Celia Franca (1921-2007). British dancer, teacher, choreographer and founding director of National Ballet of Canada

Celia Franca was born as Celia Franks in London in 1921. She studied at the Royal Academy of Dance under Stanislas Idzikowski, and with Antony Tudor and Marie Rambert. She joined Ballet Rambert in 1937, but later joined Sadler’s Wells Ballet in 1941, creating the roles of Gertrude in Robert Helpmann’s Hamlet and the Prostitute in his Miracle in the Gorbals. In 1947 she became a dancer and ballet mistress with Metropolitan Ballet until that company closed in 1949. She began choreographing while with Sadler’s Wells Ballet, and when with Metropolitan Ballet she created the first two ballets for BBC television (Eve of St Agnes and Dance of Salomé).

In 1950, Franca was invited to Toronto to attend a festival and to start a new ballet company in Canada. This she did, gathering dancers and personnel, while supporting herself by working in a department store. National Ballet of Canada opened in 1951, where Franca was principal until 1959 and artistic director until 1974. Thereafter she continued to stage works for the company. With Betty Oliphant she co-founded the National Ballet School of Canada in 1959. In 1979 she became co-director of The School of Dance in Ottawa.

In 1967 Franca was made an Officer of the Order of Canada (becoming a Companion in 1985). In 1994 she received a Governor-General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement in the arts. She died in Ottawa in 2007.