This short film by Norman McLaren is a cinematic study of the choreography of ballet. A bare, black set with the back-lit figures of dancers Margaret Mercier and Vincent Warren create a dream-like, hypnotic effect. This award-winning film comes complete with the visual effects one expects from this master filmmaker.

Fred Davis goes backstage at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

This short film by Norman McLaren is a slow-motion study of the pas de deux adagio, one of the most exacting dances of classical ballet. A ballet originally choreographed by the Russian ballet master Asaf Messerer is performed for this film by the internationally known Canadian pair David and Anna Marie Holmes, to the music of Albinoni's Adagio.

In this short film by Norman McLaren, dancers enact the Greek tragedy of Narcissus, the beautiful youth whose excessive self-love condemned him to a trapped existence. Skillfully merging film, dance and music, the film is a compendium of the techniques McLaren acquired over a lifetime of experimentation.

Filmed from the point of view of its young subjects, A Delicate Balance takes an introspective look at the lives of four aspiring ballet dancers who candidly tell their stories and share their hopes and dreams.

When Mavis Staines took the helm of Canada’s National Ballet School in 1989, the pedagogy of ballet was due for an evolution. Driven by a belief system that honoured tradition but challenged outdated practices, Staines set in motion a paradigm shift that has transformed ballet training in Canada and around the world.

This short film pays tribute to ballet dancer Anik Bissonnette as she takes the reins of the École supérieure de ballet du Québec. Having dazzled audiences for decades with her astounding talent, she now teaches the rigorous fundamentals and secrets of movement that underlie her art. Bissonnette's grace is reflected through the mirror of time. As we watch the steps and movements of the young dancers she has inspired, we realize that we are witnessing the most beautiful of dances—the transmission of knowledge.

This film was produced by the NFB in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2014 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.

This is a screen presentation of a Canadian ballet created for and identified with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company. The theme centres around the settlement of the Canadian West and concerns the fate of a young wife who comes to the prairies with her pioneer husband to begin a new life. Ingeniously designed stage sets suggest a covered wagon and a rude homesteader's dwelling.

From the Canada Carries On series, this is a look at Canada's first national Ballet Festival. Amateur companies from Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Hamilton and Vancouver perform at Toronto's Royal Alexander Theatre. An Ottawa company dances Les Sylphides. The Winnipeg Ballet appears in Visages by Walter Kaufman and the Volkoff Ballet of Toronto in Red Ear of Corn by John Weinzweig, both new Canadian works.

Ballet by the Lake: The Wilderness Ballet Camp in Ontario's Algonquin Park. Dancing on the Rockies: The Banff School of Fine Arts ballet class practises out of doors.