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Dance (21)

  1. Available in English Options
5 years old
18 years old
  • Attiuk
    Attiuk
    René Bonnière  &  Pierre Perrault 1963 29 min
    The people of Unamenshipu (La Romaine), an Innu community in the Cote-Nord region of Quebec, are seen but not heard in this richly detailed documentary about the rituals surrounding an Innu caribou hunt. Released in 1960, it’s one of 13 titles in Au Pays de Neufve-France, a series of poetic documentary shorts about life along the St-Lawrence River. Off-camera narration, written by Perrault, frames the Innu participants through an ethnographic lens. Co-directed by René Bonnière and Pierre Perrault, a founding figure of Quebec’s cinéma direct movement.

    Alexis Joveneau, a Catholic priest with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, worked in the Innu community of Unamenshipu (La Romaine) between 1960 and 1985, and appears in five NFB productions: Attiuk (1960), Ka Ke Ki Ku (1960), Le goût de la farine (1977), Le pays de la terre sans arbre ou le Mouchouânipi (1980) and La grande allure II (1985). Joveneau is seen in several scenes of Ka Ke Ki Ku, teaching Innu children and providing Innu-aimun/French translation.

    In November 2017, during Canada’s National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, a number of Innu women from Unamenshipu testified that they had been sexually and physically abused by Joveneau, who died in 1992. Many other women subsequently came forward with similar allegations, and on March 29, 2018, a request for a class action was filed in Quebec Superior Court on behalf of the women against the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The class action was authorized on November 16, 2021. The Oblates named in the suit include Alexis Joveneau, Omer Provencher, Edmond Brouillard, Raynald Couture and Édouard Meilleur.”
  • Ballet Adagio
    Ballet Adagio
    Norman McLaren 1972 9 min
    Éblouissante démonstration de la technique de l'adagio du pas de deux. Ce court métrage expérimental tourné au ralenti souligne la maîtrise des danseurs, la précision de leurs gestes, l'équilibre de chaque pirouette, arabesque ou jeté. Document de travail unique pour les élèves des cours de danse classique, ce film révélera aux autres spectateurs une dimension inconnue du ballet. L'Adagio d'Albinoni forme la trame sonore sur laquelle évoluent David et Anna Marie Holmes, danseurs canadiens de réputation internationale.
  • Brian Macdonald, Virtuoso Eclectic
    Brian Macdonald, Virtuoso Eclectic
    Tim Southam 2008 5 min
    Framed against archival stills from Brian Macdonald's considerable career, this short film is a testimony to the eclecticism and brilliance of Macdonald's creative vision. As a dancer, director, choreographer and teacher, Macdonald has worked with The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and The National Ballet of Canada, helping to shape the careers of many of the country's most celebrated dancers.
  • Ballet Festival
    Ballet Festival
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Roger Blais 1949 11 min
    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.
  • Cactus Swing
    Cactus Swing
    Beth Portman  &  Susan Crandall 1995 5 min
    Based on a song by the Great Western Orchestra, this animated short traces the adventures of Pete, the North West Mounted Police officer who is awakened in the badlands by a varmint band and witnesses a cactus line dance.
  • Canon
    Canon
    Norman McLaren  &  Grant Munro 1964 9 min
    Norman McLaren and Grant Munro use three different animation techniques to provide visual representations of canons in a film designed to teach viewers about this ancient musical form. The soundtrack combines both recorded classical music and sounds produced by a synthesizer.
  • A Delicate Balance
    A Delicate Balance
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Christine Chevarie-Lessard 2018 1 h 15 min
    Filmed from the point of view of its young subjects, A Delicate Balance takes an introspective look at the lives of four dancers on the cusp of adolescence—that critical time in one’s life when childhood fantasies begin to collide with the realities of being an adult. A tender and captivating documentary in which students of the École supérieure de ballet du Québec candidly tell their stories and share their hopes and dreams.
  • Dancing Holidays
    Dancing Holidays
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    1959 7 min
    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.
  • Ernie's Idea
    Ernie's Idea
    Claire Maxwell  &  Peter Vogler 1996 12 min
    This short animation tells the story of Ernie, a simple fellow who loves his job. One day, the blissful routine of Ernie's life is thrown into chaos when a pesky and persistent idea suddenly decides to follow him around, demanding attention in the most disruptive ways. Suddenly Ernie's job is in jeopardy. What do you do with an idea, when you've never had one before? How can you tell if it's worth contemplating or just plain trouble?
  • Flamenco at 5:15
    Flamenco at 5:15
    Cynthia Scott 1983 29 min
    This short film is an impressionistic record of a flamenco dance class given to senior students of the National Ballet School of Canada by two great teachers from Spain, Susana and Antonio Robledo. The film shows the beautiful young North American dancers—inspired by the flamenco rhythms and mesmerized by Susana's extraordinary energy—joyously merging with an ancient gypsy culture.
  • Hen Hop
    Hen Hop
    Norman McLaren 1942 3 min
    This joyful short animation features a dancing hen that transforms into an egg. The film was made without a camera by Norman McLaren, who drew directly onto 35 mm movie stock with ordinary pen and ink. Colour was added optically.
  • La Bastringue Madame Bolduc
    La Bastringue Madame Bolduc
    George Geertsen 1992 4 min
    This animated short provides an illustrated version of Madame Bolduc's popular French song, La Bastringue. Although virtually unknown in English Canada, Bolduc is a well-known folk singer among French Canadians in Quebec and New England, circa the 1930s. This was one of her most famous songs.
  • Louise Lecavalier: Body Speech
    Louise Lecavalier: Body Speech
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Philippe Baylaucq 2014 7 min
    This short film profiles contemporary dancer Louise Lecavalier as she performs in her studio. With searching steps, she crosses a space defined by her past. Her movements are framed by the aura of her acclaimed performances, each one a testament to a facet of her immense talent. The language of her body expresses the journey of a fiercely independent artist who is always moving forward and who has remained in perpetual motion for 30 years.

    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.
  • Lock
    Lock
    Louise Archambault 2010 5 min
    Choreographer Edouard Lock believes that movement embodies our interests and desires. In this short documentary, we see the celebrated founder of La La La Human Steps working with dancers in his studio space. The film uses unusual camera angles and slow-motion cinematography to capture the artistry of Lock’s signature high-energy, high-impact style.
  • ORA
    ORA
    Philippe Baylaucq 2011 15 min
    ORA is a stunning meeting between the artistic worlds of choreographer José Navas and filmmaker Philippe Baylaucq. It is the first film to use 3D thermal imaging, producing visuals like none that have ever been seen before: the luminous variations of body heat seen on skin, bodies emitting a multitude of colours, a space filled with movement that transforms itself.

    Warning: Although this film was shot in 3D, the streaming and downloadable versions are available in 2D only.
  • Pas de deux
    Pas de deux
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Norman McLaren 1968 13 min
    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.
  • Peggy Baker: Four Phrases
    Peggy Baker: Four Phrases
    Howie Shia 2009 5 min
    Built around an intimate interview with the acclaimed Canadian dancer and choreographer, Peggy Baker Four Phrases is an artful animation and documentary hybrid that travels through a variety of techniques to celebrate Baker's work and legacy. This film was produced for the 2009 Governor General's Performing Arts Award.
  • Source
    Source
    Pepita Ferrari 2011 6 min
    In this short film, Margie Gillis becomes the very embodiment of modern dance - she steps into the light, lifts her arms and unleashes her extraordinary mane into the air.

    Four decades into a remarkable career, Gillis is a beacon of compassion and creativity. Watch as high-speed cameras capture the delicate and savage joy of Canada's own Isadora Duncan.
  • Shadow on the Prairie (A Canadian Ballet)
    Shadow on the Prairie (A Canadian Ballet)
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Roger Blais 1953 14 min
    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.
  • Winnipeg Ballet
    Winnipeg Ballet
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    1953 15 min
    Fred Davis goes backstage at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
  • Winter Carnival
    Winter Carnival
    Jean Palardy 1957 12 min
    This colourful archival record of Québec City’s Winter Carnival shows that many popular events of today—pageants, parades, boat races, folk dancing, fireworks and torchlight skiing—were also favourites 50 years ago.