Solomon Tencer, with his wife, Nadia Veselova
Tencer, established the Academy of Ballet and Jazz in Toronto's
suburban Thornhill in 1989. It soon became the center for
ballet training in the tradition of Veselova's school, the
Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, where she was a
pupil of the great ballerina, Alla Osipenko. Kirov and Vaganova
collegues and other international artists visiting Toronto
were welcomed to take class and rehearse.
"Examples of fine dancing were important
for our students to see," says Tencer. With big company
tours at a minimum, Tencer's solution was to become an impresario.
"First," he explains, "we produced a tribute
to Osipenko (1993) with members of the National Ballet of
Canada, Paris Opera Ballet, La Scala, Kirov, Bolshoi and other
companies as guest stars. Before the curtain came down, Nadia
and I were bitten by the gala bug."
The Osipenko tribute was followed by a tribute
to Rudolf Nureyev (1995) with the help of Oleg Vinogradov
(then director of the Kirov Ballet) and invited stars from
the Royal Ballet, Royal Danish ballet, National Ballet of
Canada, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and
the Kirov Ballet. It took two years to organize, but it opened
at the O'Keefe Centre in Toronto, it had the blessings of
the Prime Minister, former Premier of Ontario, the British
High Comminssioner, the Governor General and sponsorship from
Moscow's Yalosbank.
Since then, the annual galas, "Stars
of the 21st Century," have been presented in Toronto,
Paris, New York and Cannes to unanimous acclaim.
