Ashley Wheater

Born in Scotland and raised in England, Wheater, 48, was trained at the Royal Ballet School. As a young dancer, Wheater performed throughout England and Europe.

Wheater began his professional career with The Royal Ballet and joined London Festival Ballet on the advice of Nureyev. In 1982, he joined The Australian Ballet, and under the direction of Marilyn Rowe, danced a multitude of roles in both classical and contemporary works.

From 1985-1989, as a member of The Joffrey Ballet, Wheater worked with Robert Joffrey and danced in many American works by choreographers such as Mr. Arpino, William Forsythe, Eugene Loring, Mark Morris, and Laura Dean, in addition to performing the lead in numerous Sir Frederick Ashton and John Cranko works.

In 1989, Wheater joined San Francisco Ballet, dancing lead roles in nearly all of the Company’s full-length productions. He also had many works created for him by choreographers such as San Francisco Ballet Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson, James Kudelka, Bintley, and Morris, among others. In 1996, Wheater ended his dancing career after suffering a major neck injury.

Ashley Wheater assumed the role of ballet master with San Francisco Ballet in 1996 and was named assistant to the artistic director in 2002.

Karen Kain

One of the most accomplished and celebrated ballet artists of her era, Karen Kain is renowned not just for the passion and incisive characterization of her many performances as a dancer, but for the commitment and energy she has Karen Kainbrought to her role as a spokesperson for and representative of Canada’s cultural life.

A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Ms. Kain studied at Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto and joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1969. Kain came to international attention in 1973 when she won the Silver Medal in the Women’s Category at the prestigious International Ballet Competition in Moscow. Her success in Moscow led to a glittering international career that saw her work closely with such artists as Rudolf Nureyev and perform with such illustrious companies as Roland Petit’s Le Ballet de Marseilles, The Bolshoi Ballet, London Festival Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet and the Eliot Feld Company.

In 1997 Ms. Kain announced her retirement from the stage and assumed the position of Artist-in-Residence with the National Ballet, a role that was expanded two years later to that of Artistic Associate. In June of 2005, Ms. Kain was appointed Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada.

Ms. Kain has received numerous national and international awards, both for her work as a performer and her tireless efforts as an advocate for the arts and cultural development. She is a Companion of the Order of Canada and is the first Canadian recipient of the Cartier Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001 she was named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Government and in 2002 received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. She was appointed Chair of the Canada Council in 2004 for a five-year term. In 2007 she received the Barbara Hamilton Memorial Award.

Rex Harrington

Recognized as one of the finest male dancers of his era, a performer admired for both his dazzling and magnetic stage presence and his incomparable and sensitive partnering skills, Rex Harrington is one of Canada’s most renowned stage artists. Born in Peterborough, Ontario, Mr. Harrington graduated from Canada’s National Ballet School in 1981 and joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1983. He became a Principal Dancer with the company in 1988 and remained in that position until his retirement in 2004.

Over a brilliant 20-year career, Mr. Harrington danced both in Canada and abroad. He also created numerous important roles in his career, notably the central role in James Kudelka’s The Four Seasons.

Mr. Harrington has guested internationally with such companies as La Scala Opera Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet and has partnered such ballerinas as Karen Kain, Ekaterina Maximova, Carla Fracci, Evelyn Hart, Allessandra Ferri and Greta Hodgkinson. Mr. Harrington was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000. He was given a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2005 and an Honourary Degree from York University in 2006. Mr. Harrington was appointed to the position of Artist-in-Residence with the National Ballet in 2006.

DAME ANTOINETTE SIBLEY

Dame Antoinette Sibley trained at the Arts Educational and Royal Ballet Schools, dancing Swanhilda in Coppélia at the first ever Royal Ballet School’s Performance. Upon graduating from the School in 1956 she joined The Royal Ballet and was promoted to Soloist in 1959, and Principal in 1960.

Dame Antoinette became one of the leading ballerinas of her generation and danced throughout the world, working with many of the great choreographers of the time - Jerome Robbins, Dame Ninette de Valois, Sir Robert Helpmann, Andrée Howard, Léonide Massine, Antony Tudor, John Cranko, and especially Sir Frederick Ashton and Sir Kenneth MacMillan and danced many times with Rudolf Nureyev including creating Friday’s Child in Ashton’s Jazz Calender and dancing in Robbin’s London version of Dances at a Gathering. Her famous partnership with Anthony Dowell, which began with Ashton’s The Dream in 1964, became one of the greatest partnerships of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

In 1976, she made her film debut in Herbert Ross’ The Turning Point dancing with Baryshnikov. The same year, Collins published ‘Sibley and Dowell’. This was followed in 1981 by Dance Books Ltd’s Antoinette Sibley and in 1987 by a biography, Reflections of a Ballerina, by Barbara Newman, published by Hutchinsons.

In 1988, she appeared for the last time in a full-length ballet in the role of Manon, partnered by Anthony Dowell. She now frequently coaches the principal dancers of The Royal Ballet and in 1991 Dame Antoinette was elected President of the Royal Academy of Dancing, as it was then known, and has since been actively involved in the creation of the new Graded Syllabus 7 and 8, in promoting the Academy internationally and in the RAD’s annual conferences. She was awarded a CBE in 1973 and a DBE in the 1996 New Years Honours List.

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