, a position he held for 11 years. His prolific output led to his design of all but three of Shakespeare's plays. On Broadway, Ming designed The Moon Besieged in 1962 and For Colored Girls, Hair, Mother Courageand Conversations in the Dark in 1963, Little Murders in 1967, Here's Where I Belong in 1968, Billy in 1969, Lolita and Two Gentlemen of Verona in 1971 and Much Ado About Nothing in 1972. For opera, Ming first designed Boris Godunov and Lohengrin for the Metropolitan Opera and later Idomeneo for the New York City Opera. He won many awards including, in 1965, the first Joseph Maharam Award for Electra, which he had designed for the 1964 New York Shakespeare Festival. In 1968, he again received a Joseph Maharam Award, this time for Ergo, which was designed for the same company at the Anspacher Theater. In 1969, he won the Show Business Off-Broadway Award and in 1970 was nominated for a Tony for Billy. Ming Cho Lee passed away on October 23, 2020 in New York City, New York.


Alex Wommack, Stage Manager
Alex Wommack (she/her) was born and raised in Waco, Texas and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Her passion for ballet led her to work with Alabama Ballet while completing her undergraduate degree. At Alabama Ballet, she stage-managed works by Jiří Kylián, Agnes de Mille and Sir Frederick Ashton. Following graduation, she moved to Seattle and joined the Stage Management team at Seattle Opera, where highlights included Porgy and Bess, The Barber of Seville and Flight. In 2017, she worked with Pacific Northwest Ballet as an Assistant Stage Manager for George Balanchine's The Nutcracker and then joined the company as Stage Manager in 2020. She is a member of AGMA and served two terms as the staging staff representative for the Northwest area on the National Board of Governors. Outside of her professional work, Alex is actively involved with Books to Prisoners, an organization that fosters a love of reading and help break the cycle of recidivism in American prisons.

islands

Paul Vidar Sævarang, Lighting Designer

Paul Vidar Sævarang has worked in light design since 1992. He is now working at Norwegian Opera & Ballet company in Oslo. Some of his previous work include Tosca, La Bohème, Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Swan Lake, Giselle, Baroque Movements, ROOMS, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote, islands, MAN and Vice Versa. Some choreographers he has worked with include Sølvi Edvardsen, Jorma Elo, Jo Strømgren, Alexander Ekman, Patrick King, Melissa Hough, Emma Portner, Garrett Smith, Natascha Metherell and Sudesh Adhana. Paul has worked all over the world including in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Pakistan, US, Canada, Spain, Georgia, Japan, England and Jordan.

Whitney Jensen, StagerWhitney Jensen was appointed Principal Dancer after dancing the role of Kitri in Don Quixote in 2017, one year after joining Norwegian National Ballet. She made her debut as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake in 2018 and has since danced the roles of Nikiya and Gamzatti in La Bayadère, Kitty in Anna Karenina, Clara in The Nutcracker, the lead role in Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and Allegro Brillante, Juliet in the balcony duet from Romeo and Juliet and the title role in Giselle. She was part of the Norwegian premiere of Wayne McGregor's Chroma, the world premiere of Emma Portner's islands and has danced prominent parts in Jiří Kylián's One of a Kind, Alexander Ekman's Cacti and Mats Ek's She Was Black. 

As a choreographer, she made her debut on the main stage with Afternoon of a Faun, co-created with Anaïs Touret in 2021. She has created dance to RAW and To Fly in 2020 and is a member of the workshop company, a part of Norwegian National Ballet’s choreography initiative.

Swan Lake

Karen Kain, C.C., LL.D., D.Litt., O.Ont., Choreography, Direction and Staging
On June 30, 2021, Karen Kain stepped down as Artistic Director after a brilliant career with The National Ballet of Canada that began in 1969, when she first joined the company as a member of the Corps de Ballet. She was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1971 following a sensational debut as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and quickly achieved international fame as one of the great classical dancers of her era. Karen is the longest-serving Artistic Director since Founder Celia Franca and a Canadian dance icon of global influence.

Karen was born in Hamilton, Ontario and trained at Canada’s National Ballet School. After joining the National Ballet, she quickly distinguished herself as an artist of extraordinary depth and versatility, and she formed an historic dance partnership with colleague Frank Augustyn. In 1973, the pair competed at the prestigious International Ballet Competition in Moscow, with Karen winning the Silver Medal in the Women’s Category and both dancers receiving a special prize for Best Pas de Deux.

Karen performed in many of the great classical and contemporary works of her time, collaborated with international choreographers on new roles and appeared as a guest artist with such companies as Paris Opéra Ballet, Roland Petit’s Le Ballet de Marseille, Bolshoi Ballet, London Festival Ballet and Vienna State Opera Ballet. She also developed a close creative partnership with Rudolf Nureyev and performed with him often.

In 1998, Karen became Artist-in-Residence with the National Ballet following her retirement from dancing in 1997 and the role was expanded to Artistic Associate in 1999. She was appointed Artistic Director of the National Ballet in 2005. The following year, she restaged Rudolf Nureyev’s The Sleeping Beauty for the company’s inaugural season at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.

During her tenure, the National Ballet embarked on 23 international tours and 29 Canadian tours, commissioned or acquired 71 works for the repertoire and received worldwide acclaim for the calibre of its dancing. These successes include the company’s first-ever Russian tour, landmark appearances in London, England and Paris, France, the co-commission of Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderlandand The Winter’s Tale with The Royal Ballet, the North American premiere of John Neumeier’s Nijinsky and the launch of the $104 million Soaring Campaign, the largest fundraising campaign in the company’s history. Karen also appointed three Choreographic Associates, established Creative Action to support Canadian choreographers and expanded the company’s education and community engagement initiatives, reaching over 100,000 students and community members each year.

Karen has received many awards and honours for her accomplishments. She is Companion of the Order of Canada, holds the Order of Ontario, was the first Canadian recipient of the Cartier Lifetime Achievement Award and was named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Government of France. Karen received a Governor General’s National Arts Centre Award in 1997, a Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in 2002 and the Barbara Hamilton Memorial Award in 2007. 

From 2004 to 2008, Karen was Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts and in 2007, the Karen Kain School for Arts opened in her honour. In 2011, she received the Distinguished Artist Award from the International Society for the Performing Arts and in 2019, Karen became the first Canadian to be honoured with the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award, the highest honour conferred by the Royal Academy of Dance.

On July 1, 2021, the Board of Directors named Karen Artistic Director Emerita of The National Ballet of Canada.

Christopher Stowell, Choreography
Christopher Stowell, born in New York City, danced with San Francisco Ballet for 16 years. As a Principal Dancer, he performed leading roles in full-length classics and contemporary works. He had roles created for him by such choreographers as Helgi Tomasson, William Forsythe and Mark Morris and was renowned for his interpretation of the George Balanchine repertoire, appearing in nearly every Balanchine ballet performed. Following his performing career, Christopher was Artistic Director of Oregon Ballet Theatre from 2003 to 2012. In 2017, he was named the first Associate Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, a position he held until 2022. Christopher’s influence extends globally through his work as a choreographer, teacher and coach with companies across North America, Europe and Asia. He has also served as a répétiteur staging the works of Balanchine, Mark Morris and Christopher Wheeldon. In June of 2025, Christopher begins his tenure as Artistic Director of Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Robert Binet, Choreography
Robert Binet is a choreographer, curator and leader who has created works for The National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet and more. Robert was Choreographic Associate with The National Ballet of Canada from 2013 to 2024 creating 16 works for the company, including The Dreamers Ever Leave You, an immersive ballet first performed at the Art Gallery of Ontario and later toured within Canada, the US, UK and Germany as well as the original choreography for Karen Kain’s Swan Lake. Robert’s most recent creation was Dark with Excessive Bright for The Royal Ballet which was hailed as “intoxicating” by The Times.

In November 2024, Robert was appointed Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Fall for Dance North, Toronto’s premier international dance festival. Prior to this, he served as Director of Artist Development Programmes for The National Ballet of Canada where he created the Creative Action programme which supported the development of over 200 new works by Canadian choreographers from 2018 to 2024. In 2023, Robert was the Choreographic Mentor at the Venice Biennale College Danza and guest curator for Dance: Made in Canada festival. In the same year, Robert received the Sandra Faire Next Generation Award from Dance Collection Danse, awarded to an individual under 40 who is making a significant impact on dance in Canada.

Gabriela Týlešová, Set, Property and Costume Design
Gabriela Týlešová is an award-winning internationally acclaimed designer whose work spans the full spectrum of the arts, designing for opera, theatre, large scale events, dance and film. Gabriela was born in former Czechoslovakia and studied art in both Europe and Australia, graduating in design from The National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney and cinematography at The Australian Film Television and Radio School. Gabriela has worked as a designer over numerous productions around the globe, winning multiple awards including the Helpmann Award for Best Set Design and Best Costume Design, Green Room Award for Best Set Design and Best Costume Design, APDG Award for Best Set and Costume Design and the Sydney Theatre Award for Design. Gabriela’s career highlights include Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies (Australia, US, Japan, China and Europe), The Phantom of the Opera for Handa Opera on the Sydney Harbour, Cinderella(UK and Broadway), First Wives Club (Broadway), The Sleeping Beauty for The Australian Ballet, Swan Lake for The National Ballet of Canada and Finnish National Ballet and more. Gabriela has recently created the designed for the musical ANASTASIAfor Det Ny Theatre in Copenhagen, was in Japan for the re-opening of Love Never Dies, and is currently working on Muriel’s Wedding The Musical, opening in Leicester, UK in April 2025.

Connie Beecher, Lighting Designer
Bonnie Beecher has designed over 400 productions across Canada and internationally for theatre, opera and dance. For The National Ballet of Canada, Bonnie designed the lighting for the weight of absence and one hundred word for snow, both choreographed by Dominique Dumais. Her work has been seen in most theatres in Canada including Shaw Festival, The Stratford Festival, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Atelier, Soulpepper Theatre, National Arts Centre, The National Ballet of Canada, Tarragon Theatre, The Citadel and Ballet BC. International work includes lighting designs for Dutch National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Glimmerglass Opera, The Royal Opera of Versailles, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Royal Shakespeare Company, New Zealand Opera, Ballett Dortmund, Royal Flanders Ballet, The Opéra national du Rhin Ballet, State Ballet of Georgia, Ballet Im Revier, The Dusseldorf Ballet and Karlsruhe Ballet in Germany. Bonnie also designed the lights for seven world premieres for Stuttgart Ballet and collaborated with the Kevin O'Day in Mannheim, Germany for 14 seasons from 2002 to 2016 where she designed the lighting for more than 25 world premieres for the company.

Sean Nieuwenhuis, Projection Designer
A Canadian media designer and technologist, Sean Nieuwenhuis’ work has been seen in stage productions and special events around the globe. His studio, Sensory Overload Productions Inc., provides technical and production design services to a wide variety of large-scale corporate communications projects. Selected credits: Going Home Star, Handmaid’s Tale (Royal Winnipeg Ballet), Madama Butterfly, Whiteley (Opera Australia), Gounod’s Faust (Metropolitan Opera), Macbeth (LA Opera), Nixon in China (Royal Swedish Opera), WOO Dublin, San Francisco, Kansas City (Vancouver Opera), SUMMER, Dr. Zhivago, Jesus Christ Superstar(Broadway), Tommy, Spamalot, JCS, Man of La Mancha, Wanderlust, Cabaret, Evita (Stratford Festival), The Ballad of Johnny and June, Sideways, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (La Jolla Playhouse), A Word or Two (Ahmanson), Rear Window(Hartford Stage), Manchurian Candidate (Minnesota Opera) Magic Flute, Lillian Alling (VOA), 2025 & 2017 Invictus Games Opening & Closing Ceremonies and Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Opening & Closing Ceremonies.

Alex Wommack, Stage Manager
Alex Wommack (she/her) was born and raised in Waco, Texas and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Her passion for ballet led her to work with Alabama Ballet while completing her undergraduate degree. At Alabama Ballet, she stage-managed works by Jiří Kylián, Agnes de Mille and Sir Frederick Ashton. Following graduation, she moved to Seattle and joined the Stage Management team at Seattle Opera, where highlights included Porgy and Bess, The Barber of Seville and Flight. In 2017, she worked with Pacific Northwest Ballet as an Assistant Stage Manager for George Balanchine's The Nutcracker and then joined the company as Stage Manager in 2020. She is a member of AGMA and served two terms as the staging staff representative for the Northwest area on the National Board of Governors. Outside of her professional work, Alex is actively involved with Books to Prisoners, an organization that fosters a love of reading and help break the cycle of recidivism in American prisons.

King’s Fall

Jennifer Archibald, Choreographer
Toronto-born Jennifer Archibald is the founder and Artistic Director of the Arch Dance Company and Program Director of ArchCore40 Dance Intensives. Jennifer has choreographed for Ailey II, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet West, Charlotte Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Sacramento Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, among others. Commercially, she has worked for NIKE, MAC Cosmetics and Tommy Hilfiger. Jennifer will return to Crypto Arena to choreograph the opening for KCON's Annual Conference. She was appointed as the first female Resident Choreographer in Cincinnati Ballet’s 40-year history. Jennifer has been commissioned by BalletMet, Grand Rapids Ballet, BalletX, The Washington Ballet, Smuin Contemporary Ballet and The Kennedy Center’s Pathways to Performance Choreographic Program to deliver new works in 2025. Jennifer was the acting Movement Director for Michael Kahn’s The Oresteia at Shakespeare Theatre Company and her directorial debut WeAight was named the Official Selection of the 2022 Dance on Camera Festival. She creates a “documentary ballet” format, in which she creates works rooted in historical history, bringing communities together. Her documentary ballets are theatrical engagements that evolve beyond the stage and rely on historical education as an integral part of the creative process. Currently, Jennifer is an Acting Lecturer at Yale School of Drama.

Emily Morgan, Costume Design
Emily Morgan is a designer whose work spans multiple genres. She is Costume Director at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. with recent design commissions at The Washington Ballet, BalletMet, The National Ballet of Canada and Richmond Ballet. Selected design work for dance includes projects with Jennifer Archibald, Levi Marsman, Tom Mattingly, Norbert De La Cruz III, Yury Yanowski and David Parsons, among others. Other costume direction and design work includes digital media, opera, regional theatre and off-Broadway, most notably for Daryl Roth Productions, The Working Theater and New Georges. Her international design work includes The Physicists for The State Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, Romania. Emily was nominated for a NY Innovative Theatre Award for Best Costume Design of a Play for Angel Eaters. Emily holds an MFA in Costume Design from the University of California, San Diego.

Jeff Logue, Lighting Designer
Toronto native, Jeff Logue joined The National Ballet of Canada in 2009 as Lighting Coordinator. For the National Ballet, he has created designs for various ballets, including The Sea Above, The Sky Below, Self and Soul, The Wild Space Between Two Hearts, …black night's bright day…, Unearth, Watershed, Crepuscular, On Solid Ground and Skyward. Before joining the company, Jeff worked at the Shaw Festival for over 14 seasons, including six productions as Lighting Designer and more than 30 productions as Associate Lighting Designer. In addition, he worked on I, Claudia, for which he was nominated for both Dora Mavor Moore and Betty Mitchell Awards. Jeff was the Associate Lighting Designer for Urinetown (Canadian Stage) and Assistant Lighting Designer for The Producers (Mirvish Productions) and has worked at most of Canada’s larger regional theatres. He studied theatre production at York University.

Alex Wommack, Stage Manager
Alex Wommack (she/her) was born and raised in Waco, Texas and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Her passion for ballet led her to work with Alabama Ballet while completing her undergraduate degree. At Alabama Ballet, she stage-managed works by Jiří Kylián, Agnes de Mille and Sir Frederick Ashton. Following graduation, she moved to Seattle and joined the Stage Management team at Seattle Opera, where highlights included Porgy and Bess, The Barber of Seville and Flight. In 2017, she worked with Pacific Northwest Ballet as an Assistant Stage Manager for George Balanchine's The Nutcracker and then joined the company as Stage Manager in 2020. She is a member of AGMA and served two terms as the staging staff representative for the Northwest area on the National Board of Governors. Outside of her professional work, Alex is actively involved with Books to Prisoners, an organization that fosters a love of reading and help break the cycle of recidivism in American prisons.

Anna Spencer, Assistant Stage Manager
Anna Spencer is a Toronto-based stage manager originally from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Previous credits include Emma Bovary (The National Ballet of Canada), Wozzeck, Faust, La Boheme (Canadian Opera Company), Ladies of the Canyon, The Big Easy, Detroit, A Christmas Carol (Soulpepper), The Bidding War (Crow’s Theatre), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (Neptune Theatre/ Mirvish Productions), Women of the Fur Trade, The Crucible (Stratford Festival), The Rocky Horror Show (Neptune Theatre), Cabaret and Prom Queen (The Grand Theatre). Anna is an instructor and graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Performance Production Program.

Giselle

Sir Peter Wright, Choreographer
Sir Peter Wright CBE made his debut as a professional dancer with the Ballets Jooss during World War II and in the 1950s worked with several dance companies, including the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet, for which he created his first ballet, A Blue Rose in 1957. In 1959, he was appointed Ballet Master to the Sadler’s Wells Opera and teacher at The Royal Ballet School.

In 1961, Sir Peter went to Stuttgart as teacher and ballet master to the company being formed by John Cranko. There he choreographed several ballets, including The Mirror Walkers, Namouna, Designs for Dancers and Quintet and mounted his first production of Giselle, which he has subsequently produced for The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and many other international companies. His other interpretations of the classics include The Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker and these productions now feature regularly in opera houses throughout the world. During the 1960s, he established himself as a successful director of television ballets and choreographed various West End musicals and revues.

In 1969, Sir Peter returned to The Royal Ballet as Kenneth MacMillan’s Associate Director. In 1977, he was appointed Director of Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, taking the company to Birmingham in 1990, when it became Birmingham Royal Ballet. On his retirement in 1995, he was made Director Laureate of Birmingham Royal Ballet.

He received the Evening Standard Award for Ballet in 1981 and in 1985 was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). In 1990, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from London University, the University of Birmingham conferred on him the title of Special Professor of Performance Studies and he was presented with the Elizabeth II Coronation Award from the Royal Academy of Dancing. In 1991, he was made a Fellow of the Birmingham Conservatoire of Music. He also won the 1991 Digital Premier Award, which he used to commission a new ballet. He was awarded a knighthood in the 1993 Queen’s Birthday Honours list, in 1994 an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Birmingham and the Critics’ Circle Award in 1995 for Distinguished Services to the Arts. He is President of the Benesh Institute (Dance Notation) and a Vice President of the Royal Academy of Dance.

Sir Peter retired in 2003 from the Governors of The Royal Ballet School after 30 years of service. He won the de Valois Award from the British National Dance Awards for the most outstanding achievement of 2004. His book Wrights & Wrongswas published by Oberon Books in 2016.

More recent productions include Swan Lake in Buenos Aires (2013), revivals of The Nutcracker by The Australian Ballet (2014, 2019), a revival of The Sleeping Beauty, designed by Philip Prowse, for the Vienna State Ballet (2014), a new production for the Hungarian National Ballet (2016), a revival of Giselle in Munich (2016) and a new production in Sarasota (2019). His choreography is incorporated in the new production of The Nutcracker for the Birmingham Royal Ballet by David Bintley at the Royal Albert Hall in London (2017, 2018 & 2019).

Christopher Saunders, Guest Rehearsal Director
Christopher Saunders is Rehearsal Director and Principal Character Artist with The Royal Ballet.

Born in Gosport, UK, he trained with Joan Stevenson. At age nine, he made his professional debut in Gypsy with Angela Lansbury. He trained at The Royal Ballet School and joined the company in 1983. Christopher was promoted to Soloist in 1991 and Principal Character Artist in 1997. In 2001, he was appointed Ballet Master, Senior Ballet Master in 2014 and Rehearsal Director in 2017.

His many roles include the title role in Don Quixote, Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker, Von Rothbart in Swan Lake, Monsieur GM in Manon, Elgar in Enigma Variations, Yslaef in A Month in the Country and Kostcheï in The Firebird, many of which he performs today.

As Ballet Master, he worked closely with Dame Monica Mason and Monica Parker on the Kenneth MacMillan repertory, Patricia Neary on George Balanchine’s ballets and Christopher Wheeldon on his works. This close collaboration has led him to stage works by MacMillan, Wheeldon, Balanchine, Sir Fredrick Ashton, Jerome Robbins, Carlos Acosta and Bronislava Nijinska for The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and many companies across Europe, Japan, Australia and the US.

He celebrated 40 years with The Royal Ballet in February 2023.

Desmond Heeley, Set and Costume Designer
Desmond Heeley’s set and costume designs have been seen on the stages of the world’s major opera, ballet and theatre companies during an international career that spanned more than 50 years. He began his career in 1948 with an apprenticeship at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1952, Heeley embarked on a freelance career in London and came to Canada in 1957 to design Hamlet for the Stratford Festival and began an association with the company. His 1968 designs for Tom Stoppard’s Broadway production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead won Heeley two Tony Awards. He was the first to receive this honour, for both set and costume design in a single production.

Heeley’s creations for The National Ballet of Canada include Giselle, Don Quixote, La Sylphide, The Merry Widow, Erik Bruhn’s Swan Lake, Oiseaux Exotiques and Sylvia pas de deux. His work is in museums and private collections across Canada, US and UK.

A former Professor of Design at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, Heeley taught and lectured extensively. He won numerous awards including the prestigious Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. In 2005, Heeley received an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Heeley passed away on June 10, 2016 in New York City. He was 85 years old.

Gil Wechsler, Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler became the Metropolitan Opera’s first full-time Resident Lighting Designer in 1976. Throughout his 20-year tenure, he designed the lighting for more than 100 opera productions. His responsibilities included the lighting of more than 60 televised opera performances and tours throughout the US and Japan.

Preceding his appointment to the Metropolitan Opera, Wechsler designed more than 30 productions for Lyric Opera of Chicago. He has also designed more than 60 productions for Stratford Festival, including Equus in 1997 and Macbeth in 2004.

Wechsler’s designs for ballet are in the repertoires of American Ballet Theatre, The Royal Ballet, The Harkness Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Berlin Opera Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada. He has also lit productions for Paris Opéra, San Francisco Opera, Teatro Colón and The Sante Fe Opera, as well as multiple works on Broadway.

Wechsler has a fine arts degree from Yale University’s School of Drama.

Alex Wommack, Stage Manager
Alex Wommack (she/her) was born and raised in Waco, Texas and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Her passion for ballet led her to work with Alabama Ballet while completing her undergraduate degree. At Alabama Ballet, she stage-managed works by Jiří Kylián, Agnes de Mille and Sir Frederick Ashton. Following graduation, she moved to Seattle and joined the Stage Management team at Seattle Opera, where highlights included Porgy and Bess, The Barber of Seville and Flight. In 2017, she worked with Pacific Northwest Ballet as an Assistant Stage Manager for George Balanchine's The Nutcracker and then joined the company as Stage Manager in 2020. She is a member of AGMA and served two terms as the staging staff representative for the Northwest area on the National Board of Governors. Outside of her professional work, Alex is actively involved with Books to Prisoners, an organization that fosters a love of reading and help break the cycle of recidivism in American prisons.

The Four Seasons

David Dawson, Choreographer
British choreographer David Dawson is one of the leading dance makers working in classical ballet today. His choreographic style transforms classical ballet in new ways and his signature works have been praised by critics and audiences worldwide. He has been Associate Artist with Dutch National Ballet since 2015. Between 2004 and 2012 he was Resident Choreographer for Dutch National Ballet, Semperoper Ballett and Royal Ballet of Flanders.

He was honoured with the Prix Benois de la Danse Award for choreography for The Grey Area. He created Reverence for the Mariinsky Ballet, for which he was awarded the Golden Mask Award, becoming the first British choreographer to create a ballet for this legendary company. He received the Choo San Goh Award for The Gentle Chapters and was nominated for The Golden Swan Award for both 00:00 and Overture. For his re-imagining of Faun(e) he was nominated for the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Award and the Prix Benois de la Danse Choreography Award. Most recently his Four Last Songs was nominated for the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Award.

Born in London, he trained at the Rona Hart School of Dance, Arts Educational School and The Royal Ballet School. In 1991 he won the professional prize at the Prix de Lausanne and the same year, he joined the Birmingham Royal Ballet. He went on to perform with English National Ballet, Dutch National Ballet and Ballet Frankfurt before deciding to devote his time to creating his own new works.

 Dawson has created over 40 ballets that have been performed in more than 30 countries including his full-length creations of Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Tristan + Isolde and Giselle. Other significant works include Symphony No.2, Legacy Variations, Affairs of the Heart, Voices, Requiem, Anima Animus, Metamorphosis, The Four Seasons, Citizen Nowhere, Empire Noir, On the Nature of Daylight, and his highly acclaimed A Million Kisses to my Skin. 

 His creations are part of the repertoires of many companies including Berlin StaatsBallett, Boston Ballet, Ballet National de Marseilles, Bayerisches Staatsballett, The National Ballet of Canada, Dutch National Ballet, English National Ballet, Teatro alla Scala, Lyon Opéra Ballet, National Ballet of Japan, Mariinsky Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Paris Opéra Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, Ballett am Rhein, Teatro dell Opera di Roma, The Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet and Vienna State Opera Ballet.

Rebecca Gladstone, Stager
Born in Sydney, Australia, Rebecca Gladstone trained with Marie Walton-Mahon and graduated from English National Ballet School, London. She danced with the Deutsche Oper Ballett Berlin, Vienna Ballett and Dresden Semperoper Ballett performing soloist and principal roles in both classical and contemporary works. In 2010, Rebecca became Ballet Master with Dresden Semperoper Ballett working on a wide range of repertoire and assisting many of today’s leading choreographers. Since 2016, she has worked internationally as a stager for the works of David Dawson, both staging his pieces and assisting him on new creations in numerous companies throughout the world. These companies include Dutch National Ballet, Dresden Semperoper Ballett, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Teatro alla Scala, The National Ballet of Canada and Stuttgart Ballet. She also works as a guest teacher with many companies and both teaches and gives Dawson Workshops at several summer school programmes.

Christiane Marchant, Stager
Christiane Marchant has been a stager of David Dawson’s choreography since 2017 and works as his assistant on productions internationally. She is also a resident Ballet Master and Talent Scout at European School of Ballet. In 1977, she joined Maurice Béjart’s Ballet du XXe siècle and in 1980, Hamburg Ballet. Between 1993 and 2005, she was a Ballet Mistress at Semperoper Ballett, Hamburg Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo and MaggioDanza in Florence and from 2005 to 2017, she was at Royal Ballet of Flanders. Christiane has been a guest teacher at Stuttgart Ballet, Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsballett, The Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Ballet de Santiago, Béjart Ballet Lausanne and Rome Opera. Christiane translated Suki Schorer on Balanchine Technique into French and Italian and the Basic Principles of Classical Ballet by Agrippina Vaganova into French. Christiane assisted on David Dawson’s new creations for companies including: Aalto Ballet Essen, Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, Philadelphia Ballet, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Bayerisches Staatsballett in Münich, La Scala in Milan, Dresden Semperoper Ballett, The National Ballet of Canada and Stuttgart Ballet.

Courtney Richardson, Stager
Courtney Richardson is a retired Principal Dancer and renowned ballet educator, celebrated for her exceptional artistry and dedication to the art form. Born in Detroit, she trained at Canada’s National Ballet School before joining prestigious companies such as The National Ballet of Canada, Ballet BC, Royal Ballet of Flanders, and Semperoper Ballett, where she had a remarkable career spanning 23 years. Throughout her career, Courtney captivated audiences with her grace and precision, working with celebrated choreographers such as William Forsythe, David Dawson and Alexander Ekman. Her innovative approach to movement and storytelling made her a standout in the dance world. Now retired from the stage, Courtney is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of dancers. She is passionate about empowering young talent and shares her expertise to help others reach their full potential. Courtney’s legacy in ballet continues to inspire both on and off the stage, encouraging others to embrace their unique abilities and push creative boundaries.

Eno Henze, Set Design
Eno Henze, born in 1978, is a German artist and designer renowned for his innovative integration of art, science and technology. He studied art at Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design and Städelschule in Frankfurt, Germany. As an artist, Henze lived in Berlin for several years, exploring the intersection of digital and analogue processes, often involving generative design. His work delves into the mathematical foundations of aesthetics and the role of technology in contemporary art. In 2010, Eno met David Dawson leading to a continuous collaboration that has resulted in numerous stage designs for David’s ballets. Eno also runs NSYNK, a design studio for mixed reality experiences in Frankfurt, and HYPERBOWL, a film studio outside Münich focused on virtual production.

Max Richter, Music

Max Richter stands as one of the most prodigious figures on the contemporary music scene, with a catalogue that boasts over three billion streams. Memoryhouse, Max’s 2002 debut, has been described by The Independent and Pitchfork Magazine as a “landmark”, while his 2004 album The Blue Notebooks was chosen by The Guardian as one of the best Classical works of the century. SLEEP, his eight-and-a-half-hour concert work, has been performed worldwide, including at the Sydney Opera House, Berlin’s Kraftwerk, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Philharmonie de Paris and at the Barbican, London. Max’s music has become a mainstay for many of the world’s leading ballet companies, including The Mariinsky Ballet, Teatro alla Scala Milan, New York City Ballet, Paris Opéra Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Max has a longstanding relationship with Wayne McGregor, the two have worked together on numerous projects including 2015’s Woolf Works. Max has written award-winning music for over 50 film and TV projects including Mary Queen of Scots, HBO’s My Brilliant Friend and The Leftovers, Tom Hardy’s Taboo and Black Mirror. Max’s recent score for James Gray’s Ad Astra earned him his second Grammy nomination. 

Bert Dalhuysen, Lighting Design
Bert Dalhuysen is a lighting, set, multimedia, video and projection designer for ballet, theatre and opera productions worldwide. He has worked with stage designers such as Keso Dekker, Toer van Schayk, Paul Gallis, Jan Fabre, Eno Henze, John Otto and Tatjana van Walsum. As a long time collaborator with David Dawson, past works include lighting designs for Four Last Songs, Legacy, Romeo & Juliet, Voices, Metamorphosis, Requiem, The Four Seasons, Swan Lake, Tristan + Isolde, Faun(e), Timelapse/(Mnemosyne), Giselle, The Gentle Chapters, 00:00 and The Grey Area. For Hans van Manen, Variations for Two Couples, Dances with Harp, Without Words, Six Piano Pieces and Bach Pieces. For Juanjo Arqués, Manouevre, Ignite, Homo Ludens and Rewind. For Krzysztof Pastor, Scheherazade, Crossing Paths, Bolero and Nijinsky (also video and stage design). For Martin Schläpfer, Alltag, Lontano and Streichquartett. For Nicolo Fonte, Record of Joy and Inverse Form. For Ted Brandsen, Replay, Hallelujah Junction, Body and Carmen. For George Balanchine, Jewels and Who Cares?. For Aaron S. Watkin, La Bayadère.

Yumiko Takeshima, Costume Design
Born in Asahikawa, Japan, Yumiko Takeshima trained with Miharu Ishikawa and San Francisco Ballet School. She danced with Universal Ballet, Alberta Ballet, Feld Ballet and was a Principal Dancer with Dutch National Ballet and Semperoper Ballett. Yumiko has designed costumes for David Dawson, William Forsythe, Jorma Elo, Alexei Ratmansky and George Balanchine. She is the Founder and the designer of YUMIKO Dancewear since 2002.

Bolero

Guillaume Côté, Choreographer
Principal Dancer and Choreographic Associate of The National Ballet of Canada, Guillaume Côté is a choreographer of unique vision and talent. His work for the National Ballet includes Frame by Frame, Le Petit Prince, Being and Nothingness, Venom and the short film Lulu, which won Best International Short Film at the 2020 Milan International Film Festival. Other work includes Fractals: a pattern of chaos for ProArteDanza (2011) and PHI for Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet (2021). He choreographed the short films Lost in Motion and Lost in Motion II, that have garnered over 8.3 million views online. Guillaume founded his own company Côté Danse in 2021. For Côté Danse, in collaboration Robert Lepage, he created The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark which will tour across Canada and US throughout 2024 and 2025. He is Artistic Director of Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, one of the largest summer dance festivals in the country. In 2021, Guillaume was appointed a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec for his significant contribution to the arts in Québec.

Yannik Larivée, Costume Design
Yannik Larivée has been designing for theatre, opera and dance across Canada and abroad for the last 30 years. His work has been seen on the many stages including National Arts Centre, Stratford Festival, The Royal Alexandra Theatre, Canadian Opera Company, The National Ballet of Canada, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Tarragon Theatre, Segal Centre for the Performing Arts (Montréal), The Royal Swedish Ballet, Teatro Nacional de Cuba, The Royal Opera House (UK), Lincoln Centre (New York), Opéra national du Rhin (France), Opéra national de Lorraine (France), Opera Zuid (Netherlands) and Staatstheater Nürnberg (Germany). After completing his Master’s Degree in Scenography at Central Saint Martins in London, under the direction of Pamela Howard OBE, he started his career in New York as an assistant designer to Michael Levine and Paul Steinberg. Five-time nominee, Yannik has received a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Set Design in 2017. He was invited to be a guest teacher at the National Theatre School of Canada for the fall semester of that same year.

Jeff Logue, Lighting Design
Toronto native, Jeff Logue joined The National Ballet of Canada in 2009 as Lighting Coordinator. For the National Ballet, he has created designs for various ballets, including The Sea Above, The Sky Below, Self and Soul, The Wild Space Between Two Hearts, …black night's bright day…, Unearth, Watershed, Crepuscular, On Solid Ground and Skyward. Before joining the company, Jeff worked at the Shaw Festival for over 14 seasons, including six productions as Lighting Designer and more than 30 productions as Associate Lighting Designer. In addition, he worked on I, Claudia, for which he was nominated for both Dora Mavor Moore and Betty Mitchell Awards. Jeff was the Associate Lighting Designer for Urinetown (Canadian Stage) and Assistant Lighting Designer for The Producers (Mirvish Productions) and has worked at most of Canada’s larger regional theatres. He studied theatre production at York University.

Rhapsody

Sir Frederick Ashton, Choreographer
Founding choreographer of The Royal Ballet, Frederick Ashton (1904 – 1988) was one of the most influential dance figures of the 20th century. In his work with the company, he developed the distinctive ‘English style’, and left a vast corpus of works that are regularly performed by The Royal Ballet and companies around the world, among them La Fille mal gardée, Marguerite and Armand and Symphonic Variations.

Ashton was born in Ecuador and saw his first ballet when Anna Pavlova performed in Lima in 1917, later claiming ‘from the end of that evening I wanted to dance’. In England, Ashton was tutored by Léonide Massine and made his choreographic debut for Marie Rambert in 1926. After working with Rambert and Ida Rubinstein, in 1935 he was appointed Resident Choreographer of Vic-Wells Ballet (later The Royal Ballet) by Ninette de Valois. With de Valois, Ashton played a crucial role in determining the course of the company and The Royal Ballet School. In 1963, he took over from de Valois as Director of the company and in addition to choreographing, introduced several significant works, including Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Noces and George Balanchine’s Serenade and commissioned Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet. He retired in 1970 but continued to choreograph throughout his life, producing his last major work, Rhapsody, in 1980.

Ashton’s style is distinctive for its épaulement (the way the head and shoulders are held) and fleet footwork. All his works combine elegance with breathtaking technical demands.

Reproduced by kind permission of the Royal Opera House, London

Amanda Eyles, Stager
Amanda has worked as a Rehearsal Director, Ballet Master, Stager and Benesh Choreologist for more than 35 years, both in the UK and internationally. She has been fortunate to work with a wide range of choreographers and directors, on both new creations and re-staging of existing productions, whilst holding full-time positions with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Scottish Ballet and Richard Alston Dance Company. From 2010 she has worked freelance, teaching and staging the work of a number of different choreographers. Since 2011 she has developed a close association with Wayne McGregor, notating and assisting on his creations with The Royal Ballet and staging his work on companies worldwide. Having worked as Assistant Director and course tutor at the Benesh Institute from 2000 to 2001, she maintains an active involvement with Benesh International and is passionate about the value of BMN for capturing the essence of movement and enabling efficient transference of information in the studio.

William Chappell, Original Costume Design
William danced with the Vic-Wells Ballet, creating roles in Ninette de Valois’ Job (1931), The Rake’s Progress (1935) and Checkmate (1937). His ballet designs include Cephalus and Procris (1931) for De Valois, Capriol Suite (1930), Les Rendezvous (1933), Les Patineurs (1937), Rhapsody (1980) and La Chatte metamorphosée en femme (1985) for Sir Frederick Ashton, The Judgement of Paris (1938) for Antony Tudor and Giselle (1935) and Coppélia (1940) for Sadler’s Wells Ballet. He also designed for revues, plays and musicals. He died in 1994.

Jeff Logue, Lighting Design
Toronto native, Jeff Logue joined The National Ballet of Canada in 2009 as Lighting Coordinator. For the National Ballet, he has created designs for various ballets, including The Sea Above, The Sky Below, Self and Soul, The Wild Space Between Two Hearts, …black night's bright day…, Unearth, Watershed, Crepuscular, On Solid Ground and Skyward. Before joining the company, Jeff worked at the Shaw Festival for over 14 seasons, including six productions as Lighting Designer and more than 30 productions as Associate Lighting Designer. In addition, he worked on I, Claudia, for which he was nominated for both Dora Mavor Moore and Betty Mitchell Awards. Jeff was the Associate Lighting Designer for Urinetown (Canadian Stage) and Assistant Lighting Designer for The Producers (Mirvish Productions) and has worked at most of Canada’s larger regional theatres. He studied theatre production at York University.

Alex Wommack, Stage Manager
Alex Wommack (she/her) was born and raised in Waco, Texas and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Her passion for ballet led her to work with Alabama Ballet while completing her undergraduate degree. At Alabama Ballet, she stage-managed works by Jiří Kylián, Agnes de Mille and Sir Frederick Ashton. Following graduation, she moved to Seattle and joined the Stage Management team at Seattle Opera, where highlights included Porgy and Bess, The Barber of Seville and Flight. In 2017, she worked with Pacific Northwest Ballet as an Assistant Stage Manager for George Balanchine's The Nutcracker and then joined the company as Stage Manager in 2020. She is a member of AGMA and served two terms as the staging staff representative for the Northwest area on the National Board of Governors. Outside of her professional work, Alex is actively involved with Books to Prisoners, an organization that fosters a love of reading and help break the cycle of recidivism in American prisons.