Celia Franca (25 June 1921 – 19 February 2007) was a co-founder of The

National Ballet of Canada The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca as the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...

(1951) and its artistic director for 24 years.

Early life

Franca was born Celia Franks in London, England, the daughter of an East End tailor. Her family were Polish Jewish immigrants. She began to study dance at the age of four and was a scholarship student at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

and the

Royal Academy of Dance "Health and happiness" , predecessor = , successor = , formation = 1920 , extinction = , type = NGO , status = Registered charity , purpose = Examination board – dance education and training , headquarters = 36 Battersea SquareSW11 3 ...

."National Ballet founder dies at 85"
''The Globe and Mail'', Sandra Martin, 19 February 2007 She made her professional debut aged 14. She successfully auditioned for

Marie Rambert Dame Marie Rambert, Mrs Dukes DBE (20 February 188812 June 1982) was a Polish-born English dancer and pedagogue who exerted great influence on British ballet, both as a dancer and teacher. Early years and background Born to a liberal Lithuan ...

's ballet company in 1936. She changed her name to Franca in emulation of Alicia Marks, who changed hers to

Alicia Markova Dame Alicia Markova DBE (1 December 1910 – 2 December 2004) was a British ballerina and a choreographer, director and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted for her career with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and touring international ...

. She entered into the first of three marriages, to fellow dancer Leo Kersley.

Career

In 1941, aged 20, she was a dramatic ballerina in the

Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-sea ...

company. In 1947 she joined the

Metropolitan Ballet Metropolitan Ballet was a short lived British ballet company. Founded in 1947 by Cecelia Blatch and Leon Hepner, the company performed in London and on tour in the provinces and abroad, staging shortened versions of the classics, some of the Diaghi ...

as a soloist and ballet mistress. It was there that she began choreographing for television, creating the first two ballets – '' Eve of St. Agnes'' and '' Dance of Salomé'' – commissioned by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. Franca continued television work after the Metropolitan Ballet shut down. In 1950, a group of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

balletomanes asked Franca, who had come to Canada to attend a festival, to start a Canadian classical company; she did so in the very short time of 10 months. While supporting herself as a file clerk at Eaton's department store, she recruited and trained dancers, staged some Promenade Concerts, organized a summer school, she gathered an artistic staff and prepared her uneven but enthusiastic new company for its opening on 12 November 1951. She and

Betty Oliphant Nancy Elizabeth Oliphant (August 5, 1918 – July 12, 2004) was a co-founder of the National Ballet School of Canada. Life Oliphant was born in London in 1918. Her father was a lawyer who died within weeks of her birth in a train crash. Oli ...

founded the

National Ballet School of Canada Canada's National Ballet School, also commonly known as the National Ballet School of Canada, is a classical ballet school located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Along with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, it is a provider of professional ballet tr ...

in 1959 to provide trained dancers for the company. In 1979 Franca joined Merrilee Hodgins and Joyce Shietze as a Co-Artistic Director to

The School of Dance The School of Dance was founded by Merrilee Hodgins and Joyce Shietze. The School of Dance opened its doors on Wellington Street, in the west of Ottawa, in 1978, as a nationally registered, educational, charitable, non-profit organization designed ...

in Ottawa, a non-profit organization designed to provide professional training for dance. Franca lived in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

and was a co-artistic director of

, a member of the board of governors of

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

and the board of directors of the Canada Council and later served on the Board of Directors for the Canada Dance Festival Society. Franca continued her association with the National Ballet, revising works for the company, including ''

Offenbach in the Underworld Offenbach may refer to: Places * Offenbach am Main, a city in Hesse, Germany ** Kickers Offenbach, football club ** VfB 1900 Offenbach, football club * Offenbach (district), a kreis in Hesse, Germany * Offenbach an der Queich, a municipality in ...

'' (1983) and staging ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...

''. She returned to the company to produce a 35th Anniversary Gala Performance at Toronto's O'Keefe Centre. In 1967, she was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

and was promoted to Companion in 1985. In 1994, Franca received a

Governor General's Performing Arts Award A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. After a year of poor health after breaking the vertebrae in her back, she died on 19 February 2007, aged 85, in an Ottawa Hospital.

References

External links

*
The Celia Franca FoundationThe National Ballet of CanadaCelia Franca's Biography on the National Ballet of Canada websiteCelia Franca fonds (R4290)
at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franca, Celia 1921 births 2007 deaths Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Ballet choreographers Ballet mistresses Ballet teachers English ballerinas Canadian ballerinas Canadian female dancers English female dancers Canadian Jews English Jews British emigrants to Canada English choreographers English people of Polish-Jewish descent Canadian choreographers Companions of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Ontario Governor General's Performing Arts Award winners Actresses from London Actresses from Ottawa Canadian founders Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent Women founders 20th-century Canadian dancers 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 20th-century Canadian actresses Canadian women choreographers

Early life

Career

Further reading

References

External links