Friday, 5 February 2016

Ballet Schools In Ottawa Are Professional

By Helen Scott


The capital of Canada is called Ottawa. It is a very cosmopolitan city and full of culture. It is a very clean and safe city with an excellent standard of living and not a lot of people that are unemployed. Being a center for Canada's culture, this city nurtures many different branches of creative's, with one of its most popular and beautiful creative branches being the dance form of ballet. Over the last century many ballet schools in Ottawa have been established and many good dancers have come out of them.

Ballet in Canada has been established for many years and is an old and well respected form of dance. As a dance form it has roots in the 15th century renaissance courts of Italy where it started out as a performance dance. It later evolved into a form of concert dance that took hold primarily in France and Russia. Today it has become a global attraction, and has been influential in the formation of many of the foundations of other dance genres.

In the Canadian context, this dance was only popularized in the mid 20th century. The French introduced it when they still had a stake in Canada's affairs. However lessons were expensive and teachers were few so only the rich could afford it. The 1930's were the decade that it took off in Canada and real good teachers with passion emerged.

These teachers came from overseas where they had honed their skills and introduced them to students in Canada. Finally there were dancers of a professional standard starting to come out of the great white north. However because there were no dance companies in Canada at that time, these talented students had to go overseas to places like France or England to gain any recognition and respect. These students when they came back started the first Canadian dance companies.

A question to ask ourselves is why has this dance been so influential on global culture? One of the reasons is that it is very expressive. It can be used as a visual counterpart to a musical piece, or used to tell a tale; even just by itself it can be interpreted in many ways. It has managed to transcend all boundaries of race, culture and borders and bring people together to enjoy an expression of ideas and emotions through the beauty of movement.

Dance classes in the capital city of Canada, as with everywhere else where this dance is practiced, are very strenuous. Often dancers are required to start young and go through many years of training for their minds and their bodies before they are considered professional.

A dancer's body is often put through the wringer. The exercises that are required and are repeated, often damage muscles and cause injuries. Bone deformation can also happen from the uncomfortable positions they have to put their feet in. Taking up dance is definitely not a light decision to make.

Although it is a hard life being a professional dancer, it pays off exponentially when one finally gets the opportunity to dance for a full house. Expression with movement is one of humanities most beautiful forms of communication. Dancers that come out of the studios of Canada's capital city have been weaving these stories for over 85 years now and don't show any sign of stopping.




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