TORONTO, April 21, 2017 /CNW/ - Canada's National Ballet School (NBS) will host the third Assemblée Internationale (AI 17) festival in Toronto from April 30th to May 6th, 2017, welcoming students and artistic staff from twenty-one professional ballet schools around the world.  AI 17 participants will take part in an intensive week of classes, performances, forums and professional development activities providing a rich educational experience and further building relationships within the international dance community.

The 2017 event will build on the success of previous Assemblée Internationale festivals, held in 2009 and 2013. Estée Lauder is the Principle Performance Partner for all four performances.

Students from this year's participating schools will perform both a piece of existing repertoire, representative of their school's culture, as well as choreography created by NBS alumni, which will be performed by a blended cast of students from each of the partner schools. Shaun Amyot, AI 17 Co-Artistic Director and Choreographer, has collaborated with Don Sinclair and Doug Van Nort, professors in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design at York University, on using sensor technology in his work, titled Origin8. With the support of Thalmic Labs' Myo armbands, Amyot's choreography will be performed by a blended cast of AI 17 students.

"Canada's National Ballet School is thrilled to once again be welcoming students and artistic staff from the international ballet community for the Assemblée Internationale 2017," said Mavis Staines, NBS' Artistic Director and CEO.  "The AI philosophy reflects the best of Canadian values: to initiate and facilitate creative collaboration with an open mind and open heart. Hosting this festival is an ideal way to celebrate Canada's sesquicentennial.'"    

The full list of schools participating in the AI 17 is as follows:

The Ailey School (New York)                                         
The Australian Ballet School (Melbourne)
Ballet Academy, University of Music and Performing Arts, Munich (Munich)
Boston Ballet School (Boston)                          
Canada's National Ballet School (Toronto)                     
Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet School (Winnipeg)
Codarts (Rotterdam)                                                                                         
Dutch National Ballet Academy (Amsterdam)
École de Danse de l'Opéra de Paris (Paris)
École Supérieure de Danse de Cannes-Mougins Rosella Hightower (Cannes)                              
Escuela Nacional de Ballet de Cuba (Havana)
L'École supérieure de ballet du Québec (Montréal)         
EESA/CPD de l'Institut del Teatre (Barcelona)
Houston Ballet School (Houston)
Palucca School (Dresden)
New Zealand School of Dance (Wellington)                               
The School of The Hamburg Ballet, John Neumeier (Hamburg)
The Royal Conservatoire (The Hague)
The Royal Ballet School (London)         
The Royal Danish Ballet School (Copenhagen)
San Francisco Ballet School (San Francisco)                       

For more information about the Assemblée Internationale or Canada's National Ballet School, please visit: http://www.nbs-enb.ca/Assemblee-Internationale

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About Canada's National Ballet School

NBS is the foremost dance training institution in Canada, with a rich, 58 year history and an international reputation. NBS' distinctive pedagogy for its Professional Ballet Program integrates elements from the best in classical ballet training methods, contemporary dance and the latest in advances in science and movement. NBS alumni work in 80 companies in Canada and abroad, frequently taking leadership roles as choreographers and artistic directors.

SOURCE Canada's National Ballet School

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