Veronica Tennant

She gave her last performance dancing Juliet again in the same ballet in February 1989. Her official farewell gala in November 1989 includes dance excerpts from Giselle, Washington Square, Canciones, Masada, Onegin as well as a final pas de deux that she never performed before from Cranko's The Taming of the Shrew. James Neufeld wrote in his book Passion to Dance. The National Ballet of Canada "Veronica Tennant has built a major career and impressive artistic reputation almost entirely within the National Ballet of Canada. One of the company's best-loved ballerinas, she was also a figure of national prominence on the Canadian cultural scene, an eloquent spokesperson for the importance of cultural values in the life of the nation". During her career from 1964 to 1989, she performed in many ballets by legendary choreographers; Sir Frederick Ashton, Roland Petit, Jiri Kylian, John Neumeier, and championed Canadian choreographers such as James Kudelka, Ann Ditchburn and Constantin Patsalas. Among her performances she appeared in Giselle, La Sylphide, Napoli, The Sleeping Beauty, La Fille mal gardée, Onegin, The Dream, A Party, Washington Square, Hedda, Mad Shadows, Parranda Criolla, Kraanerg, The Newcomers, Whispers of Darkness and Realm in which she mostly interprets the leading roles. She wrote two children books: the first, On stage, Please: A Story illustrated by Rita Briansky (published in 1977) and the second, The Nutcracker illustrated by the former figure skater Toller Cranston (published in 1985) based on the story of E.T.A. As a producer, director and filmmaker, her films and documentaries related to dance were broadcast on channels like CBC, CTV and Bravo. Among them Salute to Dancers for Life/Danser pour la Vie (1994–95), Margie Gillis: Wild Hearts in Strange Times (1996); Karen Kain: Dancing in the Moment (1998); Northern Light - Visions and Dreams (2003); a pairing of SwanS (2004) and Celia Franca: Tour de Force (2006). Several of her productions have been awarded with Gemini Awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Tennant is often invited as guest speaker, host and narrator as well as an actor. She performed in the leading role of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town at the Shaw Festival in 1992, and in the title role in The Piano Man's Daughter with Timothy Findley, Sylvia Tyson and Joe Sealy in a 22 performance national tour under the direction of Paul Thompson in 1997. Tennant is also involved in her community contributing on various artistic boards (Toronto Arts Awards Foundation, Glenn Gould Foundation, Dancer Transition Resource Centre) and charitable events. She has been honorary chair of UNICEF since 1992. In 2015, she conceived and directed NIÁGARA: A Pan-American Story, a multidisciplinary project for the 2015 Pan American Games.

Veronica Tennant studied at Canada National Ballet School and The Royal Conservatory of Music. Distinctions recorded are Companion of the Order of Canada, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Canada's Walk of Fame and Governor General's Performing Arts Award.

• Name — Veronica Tennant • Born — 15 January 1946 • Birthplace — London, England, UK • Occupation — Former principal ballet dancer; filmmaker; producer; director • Awards — Order of Canada Governor General's Performing Arts Award Canada's Walk of Fame