Celia Franca (25 June 1921 – 19 February 2007) was a co-founder of 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, the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...

(1951) and its artistic director for 24 years.

Early life

Franca was born Celia Franks in London, England, the daughter of an East End tailor. Her family were Polish Jewish immigrants. She began to study dance at the age of four and was a scholarship student at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with dram ...

and the

Royal Academy of Dance The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) is a UK-based examination board specialising in dance education and training, with an emphasis on classical ballet. The RAD was founded in London, England in 1920 as the Association of Teachers of Operatic Danci ...

."National Ballet founder dies at 85"
''The Globe and Mail'', Sandra Martin, 19 February 2007 She made her professional debut aged 14. She successfully auditioned for

Marie Rambert Dame Marie Rambert DBE (born Cyvia Rambam; 20 February 188812 June 1982) was a Polish-born English dancer and pedagogue who exerted great influence on British ballet, both as a dancer and teacher. Early years and background Born to a liberal ...

's ballet company in 1936. She changed her name to Franca in emulation of Alicia Marks, who changed hers to

Alicia Markova Dame Alicia Markova Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, DBE (1 December 1910 – 2 December 2004) was a British ballerina and a Choreography (dance), choreographer, director and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted for her ...

. She entered into the first of three marriages, to fellow dancer Leo Kersley.

Career

In 1941, aged 20, she was a dramatic ballerina in the

Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a London performing arts venue, located in Rosebery Avenue, Islington. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site. Sadler's Wells grew out of a late 17th-century pleasure garden and was opened as a theatre buil ...

company. In 1947 she joined the Metropolitan Ballet as a soloist and ballet mistress. It was there that she began choreographing for television, creating the first two ballets – '' Eve of St. Agnes'' and '' Dance of Salomé'' – commissioned by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Franca continued television work after the Metropolitan Ballet shut down. In 1950, a group of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

balletomanes asked Franca, who had come to Canada to attend a festival, to start a Canadian classical company; she did so in the very short time of 10 months. While supporting herself as a file clerk at Eaton's department store, she recruited and trained dancers, staged some Promenade Concerts, organized a summer school, she gathered an artistic staff and prepared her uneven but enthusiastic new company for its opening on 12 November 1951. She and

Betty Oliphant Nancy Elizabeth Oliphant (August 5, 1918 – July 12, 2004) was a co-founder of the National Ballet School of Canada. Life Oliphant was born in London in 1918. Her father was a lawyer who died within weeks of her birth in a train crash. Oli ...

founded the National Ballet School of Canada in 1959 to provide trained dancers for the company. In 1979 Franca joined Merrilee Hodgins and Joyce Shietze as a co-artistic director to The School of Dance in Ottawa, a non-profit organization designed to provide professional training for dance. Franca lived in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

and was a co-artistic director of The School of Dance, a member of the board of governors of

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

and the board of directors of the Canada Council and later served on the Board of Directors for the Canada Dance Festival Society. Franca continued her association with the National Ballet, revising works for the company, including '' Offenbach in the Underworld'' (1983) and staging ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

''. She returned to the company to produce a 35th Anniversary Gala Performance at Toronto's O'Keefe Centre. In 1967, she was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

and was promoted to Companion in 1985. In 1994, Franca received a

Governor General's Performing Arts Award The Governor General's Performing Arts Awards are an annual Canadian award, presented to honour distinguished achievements in Canadian performing arts and culture. Administered by the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation in associ ...

for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. After a year of poor health after breaking the vertebrae in her back, she died on 19 February 2007, aged 85, in an Ottawa Hospital.

References

External links

*
The Celia Franca FoundationThe National Ballet of CanadaCelia Franca's Biography on the National Ballet of Canada websiteCelia Franca fonds (R4290)
at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franca, Celia 1921 births 2007 deaths Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama British ballet choreographers Ballet mistresses Ballet teachers English ballerinas Canadian ballerinas Canadian female dancers English female dancers Canadian Jews English Jews British emigrants to Canada English choreographers English people of Polish-Jewish descent Canadian choreographers Companions of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Ontario Actresses from London Actresses from Ottawa Canadian founders Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent Women founders 20th-century Canadian dancers 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 20th-century Canadian actresses British women choreographers Canadian women choreographers Governor General's Award winners

Early life

Career

Further reading

References

External links