Ballet on Bank Street

After the excitement of opening Centrepointe Theatre, my marketing job for Nepean’s Parks and Recreation department seemed to devolve to simply promoting kids gym programs and art classes. Certainly a noble enough calling, but I was looking for a new thrill. Right on cue, the ballet company with whom we were co-producing a dance series announced that their Director of Communications had quit. "Hmmmm," thought I: "is this what I’ve been looking for?"

The next day, I was sitting in a tiny office upstairs from the old CHEZ studios in the Byward Market, chatting with a leotard-clad Frank Augustyn about what he was trying to do with Ottawa Ballet. “I want to bring a new audience to dance” he said – and I could tell by the fire in his (exquisitely lovely) eyes that he meant it! I had found a new home. Leaving behind my city pension, I took a cut in pay and dove into the arts full time.

A new home for the company was one of our first challenges. Working with our corporate sponsor Standard Life Assurance, we put together a deal which saw us moving into a brand new, street-level studio at 142 Bank Street. Based on a model Frank had seen in a shopping mall in Florida, the concept was to bring classical ballet out of the shadows and plunk it down on one of the busiest streets in Ottawa. We worked with local merchants to promote “Ballet on Bank” at various sidewalk sales and other events, and opened up our rehearsal space to other community dance groups.

In time, Ottawa Ballet was to become another victim of the recession, and the spot where our studios once stood is now, literally, a parking lot… but nothing can take away my memory of the day that Ballet came to Bank Street.