Dance Community:Training, Education and Performance

Excerpted from earthdancers: Dance, Community and EnvironmentMasters of Arts thesis by Julie-Anne Huggins

York University, April 2005

FOR EDUCTIONAL USE ONLY

Generation1st

When José Torres of the Ballet de

Paris performed in Sudbury in 1950, a

professional dance show was about as rare

as a meteorite collision.14 Up until the early

1930s, local stages were as barren as the

landscape, and aside from the ethnic folk

dances of the growing cultural communities

(English, Irish, French, Italian, German, Finnish,

Polish, Ukrainian, etc.), there was little to no

development of formalized dance training

or performance. The social atmosphere

was still struggling for a sense of class and

culture, and with the beginnings of social

and classical dance training, the mining

community was refining more than their

ore. Though circuses and minstrel shows

had provided some entertainment and

inspiration, so had the desire to sweep a lady

off her feet on the dance floor.

The first record of a Sudbury dance studio

stems back to 1931, when Ellen Crouse opened the

Crouse Dance Studio and began teaching ballroom,

ballet, pointe, tap, and acrobatics.15 Whether from

her home in the town of Copper Cliff or a studio

space in Sudbury, Crouse’s instruction and that

of her successors carried on the Crouse name

for nearly thirty years.16 Around 1936, classes in

acrobatics, ballroom, ballet, tap, and dramatic art

were also offered at The Arthur School of Dancing.17

First Generation

14 Sudbury Star announcing the upcoming performance of José Torres with the Ballet de

Paris, which took place March 23, 1950.

Though the Arthur’s school closed around 1945, Helen and Jack Hymander stepped

into the spotlight, and by 1949, the Hymander Dance Studio was teaching ballroom,

acrobatics, ballet, pointe, baton and tap.18 Out in the nearby town of Coniston,

Helen Hayden began instructing classes in tap, folk, baton, square dancing, tumbling,

majorette drills, and physical fitness. The Coniston Physical Training program and

its later affiliate group in New Sudbury do not appear to continue beyond their ten-

year mark however.19 In the wake of these original schools, a heightened interest in

dance had developed, creating demand for more qualified and experienced teachers.

Cresting the 1950s, a new wave of schools was about to flood the area.

15 An October ad placement in The Sudbury Star.

Endnotes14 “In Sudbury Recital Next Week,” The Sudbury Daily Star 15 March 1950: 6.15 Wallace,

190-214.15 “Mrs. R. C. Crouse School of Dance,” The Sudbury Star 10 October 1931: 12.16 Bell Canada: The Regional Municipality of Sudbury and Vicinity Directory (n.p.: n.p., 1932-

1961). Vernon’s City of Sudbury and Town of Copper Cliff Directory, 1936 (Hamilton:

Vernon Directories Ltd, 1932-1961).17 Vernon directory, 1936.18 Sudbury Bell and Vernon directories, 1945-1949.19 “Coniston Gym Class Presents Display,” Mine Mill News 30 May 1957: 5.