YOU Dance Partners With Toronto District School Board To Bring Dance To Students Virtually

Barry Hughson, Executive Director, today announced that The National Ballet of Canada is partnering with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to bring YOU dance to schools and students virtually in this school year limited by COVID-19.

Led by Artistic Director of YOU dance and Ballet Master Lindsay Fischer, the National Ballet's signature education and community engagement programme, is designed to introduce students in grades four to six to the world of dance through free workshops and performances. Due to the ongoing pandemic, in-class visits have been cancelled to ensure the safety of students, educators and artists and the programme will be offered virtually.

Artist Educator Annemarie Cabri led the first virtual YOU dance workshops on October 13 for two classes: one for grade 4 students and one for students with developmental delays. Both classes welcomed Ms. Cabri as they learned about the history of the National Ballet and danced alongside her. This season, we welcome Nicole Rose Bond, a Toronto-based dance artist and educator, who will work alongside Ms. Cabri delivering YOU dance workshops into schools virtually. In future classes, the company's RBC Apprentices will also virtually visit TDSB classrooms to perform excerpts of ballet repertoire for the students.

"Over the last few years, my students have participated in YOU dance and I was saddened to think that this year my class would not be able to go downtown to experience the ballet. I was elated when the National Ballet reached out to me and said they would provide the programme virtually this year to include classes that were doing remote teaching! I truly appreciated that YOU dance staff worked so hard to communicate with me, to get feedback to modify the programme so my students could be actively involved and have an equitable experience without any barriers.a??Today was a phenomenal experience! Thank you, YOU dance!"
- Sheri Alcordo, Premier of Ontario's Teacher of the Year, 2012

More About YOU dance >