Ballet BC announces $2 million donation to its Dancer Investment Fund
Founders’ Council member Jane McLennan’s gift gives dancers salary increases and unprecedented 52-week contracts over 10 years
THE LARGEST GIFT IN Ballet BC’s 37-year history will go toward full-year contracts and salary increases for its dancers.
Founders’ Council member Jane McLennan made the $2 million gift through the Ballet BC Capital Campaign, providing major funding for Ballet BC’s Dancer Investment Fund over a 10-year period.
The new 52-week contracts for the dancers were a longtime goal of the company—a “rarity in our industry”, Ballet BC board chair Laura Cundari said in today’s announcement. Previously, the dancers’ paid contracts were only for 48 weeks of the year; the remaining four weeks each summer were unpaid, and many of the artists have to hold down secondary jobs. “We are extremely proud to be able to set this precedent in the hopes that it will galvanize other companies and philanthropists to provide greater support for dancers,” Cundari added.
Across North America, dancer contracts are often seasonal or less than 40 weeks. In 2022, for instance, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater unionized dancers successfully fought for guaranteed work weeks to be increased from 35 weeks to 43 weeks; part of the argument centred around keeping the performers’ bodies in top condition during a long and physically punishing season, and the relative shortness of their careers.
Dancers here face the additional burden of living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. The new security for performers at Ballet BC also stands out in a field where dancers across the country—many of them working independently—regularly make the lowest or second-lowest median income of Statistics Canada’s nine categories of arts occupations.
McLennan is a longtime donor and passionate supporter of the company, even hosting an annual pool party in honour of Ballet BC’s dancers.
“This gift provides sustainable employment for our dancers and ensures that their health, livelihood, and vibrancy reflects the value and respect they deserve,” Ballet BC artistic director and longtime dancer Medhi Walerski said today, adding of McLennan’s donation: “Because of her generosity, Ballet BC can continue to be a global leader for our art form.”
Ballet BC spent June touring to Luxembourg, Germany, and Italy. It kicks off the 2024-25 season on November 7 with DAWN, a program featuring Crystal Pite’s Frontier.
Janet Smith is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.
Related Articles
Programming includes world premieres from Chimerik 似不像 and rice & beans theatre, BOGOTÁ by Andrea Peña & Artists, and beyond
In full-length work, five dancers explore paradoxical themes through vigorous physicality
In DanceHouse presentation of Montreal-based choreographer’s latest ensemble work, simple moves create feelings of restriction
Company to host auditions in Vancouver, Toronto, New York, and Amsterdam for five ballet-based training programs
The local artist is appearing at Dance in Vancouver with his latest piece, which requires a new garment to be made for every performance
Following the company’s West Coast tour of Nutcracker this holiday season, aspiring artists are invited to pursue the prestigious training program
Ne.Sans Opera & Dance’s About Time acknowledges relentlessness of news cycle, while Livona Ellis and Rebecca Margolick’s Fortress examines femininity and matriarchs
A standing O for Frontier’s awe-inspiring visual magic and multiple, moving layers of meaning; plus, an erotically charged Heart Drive and an ever-shifting Cloud Poem
Performance at noon features exciting young artists from Arts Umbrella’s renowned training program
Famed Tchaikovsky ballet with added Canadian elements lands in Vancouver from December 13 to 15 and—for the first time—Surrey on November 23 and 24
Strength and vulnerability meet in new work inspired by the choreographer-dancers’ mothers and grandmothers
The 2025 prize is worth $10,000 to research, develop, or produce new work
On the DAWN program, the renowned choreographer reimagines a work whose black-hooded puppeteers embody the unknown
Performance at Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival sees artists break away from traditional gendered movements and costumes
The a cappella work by Joby Talbot is meant to be seen and heard
At The Cultch, Tentacle Tribe gets kaleidoscopically inventive; at the Playhouse, a masterful live band accompanies a show that roots out the soul of Argentina’s beloved art form
As part of the Canadian Arts Coalition’s national call to action, the Canadian Dance Assembly has launched an advocacy campaign
Through visceral synchronized rhythms, the full-length work challenges mandatory conformity and cohesion
Presented by plastic orchard factory, the solo is performed partly in the nude
Benefit at Scotiabank Dance Centre features the principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada
With projections and a live band, the show celebrates the inclusivity of Argentina’s essential dance form
Le Radeau production sees Yaffe cultivate an exchange between performer and audience with unguarded emotion and humour
Colour, light, reflection, and hip-hop-influenced moves as Montreal troupe’s kaleidoscopic new piece hits The Cultch
Aerial dance show created by Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes explores the space between holding onto—or letting go of—one another
Six emerging dance artists from Vancouver and Surrey share performances after months of movement and writing mentorship
Canada’s leading contemporary dance company presents a Pierre Pontvianne premiere, the return of a Dutch choreographic duo, and a large-scale Crystal Pite creation
The Biting School’s new dance work looks at struggle and letting go, with a surreal array of hazard tape, bread dough, mic cords, coffin tents, and more
The Dancers of Damelahamid’s most ambitious production to date explores the precious artistic legacy passed down by Elder Margaret Harris
At The Dance Centre, Anusha Fernando directs an expressive piece born from a year’s worth of nonhierarchical gatherings
When an inquisitive young woman wanders into a fantasy world of astounding acrobatics, she learns that humans have the power to shape the natural world