This time Ottawa was the centre of our ballet student’s thoughts and excitement as they were anxiously waiting for the presentation of La Bayadere by the Mariinski Theatre.

A trip to Ottawa to enjoy what they love best, with special backstage access after a mesmerizing performance, pictures with some of the dancers, skating on the Rideau Canal and a comfortable stay at the Marriot Hotel, was all part of this unforgettable experience.

And the joy didn’t end there; once back in Toronto our students were invited and attended a rehearsal of The Swan Lake ballet, performed by the Mariinsky (Kirov) company at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. Also, thanks to a special request put forward by the Academy, our students were allowed to attend a unique ballet class.

Everybody at the Academy is very proud this opportunity was granted to our students, which undoubtedly has given them a deeper understanding of the world of professional ballet. There is no better way to “touch and feel” what ballet really means than attending a class with the dancers of one of the world’s most famous ballet companies.

Knowing how important experiences such as this one are for the artistic development of our students, Victoria Ballet Academy (International Ballet Academy of Canada) will always work hard to create such opportunities and provide our students with the tools necessary to achieve excellence.

February 6, 2011

Events update for our after-school students

Dear parents and students,

1. Please be advised that our school will be closed for the Family Day long weekend from Saturday, February 19 until Monday, February 21. These days are not included in your ballet payment plan.

2. We would like to invite you to our open classes on

Thursday, March 3, for the 5 pm group

Friday, March 4, for the 5 pm group

Saturday, March 5, for the 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, 12 pm, and 1 pm groups, except for the Contemporary Class. We are asking our guests to remove or change their shoes before entering dance studios.

3. Our March Break Camp will run from March 14 – 18. If you would like your child to participate, please fill in the Registration Form available at our office.

4. The auditions for the school year 2011-2012 have already started! At our day school we offer intensive academic and ballet training programs (Arts and Science Academy of Canada) from kindergarten to grade 12. You can choose Ballet, Visual Arts, or Music as part of the full-time program. The application and information packages can be obtained at the school’s office.

If you have any questions, please call us at:905-707-7580.

Sincerely yours,

Vladimir Demine, Principal

Now that we are at the beginning of a new year we would like to wish our community of students, parents, staff, and friends a great year 2011!

At Victoria Ballet Academy we are still enjoying the wonderful feeling left by the success of The Nutcracker during its four presentations last December. Congratulations and thanks to everybody who participated in this great effort!

As a staff member of the Thornhill Liberal Newspaper said: “Victoria Ballet Company’s performance of the Nutcracker was simply superior to any other performances we have seen…which is not surprising considering the talent you have there”. And this is just one of the positive comments we have received and which inspire us to maintain our commitment of providing excellence in education and ballet training.

Currently we are fully engaged with our regular school year and after-school lessons, and we will continue working towards another year of achievements and learning on a daily basis.

Vladimir Demine
Principal of Victoria Ballet Academy

The hard work and dedication of seven exciting and rewarding years at Victoria Ballet Academy and its division International Ballet Academy of Canada, which have given its founders, students and the community a sense of fulfillment, have now been acknowledged in the form of a grant provided by The W. Garfield Weston Foundation. This foundation directs its grants towards education, land conservation and science in Canada’s North.

After reviewing the progress and achievements of Victoria Ballet since its establishment in 2003, and being nicely impressed by what they saw, the foundation decided to make this grant to assist us with our most important task: helping our current and future students to become well-prepared individuals with the best education and ballet training in Canada.

We kindly thank the W. Garfield Weston Foundation for their generosity.

The complete full-length version of our Cinderella Gala Concert that took place on June 22, 2010 at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, is now available on DVD.

To order your copy of the DVD, please contact the office at 905-707-7580, or send us an e-mail.

Please, print out the REGISTRATION FORM for additional information about our Christmas break winter camp.

You are cordially invited to enroll your children for the Winter Camp. The program will run from Monday to Friday, December 20 through 31, 2010. You can choose any or all of the days, with no holiday breaks between December 20 and 31. We are inviting you to choose three main preferences to help the school create the camp program. The survey will be used to assign the program according to the majority of choices made by all camp participants:

□ Ballet       □ Chess        □ Crafts       □ Digital Photography       □ English             

□ Experimental Science       □ Magic        □ Math       □ Puppet Theater      □ Reading

Every Week Fun Activities: 

Frost Cooking Day, Snow Man Day, Twins Day, Pizza day, Treasure Hunt Day, Chess Battle, Winter Sculpture

Free meals are provided on consent of parents

The fees:

Part Time (8 a.m. – 1 p.m. or 1p.m.-6 p.m.)  -   $40 per day (same for siblings) 

Full Time  (8 a.m. – 6 p.m.)   -   $60 per day (smae for siblings)

Morning Extended hour (any time from 8 to 9 a.m.)  -   Free of charge

Evening Extended hour (any time from 6 to 7 p.m.)  -  $5 per 1–60 min. after 6 pm

An Invitation for all Dance Lovers.

The Mariinsky ballet, (a.k.a the Kirov) will be performing in Ottawa on February 24 to 27, and Victoria Ballet Academy is inviting you to spend two incredible days visiting museums and the National Gallery of Canada. Of course the highlight of our trip will be the Kirov’s staging of one of the great classic ballets: La Bayadère, with a backstage visit to the stars of this wonderful ballet of unrivalled technical expertise and breathtaking elegance.
La Bayadère takes place in the royal India of the past, and it’s a tale of love, mystery, fate, vengeance, and justice. The ballet relates the drama of Nikiya, a temple dancer, or bayadère, who is in love with Solor, a noble warrior at the service of the Rajah, who also loves her. However, the Rajah’s beautiful daughter Gamzatti also loves Solor and given Solor’s position as the Rajah’s soldier and following his orders he decides to marry her. The High Brahmin’s unrequited love for her will then see an opportunity to force her to love him. All this drama will lead to the scene of the Kingdom of the Shades, one of the most famous scenes of this ballet.
Don’t miss this great opportunity to enjoy La Bayadère, staged for the first time in St. Petersburg by the Imperial Ballet in 1877; it has long been a classic that only the Kirov Ballet can bring back in its original version with choreography by the ballet master Marius Petipa and music by Ludwig Minkus.
“Beautiful dancing, perfumed with the delights of 19th-century classicism, and performed as only the Kirov can.” The Times of London
For more information please contact us at Victoria Ballet Academy at 905-707-7580 or by E-mail: info@balletacademy.ca

A student of the Victoria Ballet Academy represents Canada at the 3^rd International Ballet Competition in Beijing, China

We are pleased to inform all our students, parents, teachers and patrons that the full-length version of our June 22, 2010 Cinderella Gala Concert at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, is now available on DVD. Please find all the details here.