The École supérieure de ballet de Montréal (ESBQ) is a professional dance training school in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

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 ...

which is part of the Maison de la danse

Ludmilla Chiriaeff Ludmilla Chiriaeff (January 10, 1924 – September 22, 1996) was a Latvian-Canadian ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, and company director. Biography Ludmilla Alexandrovna Otsup was born in Riga to a Russian-Jewish father Alexandr Otsup ...

, a building that it has owned since 1982 and which is also home to the dance company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal. The school is located in central

in the

Plateau-Mont-Royal Le Plateau-Mont-Royal () is a borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Plateau-Mont-Royal takes its name from its location on a plateau, on the eastern side of Mont-Royal and overlooking downtown Montreal, acros ...

borough, a few yards from the Laurier subway station. It is the only institution in Quebec to offer a complete professional training program in

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...

. Montreal is home to more than 30 professional dance companies, with more than 200 dance performances presented every year in some 20 different theatres and performance spaces.

History

Since 2010, the ESBCM is directed by Anik Bissonnette, whose professional credits include being principal dancer with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens many years. In 2011, the school was renamed L'École supérieure de ballet du Québec to reflect its role in dance development in Quebec.

Dance program

The school's dance-study program is recognized by the Quebec Ministry of Education and subsidized by both the Ministry of Culture and Communications and the

Department of Canadian Heritage The Department of Canadian Heritage, or simply Canadian Heritage (french: Patrimoine canadien), is the department of the Government of Canada that has roles and responsibilities related to initiatives that promote and support "Canadian identity ...

. It offers a full 12-year program from the primary school level up to a high school and college diploma. Students are accepted following an audition, and take academic classes at partner institutions: École Saint-Joseph (grade school), Pensionnat du Saint-Nom-de-Marie (high school), and Cégep du Vieux-Montréal (college). Students from outside Montreal can board with local families or at the Pensionnat du Saint-Nom-de-Marie student residence. Primary and secondary school students are transported from their academic institution by school bus to the Maison de la danse Ludmilla Chiriaeff. Students take classes in classical dance, pointe work, folklore, suppleness and flexibility, physical conditioning,

choreography Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design ...

, career management and

dance history The history of dance is difficult to access because dance does not often leave behind clearly identifiable physical artifacts that last over millennia, such as stone tools, hunting implements or cave paintings. It is not possible to identify wit ...

, and also attend workshops on health and nutrition. At the end of each year students must pass an exam where they are evaluated by a jury of professional dance artists. They also present a public performance of classical ballet and contemporary dance, usually at the end of the school year.

Jeune Ballet du Québec

Established in 1980, the Jeune Ballet du Québec is an apprenticeship troupe that introduces freshly graduated students to the world of professional dance. Since 1997 this young company features new dance work, and tours regularly. The Jeune Ballet du Québec commissions works by several contemporary choreographers, demonstrating that a dancer with classical training is able to perform any style of dance.

External links

École supérieure de ballet du Québec
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecole Ballet schools in Canada Education in Montreal Performing arts in Montreal Dance schools in Canada