Frank Augustyn

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Frank Joseph Augustyn (born January 27, 1953 in Hamilton , Ontario ) is a Canadian ballet dancer .

Career

Augustyn was born the son of a steel worker and grew up in the east end of the city. At the age of seven he turned to gymnastics training. A performance by the National Ballet at the Palace Theater in Hamilton sparked his passion for ballet. He studied at the renowned National Ballet School of Canada in Toronto and in 1970 he joined the ensemble of the National Ballet of Canada . He quickly grew into the role of a solo dancer and was the first solo dancer in the ballet from 1972 to 1989.

Together with his long-time partner Karen Kain , he became an internationally celebrated star. In 1973 he won the prize for the best pas de deux at the 2nd International Ballet Competition in Moscow and later appeared there in a production by Giselle in the Bolshoi Theater . Her choreographies for Giselle , La Fille mal gardée and Sleeping Beauty were filmed by the Canadian director Norman Campbell .

From 1980 Augustyn was principal dancer at the Ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin , but returned to the National Ballet in 1981 and was also a guest dancer at the Boston Ballet from 1985 to 1986 .

In 1986 Augustyn launched the annual Gala des Ètoiles in Montréal , a charity event for the benefit of the city's children's hospitals, with dancers of international standing and held in several cities around the world.

In 1989 he took over the artistic direction of the Theater Ballet of Canada , today's Ottawa Ballet . During this time he expanded the ensemble's repertoire to include works by José Limon and Flemming Flindt as well as commissioned works by Edward Hillyer , Serge Bennathan , Michael Downing and others. He produced an adaptation of Steadfast Tin Soldier for Canadian television CBC , for which he received a Gemini Award in 1993. In 1994 he gave up his post and was henceforth a guest dancer, lecturer and consultant at a number of North American ballet schools, such as the Quinte School of Ballet, Unionville School of the Arts, Ryerson Polytechnic University, York University, the Earl Haig School of the Arts, the Boston School of Ballet, and the National Ballet School of Canada.

Between 1995 and 1997 he produced and presented for the station Bravo! Television Network series Footnotes: The Classics of Ballet , a series of 20 half-hour documentary on the history of ballet.

Since autumn 2000 he has been head of the dance department at Adelphi University in Garden City (New York).

Awards

literature

  • Frank Augustyn: Dancing from the heart: a memoir . McClelland & Stewart, Toronto 2000, ISBN 0-7710-0875-9 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Augustyn, Frank
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Augustyn, Frank Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ballet dancer
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamilton , Ontario