Evelyn Hart - Biography
Award-winning ballerina Evelyn Hart is an internationally renowned dancer and one of Canada's most treasured artists.
After studying in the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Professional Division, where she trained under David Moroni, she joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 1976, becoming a soloist in 1978 and principal dancer in 1979. Over her 30-year career with the RWB, she performed on stages in over 118 countries and on every continent.
With David Peregrine as her partner, Hart entered the World Ballet Concours in Osaka, Japan in 1980 and they won a bronze medal. The same year she was honoured as the first Canadian to be awarded a gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. She also received the rarely awarded Certificate of Exceptional Artistic Achievement.
Noted for her musicality and lyricism, Hart brought her trademark artistic and dramatic approach to the classical full-length roles in Giselle, Swan Lake, Onegin, Sleeping Beauty, Anna Kareninna, Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet. A few of her favourite roles included ballets created by Sir Frederick Ashton, Antony Tudor, Jirí Kylián, Norbert Vesak, Vincente Nebrada, Hans van Manen, Rudi van Dantzig, George Balanchine and James Kudelka.
During her illustrious dance career, she has danced with some of the world's leading male dancers such as Sir Anthony Dowell, Richard Cragun, Patrick Bissell, Andris Liepa, Jose Carreño, Alexei Ratmansky, Manuel Legris and Rex Harrington.
She enjoyed major associations with other well-known companies such as the National Ballet of Canada, Bayerische Staatsballett and the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, in addition to guest performances with companies and international galas around the world.
Most recently she performed Roberto Campanella's pas de duex Decorum E with Rex Harrington at the Montreal's Gala Des Etoiles and Mario Radocovsky's pas de deux Inspiration for Toronto's ProArteDanza. She also narrated a Virtuosi concert in Winnipeg for the CBC Radio Two's In Performance and has begun to teach master classes in Rimini Italy, Yokohama Japan and Vancouver B.C.
A 50-minute film about Hart entitled Moment of Light: The Dance of Evelyn Hart was produced in 1992 by Blue Morpho Films with the National Film Board of Canada. Max Wyman wrote a biography entitled Evelyn Hart: an Intimate Portrait published by McClelland & Stewart. She will also be profiled in an upcoming CBC TV Life & Times.
Hart continues to entice with performances with Coleman Lemieux, Duo Concertante’s Maples and the Stream, February, and Exile. Hart recently danced in James Kudelka’s Love, Sex, and Brahms and returned to the stage with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Giselle, The Four Seasons, and Vespers.
Evelyn Hart became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1983 and was promoted to Companion in 1994. In 1987, she was named Manitoba's Woman of the Year. McMaster University and the University of Manitoba presented her with honorary doctorates in 1989. She has received two ACTRA Awards for her performances on television of Belong and as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, both for CBC TV. She was awarded the Chalmers Award for excellence in the arts and inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000. In 2001, Hart received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award to recognize her lifetime achievement in the performing arts. She was nominated with Rex Harrington for a 2005 Gemini for Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program or Series for Veronica Tennant's A Pairing of Swans which aired on CBC TV’s Opening Night.