National Ballet of Canada 2019/20 Season Roster Announced

Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced the 2019/20 season roster which features 68 dancers and 10 RBC Apprentices.

The promotions this season include Brendan Saye to Principal Dancer, Ben Rudisin and Donald Thom to First Soloist and Jeannine Haller, Siphesihle November, Kota Sato and Calley Skalnik to Second Soloist.

Joining the National Ballet this season are Koto Ishihara as First Soloist and Shaelynn Estrada, Monika Haczkiewicz, Ayano Haneishi, Shené Lazarus and Isaac Wright as members of the Corps de Ballet.

Promoted to the Corps de Ballet from the RBC Apprentice Programme are Genevieve Penn Nabity, Tene Ward and Jennifer Watembach.

The RBC Apprentice Programme this season features new dancers Nina Gentes, Albjon Gjorllaku, Sophie Lee, Arielle Miralles, Shelby Tzung and Christopher Waters.

After seven years with the National Ballet, Second Soloist Félix Paquet has left the company to join The Hamburg Ballet. Corps de Ballet member Mallory Mehaffey, who joined the company in 2017, departed to dance with Boston Ballet.

Full biographies and a complete roster >

The 2019/20 season features several milestone anniversaries. Principal Dancers Greta Hodgkinson and Sonia Rodriguez mark their 30th anniversaries with the company. Principal Character Artists Lorna Geddes and Tomas Schramek celebrate their 60th and 50th anniversaries, respectively. Principal Dancer Jillian Vanstone and Second Soloist Tiffany Mosher mark their 20th anniversaries with the National Ballet. Details regarding celebrations will be revealed during the season.

The National Ballet of Canada's 2019/20 season celebrating Artistic Director Karen Kain's 50th anniversary with the company opens with Giselle, November 6 - 10, 2019 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.