Reid Bryce Anderson (born 1 April 1949) is a Canadian ballet dancer, ballet director and artistic director. He danced with the

Stuttgart Ballet Stuttgart Ballet is a leading German ballet company. Dating back to 1609, then the court ballet of the dukes of Württemberg, the modern company was founded by John Cranko and is known for full-length narrative ballets. The company received the ...

before returning as

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

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 ...

in 1987. He returned to the Stuttgart Ballet as artistic director in 1996 and stepped down in 2018.

Biography

Early life and training

Reid Anderson was born at

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the cap ...

, British Columbia on 1 April 1949. He received his dance training at Dolores Kirkwood Academy and transferred to the

Banff Centre Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (formerly Banff Centre) is an arts and culture educational institution in Banff, Alberta, Banff, Alberta. It offers arts programs in the Performing arts, performing and fine arts, as well as leadership trai ...

. He then went to London in 1967 to study at the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

Dance career

Anderson began his dance career at the Royal Opera Ballet but was unhappy as a performer. In 1969, Anderson joined the

as they were preparing for a two-week performance schedule in New York. His first piece with the company was '' Onegin''. Shortly afterwards he became a

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be either gender. The position is similar to that of ''Soloist (ballet), solois ...

and was their

ballet master A ballet master (also balletmaster, ballet mistress, ''premier maître de ballet'' or ''premier maître de ballet en chef'') is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In mo ...

from 1982 to 1986.

Return to Canada

In 1987, Anderson became co-artistic director of

Ballet British Columbia Ballet BC is a contemporary ballet company located in Vancouver, British Columbia. History Ballet BC is a professional contemporary ballet company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company was founded as Ballet British Columbia by ...

, and later became the sole director. He was known for introducing a contemporary image to the company and increasing its reputation across Canada. Anderson staged a remount of '' Onegin'' with the

. He became the director, and eventually artistic director, of the National Ballet of Canada in 1989. Anderson sustained the company during a tough economic recession by choreographing traditional ballet pieces and bringing Canadian and international choreographers to create new contemporary pieces. He occasionally danced in various character roles during these productions. In 1994, he proposed that the board of directors promote Chan-hon Goh as the company's first

Chinese Canadian Chinese Canadians are Canadians of full or partial Chinese people, Chinese ancestry, which includes both naturalized Chinese immigrants and Canadian-born Chinese. They comprise a subgroup of East Asian Canadians which is a further subgroup of ...

. He left the National Ballet of Canada in 1995, citing continued funding cuts from the government. Anderson had trained Eric Gauthier, who joined him as a member of his ensemble when he became Director of the

Return to Stuttgart

Anderson returned to

in 1996 as artistic director. He organised the company's tour to New York in 1998. After 22 Years, Reid Anderson Stepped Down from Stuttgart Ballet in 2018.

Awards

In 1995, the Stuttgart Ballet awarded Anderson the John Cranko Award. He won the 2006 ' (German Dance Prize) in recognition of his work to improve dance in Germany, and in 2009 won the

Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Reid Canadian male ballet dancers Living people 1949 births National Ballet of Canada People from New Westminster People educated at the Royal Ballet School Stuttgart Ballet Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Canadian expatriates in Germany