York University and National Ballet School Launch Joint Program for Dance Teacher Training

TORONTO, July 6, 1999 -- Two leading Canadian institutions for dance education are joining forces to offer aspiring dance teachers expanded career opportunities in a variety of settings.

Canada's National Ballet School (NBS) and York University's Department of Dance are launching a joint program that allows students to earn both the three-year NBS Teacher Training diploma and York's four-year Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance in just five years. Along with the NBS teaching diploma, graduates receive internationally recognized accreditation with either the Cecchetti Society or the Royal Academy of Dancing.

"It's a flexible, fast-track program for highly motivated people," said Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt, Chair of York's dance department. "It combines the advantages of a university education in dance with very intensive training for specialized certification within the profession."

"This partnership increases the career options of our students, giving them the first of the qualifications necessary to teach in elementary and secondary schools as well as dance studios," said Anuschka Roes, head of NBS's Teacher Training Program.

Building on a model pioneered by the National Ballet School, students in the new joint program will spend three years at York followed by two years at NBS, or vice versa. York's dance department will welcome its first NBS students to the program this fall.

"What an exciting and compelling collaboration!" commented Veronica Tennant, an alumna of NBS and the National Ballet of Canada, and adjunct professor of dance at York. "It makes perfect sense that NBS and York's Dance Department advance excellence and exploration for youth and dance with this kind of synergy."

Internationally heralded as "training paradise" (Ballett Journal, Germany), NBS is in the forefront of dance education, constantly evolving its programs to fuse the great ballet traditions with the latest advancements in the science of movement and care for the child. Along with training artists who dance in major companies around the world, the School has also been devoted to training ballet teachers for almost 40 years. Every year, it receives more job offers than its graduates can fill.

York University's Department of Dance is recognized internationally as a leader in dance education and a major contributor to the infrastructure of dance performance and scholarship in Canada. The oldest and largest university-based dance program in the country, it offers conservatory training in ballet and modern dance combined with studies in composition, notation and dance science, ethnology, history, theory and criticism. Alumni have made their mark in all areas of dance performance, pedagogy, administration and research.

For details about the new joint program, the public is invited to contact the National Ballet School at (416) 964-3780 or aroes@nbs-enb.on.ca, or York University's Dance Department at (416) 736-5137 or dance@yorku.ca

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For media information, please contact:

Stephen Johnson
Manager, Marketing and Public Relations
National Ballet School
(416) 964-5135
sjohnson@nbs-enb.on.ca

Brigitte Kleer
Manager, Public Relations
Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
(416) 736-2100 ext. 77143
bkleer