Peggy Laurayne Baker (née Smith; born October 22, 1952) is a Canadian

modern dancer Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

, choreographer and teacher. She has been awarded 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 she was the first person to receive the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Life

Baker was born in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. She was the second child of six. She has lived in Canada and the United States.

Education and early work

Baker first studied acting at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

. While there Baker was introduced to

Modern Dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

Patricia Beatty Patricia Beatty, (13 May 1936 – 20 November 2020) was a Canadian choreographer, dancer, director and teacher. Early life and education Patricia Beatty was born in Toronto. She studied modern dance at Bennington College in Bennington, Ver ...

, one of the founders of the

Toronto Dance Theatre The Toronto Dance Theatre is a Canadian modern dance company based in Toronto, Ontario. Described by ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' as "one of the foremost modern-dance companies in Canada", the company tours nationally and internationally and regula ...

. In 1971 she moved to Toronto to study with Beatty at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. After graduating from the school she appeared with the company as a dancer. In 1974 she co-founded the Dancemakers Dance Company. In 1980 she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to dance with the

Lar Lubovitch Dance Company Lar Lubovitch Dance Company (founded in 1968) is a dance company based in New York City and founded by Lar Lubovitch in the late 1960s. They have performed at Carnegie Hall, and worldwide. In 2003–04, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company celebrated ...

. In 1990 she joined Mikhail Baryshnikov’s dance company

White Oak Dance Project White Oak Dance Project was a dance company founded in 1990 by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris. The company took the name of the animal preservation and land plantation owned by philanthropist and Baryshnikov friend Howard Gilman. Gilman built ...

which re-launched her career as a dancer and choreographer. She performed her first solo concert in 1990 called ''Le Charme d l'Impossible''. It was commissioned by the Canada Dance Festival and premiered at the Winnipeg Dance Festival. In 1993 she was invited to be the National Ballet School of Canada's first

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

. She founded the Peggy Baker Dance Projects to develop solo dance expression. In 1993 she was hired as 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 ...

's first

to teach, choreograph and stage

Lar Lubovitch Lar Lubovitch (born April 9, 1943) is an American choreographer. He founded his own dance company, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in 1968. Based in New York City, the company has performed in all 50 American states as well as in more than 30 cou ...

's work.

Personal life

Baker married her first husband Michael J. Baker in Edmonton before she moved to Toronto. Baker met her future husband Ahmed Hassan in the 1970s when he composed for some of Baker’s work. They married in 1990 and remained married until his death in 2011 of

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

Awards

In 2006 Baker was awarded the

and in 2007 she was the first person to receive the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2010 the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal in ...

presented Baker with the Walter Carsen Prize.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Peggy 1952 births Canadian choreographers Canadian female dancers Living people Members of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Ontario Modern dancers People from Edmonton Canadian women choreographers Governor General's Performing Arts Award winners