Mavis Avril Staines (born April 9, 1954) is a Canadian ballet dancer and teacher. Staines grew up in the

Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (french: Cantons de l'Est) is an historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby in the southwest, to Drummondv ...

of Quebec. In 1972, she graduated from

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 ...

. After becoming a

first soloist In ballet, a soloist is a dancer in a ballet company above the ''corps de ballet'' but below principal dancer. Dancers at this level perform the majority of the solo and minor roles in a ballet, such as Mercutio in ''Romeo and Juliet'' or one of t ...

with the National Ballet of Canada, Staines later joined The

Dutch National Ballet The Dutch National Ballet (Dutch: Het Nationale Ballet) is the official and largest ballet company in the Netherlands. History The Dutch National Ballet was formed in 1961 when the Amsterdam Ballet and the Nederlands Ballet merged. The company h ...

where original work was created for her. After an injury cut her performance career short, she returned to Canada, enrolling in the National Ballet School's Teacher Training Program. She became a member of the Artistic Faculty in 1982. In 1989 she was appointed Artistic Director of the School. For the celebration of the School’s 50th anniversary in 2009, she helped gather 13 of NBS’s partner schools from around the world to present the Assemblée Internationale with a focus on collaboration; a second Assemblée Internationale was remounted in 2013, with a focus on introducing new technology. From 2002 and 2008, Staines was Artistic President of the

Prix de Lausanne The Prix de Lausanne is an international dance competition held annually in Lausanne, Switzerland. The competition is for young dancers seeking to pursue a professional career in classical ballet, and many former prize winners of the competition a ...

. In 1998 she won the Toronto Arts Award for the Performing Arts. In November 2006, she was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network. In 2008, she was presented an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Mount Saint Vincent University. In 2010, Staines became Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her commitment to furthering the field of dance education. In February 2013, Staines received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her contributions to dance and education. Staines is a recipient of the 2019 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in Dance.

References

1954 births Canadian ballerinas Living people Members of the Order of Canada Canadian female dancers {{canada-entertainer-stub