KAREN KAIN "IN CONVERSATION"

Joining the LBC from Canada, Karen Kain gave everyone listening via Zoom a fascinating insight, not only into her illustrious career as a prima ballerina but also, more recently, as a Company Director.

She talked with Jane Pritchard about her priorities  when in charge – for example, designing a repertoire with the quality and variety to develop dancers, commissioning new works from world renowned choreographers and from within the company which would provide emotional inspiration, expanding international touring, and ensuring ‘wellness’ care for dancers.

As the leading Canadian ballerina of her generation, Karen had worked with many of the leading choreographers of the 20th Century and had guested widely abroad. She laughed that “those amazing opportunities” had been welcomed also by other dancers as they were then afforded more stage time.

Although now retired, Karen was in the process of staging her Swan Lake, a project delayed by the pandemic, and was also overseeing Nureyev’s Sleeping Beauty and MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations.

Her audience hoped very much that it would not be too long before The National Ballet of Canada was able to visit the UK.

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