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Transcript of Third Generation
Dance Community:Training, Education and Performance
Excerpted from earthdancers: Dance, Community and EnvironmentMasters of Arts thesis by Julie-Anne Huggins
York University, April 2005
FOR EDUCTIONAL USE ONLY
Generation3
rd
Entering the 1960s, Sudbury’s dance
scene was creating more performing
opportunities for its students. Aside from
annual studio recitals and occasional
tours to regional competitions, stage
time for local dancers had been amateur
and quaint. Fashionably late, the Royal
Winnipeg Ballet finally tiptoed through
Sudbury in 1960 and in hosting auditions
prior to their performance, they helped
to stir enthusiasm for dance.32 The idea
for an independent performing company
in Sudbury still lingered, and with ballet
as a common base in studio training,
Third Generation
32 Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Ted Patterson, Richard Rutherford, Jim Clouser, Sheila MacKinnon
33 Premiere performance of the Nickel Belt Ballet Company.
the ever-growing dance community (theoretically) supported the venture. The non-
profit Nickel Belt Ballet Company was founded and incorporated by charter in 1961,
under the presidency of Morton Pilskow and artistic directorship of Daniel Stevich, a
dancer/choreographer from Europe.33 The group’s focus was teaching ballet, presenting
performances, undertaking public educational projects, encouraging Canadian music
and choreography, and supporting excellence with awards and bursaries.34 Auditions
were open to all dancers ten and over, and they were expected to attend at least one
ballet class per week at any studio, as well as weekly rehearsals with the company.
Training and repertoire consisted of classical ballet, modern ballet, jazz and folk. Guest
teachers and choreographers included Tini Pel and Natasha Sawchuk of Sudbury, as well
of Nancy Lima Dent and Cliff Collier of Toronto.35 Despite initial enthusiasm, there was
little support from other local dance teachers; consequently, most company members
were students from the Arts Guild, and they were featured in collaborative performances
with the school.36 Soon after their first full-program premiere performance in 1963, the
company was absorbed by the Arts Guild. Other notable dance projects in Sudbury
included Canada’s Centennial Celebration in 1967, during which Tini Pel staged a
collaboration of the local dance community, and the city welcomed Ballet Concerts, the
touring chamber ensemble of the National Ballet of Canada.37 Sudbury audiences would
again welcome this charming troupe in 1968 and later in 1971.38
Also around the mid 1960s, Ida Sauve formed an informal troupe
known as the Ida Sauve Dance Company. Though it was too transient
to incorporate, the group consisted of Sauve’s top senior students,
performing and competing locally, regionally and even across the
border.39 By the end of the decade, her home would be known as Ida
Sauve’s School of Dancing.40 Other studios were waning however. As
the Mine Mill Union was debating about closing its schools, Barbara
Cook resigned in 1960 and established her own Sudbury School of
Ballet.41 In her stead, the new Mine-Mill Ballet School was taken up
by Joseph Bayer, of the Crouse lineage, and Ann Marie Konya.42 By
1961, however, the Crouse School of Dancing had adopted Mine-Mill
location and it too folded within the year.43 The Arthur Murray Dance
Studio also took a final bow in 1964.44 A few other short-lived studios
came and went, one of which was Giselle Dance Studio where classes
in tap, acrobatics, modern jazz, step-dancing, baton, and examination
preparation were offered by Giselle Toner from 1962 to 1965.45 Another
cameo school between 1967 and 1970 was Dee Dee’s Dance Studio, where former Toner
student Diane Poirier taught tap, step-dancing, ballet, jazz, acrobatics, baton, physical
fitness, and even go-go dancing.46 Finally, after Merilyn Peterkin decided to close her
doors, the Gauvreau family purchased her school and renamed it Gerry’s School of
Dancing in 1964. Though the school was gone by the following season, the aspiring
young dancer Gerry Gauvreau, a former Helen Hymander and Shirley Simard student, was
making headway teaching and directing at the Centre des jeunes.47
Growing in popularity since 1950 was
Father Albert Regimbal’s French community
cultural centre Centre des jeunes, also known
as the Sudbury Youth Centre.48 Unlike other
cultural groups in the city, dance was more than
just folklore and tradition, it was considered
contemporary and artistic: a statement clearly
apparent with the inclusion of the Montreal
Modern Dance Company at the 1954 Festival of
Nations multicultural show.49 Dance training
began here around 1964 under the direction
of Florence Gauvreau and her son Gerry, who
titled their program the Centre Civitas Christi
Dance Studio (and later the Studio de Danse
Civitas Christi).50 Within a few years, classes picked up at several of their satellite studios
throughout the region, including the towns of Chelmsford, Azilda and Hanmer.51 With the
affiliations of several local dance instructors, a wide variety of styles was offered in these
dance programs, including ballet, jazz, tap, baton, ballroom, folk, step-dancing, gymnastics,
improvisation, acrobatics, drama, modelling, and physical fitness.52 Notably, some of
these teachers later included Glenys Lafrance, Leslie Kallio, Joanne Gervais, Barbara Roth
Johnson, Ida Sauve, Diane Boulais, Denise Vitali, and Rheal and Giselle Rouselle.53 Further
adding momentum to French Canadian culture and the performing arts, the Centre des
jeunes sponsored the first tour of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens to Sudbury in 1964.54 It was
here that another non-professional performing company was founded in 1969, one that
Gerry Gauvreau would bring to new heights in the following decades.55
49 Performers at the Festival of Nations.
49 Montreal Modern Dance Company to perform at the Festival of Nations.
54 Artistic Direcor of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens,
Ludmilla Chiriaeff.
55 Ontario Folklorists in jazz, modern ballet, and the 35 member Junior Corp.
As the 1960s came to a close, the year
1969 witnessed the departure of Barbara
Cook, who would also be missed by the
Sudbury Little Theatre Guild where she had
choreographed over the years. Directorship
of the Sudbury School of Ballet was passed
on to one of her senior students, Barbara
Roth Johnson, who continued the tradition
of ballet instruction and examinations.56
Many recall the 1960s as Sudbury’s dance
boom, an exciting time where it seemed that
there were more students per capita seeking
to study dance than in any other city in
Canada.57 Suzanne Bourque recalled eagerly
hopping on a bus in the mid 1960s to spend
her first pay cheque on dance classes – an
influence that would carry on through her
life.58 Exciting times were ahead in the 1970s,
as a fourth generation of schools and dance
projects was ushered in.
Endnotes32 “Royal Winnipeg Ballet Here Thursday,” The Sudbury Daily Star 12 Nov. 1960: 3.33 “Nickel Belt Ballet Company Presents Premiere Performance Friday Night,” The Sudbury Star 14 Nov. 1963: 3. Fantasy ’62, program, Sudbury, 9 June 1962.34 Fantasy ’62, program, Sudbury, 9 June 1962.35 “Nickel Belt Ballet Company Presents Premiere Performance Friday Night,” The Sudbury Star 14 Nov. 1963: 3.36 Nancy Lima Dent, letter to Tini Pel, 15 June 1962, Nancy Lima Dent Collection, Dance Collection Danse, Toronto. Fantasy ’62, Sudbury, 9 June 1962.37 Tini Pel, personal interview, 10 November 2001. “New Ballet Group Here Saturday Night,” The Sudbury Star 21 Sept. 1967: 17.38 Adrienne Neville, email interview, 1 December 2004.39 Ida Sauve, personal interview, 8 October 2004.40 Sudbury Bell directories, 1969-1970.41 Barbara Cook, interview with Lawrence Adams, Barbara Cook Tape 5 of 6, Dance Collection Danse, Toronto, 16 March 1994. “Large Audience Attends Farewell Ballet Recital,” The 598 News 29 June 1960: 2.42 “Open New Dance School at Sudbury Union Hall,” The 598 News November 1960: 2.43 Sudbury Bell and Vernon directories, 1960-1962.44 Sudbury Bell directories, 1960-1965.45 Sudbury Bell directories, 1961-1966.46 “Busy Social Season Ahead for the Gal Who’s in Shape,” The Sudbury Star 4 Sept. 1964: 6. Sudbury Bell directories, 1966-1971.47 Sudbury Vernon directories, 1963-1965. Gerry Gauvreau, personal interview, 8 October 2004.48 Alain Blanchette, et al. Du Centre des jeunes au Carrefour francophone: 1951-1990 (Sudbury, ON: La Société historique du Nouvel-Ontario, 1992).49 “Festival of Nations at Sudbury Arena,” The Sudbury Daily Star 11 May 1954, final ed.: 3+.50 Sudbury Bell directories, 1963-1969.51 Debbie Bourgeois, telephone interview, 30 November 2004.52 Sudbury Bell directories, 1964-1977.53 Gerry Gauvreau, personal interview, 8 October 2004. Diane Boulais, telephone interview, 16 November 2004. Leslie Kallio, telephone interview, 13 December 2004. Giselle Rouselle, telephone interview, 24 November 2004.
54 “Les Grands Ballets to Give Performance Here,” The Sudbury Star 12 Feb. 1964: 3.55 “Dancers Dazzle Thousands,” Northern Life 12 June 1974: B-456 Helene Van Alphen, telephone interview, 26 November 2004.57 Gerry Gauvreau, personal interview, 8 October 2004.58 Suzanne Bourque, personal interview, 9 October 2004.