THE SCOOP | Toronto choreographer Alyssa Martin named artistic director of Creative Action at the National Ballet
Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski, Artistic Directors of the National Ballet of Canada, announced the appointment of Alyssa Martin as Artistic Director of Creative Action, effective August 14.
“Alyssa is a versatile, innovative creator, an exceptionally talented choreographer and generous mentor who is deeply connected to Toronto’s dance community. I am thrilled that Alyssa will bring her creative energy and community-building skills to this new role to grow our successful Creative Action program,” Muir said in a statement.
Creative action
Launched in 2019, the Creative Action program focuses on three main themes: Open Space, Micro-Commissions and the Choreography Workshop. Through these core activities, Martin will oversee the development of Canadian choreography talent while sharing the NBC’s resources with that country’s larger dance community.
The role was created by Artistic Directors Emeritus Karen Kain and Robert Binet.
- Open space provides independent choreographers with more than 2,000 hours of free studio space at the Walter Carsen Centre each season.
- The Choreographic workshop offers independent choreographers the opportunity to develop their works with NBC’s artists, music and production team.
- Microprovisions are innovative small-scale works and the National Ballet will commission three of them each season.
Alyssa Martin
Choreographer Alyssa Martin recently created her first dance work for the National Ballet of Canada: the highly acclaimed “Desperate Drama of Red.”
Alyssa Martin is a Toronto-based dance artist and teacher whose work has been performed across North America. She founded Rock Bottom Movement, a company dedicated to absurd dance, in 2012 after earning her BFA Honours in Dance from the Toronto Metropolitan University Theatre School and subsequently training in Montreal, New York and Berlin.
She is an advocate for new dance works and prior to this appointment worked as an artist development program associate at the National Ballet of Canada under the mentorship of Robert Binet.
Alyssa has worked in television, theatre, musical theatre and dance, including four seasons at the Stratford Festival.
Martin takes on the role of Artistic Producer of Creative Action following the departure of Robert Binet, who has taken on the role of Artistic Director of Fall for Dance North.
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Anya Wassenberg is Toronto city editor at Ludwig Van. She is an experienced freelance writer, blogger, and writing teacher.
