''John Alleyne'' (born January 25, 1960) was a Canadian ballet choreographer and dancer, now retired.

Early life and career

Alleyne was born in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

on January 25, 1960. In 1965, his family moved to

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, where he grew up. At the age of 13, Alleyne began with his studies at the

Canada's National Ballet School 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 The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's ...

as the only black student at the time. After his graduation in 1978, Alleyne joined

Stuttgart Ballet Stuttgart Ballet is a leading German ballet company. Dating back to 1609, then the court ballet of the dukes of Württemberg, the modern company was founded by John Cranko and is known for full-length narrative ballets. The company received the L ...

and started his career in choreography. He was tasked with creating various works for the company's internal workshops. In 1992, Alleyne was appointed

Artistic Director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

Ballet BC Ballet BC is a contemporary ballet company located in Vancouver, British Columbia. History Ballet BC is a professional contemporary ballet company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company was founded as Ballet British Columbia by ...

. He remained in that role from 1992 to 2009.

Works

* Phases (1983), In Variation on a Theme (1984), and Weiderkekr (1985) at Stuttgart Ballet * Blue-Eyed Trek (1988), Split House Geometric (1989-1990) and Interrogating Slam (1991) at The National Ballet of Canada * Flying To Paris (1989), Go Slow Walter (1990), Talk About Wings (1991), Archeology of Karl... A romantic adventure (1993), Three Visible Poems (1994), The Don Juan Variations (1995), Can you believe she actually said (1995), Remember Me From Then (1996) with Peter. Goldberg (1998), Schubert (1999), The Faerie Queen (2000, adapted and filmed by CBC), Orpheus (2002) Scheherazade (2002), Carmina Burana (2004), The Rite of Spring (2005), A Streetcar Named Desire (2006), and The Four Seasons (2008) at Ballet BC

Awards

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped estab ...

for Outstanding New Choreography (1992) * Harry Jerome Award for Professional Excellence from the Black Business and Professional Association (1993) * Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

(2003) * Vancouver Arts Award for Performing Arts (2004) * Exceptional Achievement Award in the Performing Arts from the Black Historical and Cultural Society of British Columbia (2005)

References

Canadian male ballet dancers Ballet choreographers Canadian people of Barbadian descent {{DEFAULTSORT:Alleyne, John 1960 births Living people