I’m engaged! Principal Dancer Guillaume Côté and I are going to be married next summer. I am a lucky girl to have found my one and only! But let’s start at the beginning. Guillaume and I first met in the summer before grade 10. I was living in Richmond, B.C. and I came for summer school at Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto. I was the new girl and we didn’t have any classes together but I do have a picture of us together from that summer and I always remembered him.

When I joined the company as an Apprentice in 1998, Guillaume and I met again. We were both young and eager dancers and we were quickly paired together as partners. We always got along well and although our relationship was purely friendly, we were already an important part of each others’ lives. You get to know a person in a different way when you dance together and in that sense we were already so close. Seven year later things started to change and we started dating. Time flies and it has already been a wonderful three years together!

This summer, I met Guillaume in Italy where he was guesting with Teatro alla Scala. It was definitely a special trip for us. We started off in Milan, then moved on to romantic Venice, wandering through the narrow streets and taking boat rides all around the city. Next we were on to Rome and had a guide take us through the Vatican, the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. From Rome we hopped on to a train to Florence. Guillaume has spent a lot of time in this beautiful city so he was excited to be my tour guide and show me around his favourite places. One of them is a little bridge that over looks the river and the Ponte Vecchio. On our second night in Florence, Guillaume took me there and we found a great little spot to climb down off the edge. It was a very romantic setting with a sunset to top it off and that is where Guillaume asked me to be his wife. It was a definite “yes” for me and I still can’t stop smiling just thinking about that moment. 

It was nice that we still had a week of traveling together to enjoy this new time in our lives. I got to hear about all the close calls when I almost found out about his big surprise - planning a proposal is certainly a big job for men - and what is concerning is how good Guillaume is at keeping a secret! We spent the next few days going through Tuscany and the last stop of our trip was in Monaco. It was a big change of scenery and we were in good hands with John and Claudine Bailey who are two patrons of the National Ballet. They were amazing tour guides and took us everywhere from the Casino to the Palace. We even saw the Prince of Monaco but it was too late, I was already engaged.

I am really excited about this upcoming year. I will be dancing some of my favourite ballets and at planning our wedding at the same time. I have a lot to look forward to and most of all, I am lucky, because what ever I do from now on will be with my Guillaume.

[Photos from top to bottom: 1. Heather Ogden in Florence 2. Heather Ogden and Guillaume Côté at the Trevi Fountain in Rome, 3. the view of Cinque Terre, 4. With John and Claudine Bailey in Monaco, 5. Heather and Guillaume in Monaco. Photos courtesy of Heather Ogden.]

Last Wednesday, September 16, The National Ballet of Canada took to the stage at Yonge-Dundas Square to celebrate the premiere of Mao’s Last Dancer being screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and to give a preview of Aszure Barton’s world premiere which opens on November 25.

Here’s a recap of the evening following a day of class and rehearsal in the studio:

6:15 pm: Brett van Sickle, Patrick Lavoie and Keiichi Hirano check out the outdoor stage setup before the spacing rehearsal.

6:32 pm: The dancers mark their spacing onstage, in the only rehearsal they had in this space before their performance later that night.

6:58 pm: Ballet Master Peter Ottmann and choreographer Aszure Barton give the dancers their final notes as Artist-in-Residence and the evening’s host Rex Harrington looks on.

7:02 pm: As the dancers wrap up their rehearsal, a crowd has already started to gather in the square.

8:40 pm: Zdenek Konvalina, on site to show his support, gives an impromptu interview to Reuters. The work of a Principal Dancer never ends!

9:05 pm: Rex Harrington asks Aszure Barton about her inspiration for the new work she has created for the National Ballet, which she affirms is one of the best companies in the world.

9:10 pm: Even before the performance begins, the crowd expands beyond the seating capacity to Yonge Street. A video of the company is shown on screen before the dancers appear.

9:15 pm: First Soloist Stacey Shiori Minagawa prepares to make her entrance.

9:16 pm: The dancers launch into the excerpt of Aszure Barton’s new work, which is met with enthusiasm and applause.

9:23 pm: Rex Harrington concludes the evening – see you in November!

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[Dancers’ clothing provided by American Apparel. Photos by Wendy Liebner.]

This August, Principal Dancer Zdenek Konvalina and I participated in the 3rd International Ballet Star Gala in Taipei, Taiwan. After taking two weeks off for a summer break in July, Zdenek and I were back in the studio rehearsing the Act III Wedding pas de deux from Coppélia and Christopher Wheeldon’s Prokofiev Pas de Deux.

We had less than a month to rehearse and get back into performing shape as Zdenek left Toronto at the end of July to dance in the prestigious World Ballet Festival in Tokyo, Japan, where he had great success. I traveled to meet Zdenek in Taipei in the middle of August and thankfully had a few days to adjust to the time zone and get in a few more rehearsals before the show. 

Our experience in Taipei was amazing. The city was beautiful, surrounded by mountains and exquisite architecture. It was wonderful to see the organization and cleanliness of the subways and streets and the calm nature of the people. I could not believe how hot it was! I was told it’s unusually hot in Taipei because the mountains surrounding the island actually trap in the heat, so you see many more people come out at night after it has cooled down. 

Having the opportunity to travel to new places and meet beautiful artists is something to feel very thankful for. It’s a huge learning experience to see different dancers and how they approach their technique and artistry. The directors of the Gala are a husband and wife team, Tzer-Shing Wang and Tzong-Yi Shieh. They worked so hard to make us feel at home with their generosity and they made our trip a complete joy! The performance went very well which was the perfect end to an amazing trip to beautiful Taipei.

[Photos: Top, Bridgett Zehr and Zdenek Konvalina. Second, Bridgett Zehr and Zdenek Konvalina with Daria Klimentova of English National Ballet. Third, Bridgett Zehr with Tzong-Yi Shieh, one of the directors of the Gala. Fourth, the dancers in the 3rd International Ballet Star Gala in Taipei. Above, Bridgett Zehr in front of the National Theater.]

What would you do with a six week summer break from work? Stay in our lovely city of Toronto or return to your hometown of Mexico City?

Not only did I choose Mexico City, but I brought two of my fellow dancers with me for my own summer intensive, “Stamina Building 1O1”. This year’s lucky dancers were Second Soloist Elena Lobsanova and Corps de Ballet member Marissa Parzei, following in the footsteps of Corps de Ballet members Antonella Martinelli and Sarah Elena Wolff, who successfully executed the very same workshop in 2007!

As a tour guide, I tried to cover as many of the endless cool spots in Mexico City and its surroundings or at least my own favourites. We got to explore Zocalo, which is the sunken heart of Mexico City. My favourite experience was showing Elena and Marissa the theatre of “Palacio de Bellas Artes” where The National Ballet of Mexico performs and where The National Ballet of Canada once performed about 25 years ago!

I couldn’t let Marissa and Elena leave without them getting a taste of some salsa dancing as well as pre-Hispanic Aztec dance. We also climbed the pyramids of the ancient city of Teotihuacan, shopped for traditional crafts at the overwhelmingly colourful and expansive street-market of Coyoacán and enjoyed plenty of my mom’s wonderful Mexican cuisine!

[Photos: Top, Selene Guerrero-Trujillo, Marissa Parzei and Elena Lobsanova with some new friends. Second, Selene Guerrero-Trujillo. Third and above, Elena Lobsanova and Marissa Parzei. Photos courtesy of Selene Guerrero-Trujillo.]

[Sharon Vanderlinde is the Senior Education and Archives Manager at The National Ballet of Canada]

I love September. Autumn leaves, cooler breezes and after a relaxing summer it’s time to start moving again. Our dancers have returned to the studios two floors below my office to begin rehearsals for the November season. Watching their focus and determination to master the steps of each ballet inspires me to get everyone dancing!

Like the start of the school year we are excited to welcome back our existing education programmes, as well as launch entirely new ways to engage children, youth and adults.

For kids ages 5 to 12 we have Kids Corps. Kids Corps members and their families attend four events each year, and also receive a t-shirt, membership card and four newsletters. Events include workshops, backstage tours and chances to meet National Ballet dancers.

Our T-dot programme is free for youth ages 15 to 18 and connects them to the breadth and diversity of the performing arts in Toronto. Students get the opportunity to see performances by large and small arts organizations in the city, as well as participate in hands-on workshops and discussions. This year T-dot participants will have the opportunity to go backstage after watching The Sleeping Beauty.

February 15, 2010 may seem far off, but we are already planning Family Day events featuring our YOU dance programme. This winter you can watch ballet class, participate in family-style movement workshops and see our Apprentices perform in the National Ballet’s studios.

Last year we reached over 60,000 children, youth and adults with our education programs. I can’t wait to meet this year’s participants and share with them the creative excitement of ballet.

[Photos: from top to bottom: 1. Second Soloists Lisa Robinson and Alejandra Perez-Gomez with members of the Kids Corps. Photo by Sharon Vanderlinde. 2. Family Day movement workshop. Photo by Bruce Zinger.]