Evelyn Hart Tours One-Woman Show

International Prima Ballerina's Astonishing 30-Year Career

Mar 10, 2009

The New York Times dubbed Evelyn Hart a Ballet Heroine. Now this world-renowned ballerina has created an intimate evening of her life - The Hart of Art.

Evelyn Hart has a Governor General's Award for Performing Arts, is a Companion to The Order of Canada, and has a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame. She is lauded worldwide for deeply passionate interpretations of both classical and contemporary roles in the world of dance. Now she wants to share the passion of her work, from tiara to tutu.

Evelyn Hart: “It wasn’t a long time to put it together. It‘s the fact that it’s been a long time coming together. It’s more an intimate evening. Basically, I speak for about an hour, and I have slides and a PowerPoint presentation, but I basically talk about my life, where I came from, and my career, and certain anecdotes. It’s also a Q and A, and I take along some of my costumes and metals and headpieces and tiaras and tutus."

Suite 101: The New York Times called you Canada’s Ballet Heroine. Where does the passion come from?

Evelyn Hart: “Who knows? It felt like a thunderbolt when I first discovered ballet. I was 10 and I saw (ballerina) Veronica Tennant on television. I had never really seen ballet before and I had always been interested in acting, because my parents had taken me Stratford, and we always put plays on in the back yard. I was directing and starring, so the passion for ballet came right out of the blue. It was literally one day to the next, and I saw it and thought,that’s it.

“I was studying music, and I loved music and practising it. My father was a musician and I listened to music all the time, not radio music, but classical music, and everything seemed to fit together.

“I had no idea how to become a dancer and I remember thinking well, I guess you have to go to university and take "Ballerina 101". So my mother, just on the fly, took me out of school to see a demonstration by The National Ballet School. I actually saw kids my age dancing, because up until that point, I hadn’t actually seen a ballerina except on TV.

"That’s when it all started. I realized this the other day. I am still working with young students, and doing a little bit of coaching with some of the professionals. I don’t know where the passion comes from. I just am so interested in it. I have been working on a little dance piece and chroreography with one of the dancers. When I woke up the next morning, and I was on the streetcar, I realized that I was thinking about this particular little section of that solo the entire night without really realizing it. It just is in me.”

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