November 13, 2019 Media Release

Canada’s Ballet Jörgen Opens Nutcracker Season with Northern Ontario Tour

“We believe every Ontarian no matter where they live should have affordable access to high-quality dance. We are very grateful to our local arts and education partners who work so hard to ensure classical ballet remains part of the cultural life in their communities. We are also deeply grateful to Martha and Richard Hogarth for supporting our programming to northern communities, BMO Financial Group for helping sustain our Nutcracker season in Ontario and the Ontario Trillium Foundation for supporting our Ballet 101 program — helping increase access to professional dance beyond the downtown cores of Toronto and Ottawa.” 
– Bengt Jörgen, C.M. Artistic Director & CEO

In total, the Company will visit seven Northern Ontario communities with is holiday classic and its popular Ballet 101 program, reaching an estimated 8,500 people with 28 performances.

As part of the tour, The Nutcracker Local Participants Program provides a unique opportunity for aspiring young dancers to perform onstage with the professional company. Each season CBJ educators travel around the country auditioning hundreds of local children for roles in CBJ productions, and there are age appropriate roles offered to young dancers in every CBJ performance from coast to coast. Since the company’s inception 32 years ago, the Local Participants Program has provided an opportunity for thousands of children across Canada and the United States to perform roles on stage, with many going on to have professional dancing careers. CBJ’s current roster of 20 dancers includes five that performed with the company as Local Participants in their youth.

Northern Ontario Tour Dates:
Sudbury – November 14 – 19
North Bay – November 19 – 20
Massey – November 20
Bruce Mines –  November 21
Sault Ste. Marie – November 21 – 26
Parry Sound – November 27
Orillia –  November 28 – 30


This tour is sponsored by Richard & Martha Hogarth

The Province-wide program of The Nutcracker: A Canadian Tradition is sustained with support from BMO Financial Group

The Ballet 101 performances on this tour is made possible by The Ontario Trilliam Foundation

Additional assistance for performances in Sault Ste. Marie is provided by Aeroplan

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