Bio

A former dancer with the National Ballet of Canada (corps de ballet 1985-1992) and flamenco teacher for Esmeralda Enrique’s Academy of Spanish Dance, Anthea’s aspiration is to foster the classical and UNESCO dance heritages with respect for holistic, sustainable, inclusive, and diplomatic cultural practices in multicultural Canada. At the National, she performed with such luminaries as Kain, Nureyev, Makarova, Baryshnikov, Fracci and Ferri. Raised in Rio de Janeiro, she studied Brasilian and Iberian traditions. She trained classically with Irine Fokine (Mikhail Fokine’s niece and Anna Pavlova’s goddaughter. Her mother trained Alicia Alonso) and with Luba Gulyaeva (former Kirov soloist and student of Vaganova’s assistant, Baltacheyeva, the same teacher of the National’s ballet mistress, Romania’s prima ballerina assoluta Magadalena Popa). Sharing the fluidity of the Vaganova and Russian style, Anthea hopes to inspire authentic expression, technical clarity and the beauty of classicism. Anthea completed a Master’s in Classics at Queen’s University with McLaughlin/Bracken and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Fellowships. While working on publications of her research on ancient dance imagery at a UNESCO heritage site in Tuscany, Italy, and on models for cultural diplomacy through Berlin’s Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, an affiliate of the UNESCO International Bureau of Education, she was invited to speak at Canada’s first symposium for Cultural Diplomacy. An Early Childhood Education diploma and work in the field enhanced her knowledge of child development and learning environments. She was invited to Vaganova Academy by courtesy of former Kirov soloist Yaroslav Fedeyev, and to National Ballet of Cuba, respecting Fokine’s legacy. Through Open World Dance Foundation's Vaganova teacher training, Anthea studied under Irina Kolpakova, Ekaterina Shchelkanova and Anton Boytsov. These experiences impressed upon her the merit of sharing non-verbal languages, including dance, with children, because these languages can help people find shared truth and humanity.

Testimonial 

The workshops were excellent, insightful and made the learning enjoyable. The material was presented in a thoughtful, concise, comprehensive, sensitive and logical manner. This makes the concepts easily and quickly accessible for use in classes and in assisting individual students. The courses provided great resources for a dance teacher and for an Early Childhood Educator working with young to school-age children. It was a privilege to have the opportunity to participate.