A star moves on - News - Karen Kain guest teacher at National Ballet School of Canada

Dance Magazine, Feb, 2003 by Paula Citron

While international-class ballerinas are lionized in the dance community, few become household names. A major exception is Karen Kain, one of the most famous women in Canada. When the beloved former prima ballerina at Toronto's National Ballet of Canada left the company in 1998 after a glittering twenty-eight-year-long performing career, she was immediately restored to her home company by Artistic Director James Kudelka, first as artist in residence, then in an expanded role as artistic associate. Kain, 51, is now spreading her wings as a guest teacher at her alma mater, Canada's National Ballet School. Says the dancer: "At the company, I'm part of the executive management team, which means heavy involvement with programming discussions and fund-raising. My favorite part of the job, however, is rehearsing pieces or coaching dancers wherever they need me."

Kain, who leaves her job at the company three times a week to travel uptown to the school, was propelled by artistic urges. "I told James that teaching was something I needed to do for my own sense as an artist," she explains. "I want to spend time in a studio, and not just be a fund-raising paper pusher."

In fact, Mavis Staines, NBS artistic director, had been after Kain to guest teach the moment she retired. "I had watched her rehearse when she was a dancer," says Staines, "especially the way she worked with partners and helped other colleagues with roles. It was clear she could convey artistic concepts."

The long-standing friendship between Kudelka, Kain, and Staines (they danced at NBC together early in their careers) helped make the creation of Kain's flexible, dual timetable much easier. Kain began by teaching ballet class to senior girls, then segued to variations class, where she taught the Lilac Fairy from The Sleeping Beauty. Recently, she was coaching three young couples in the pas de deux from Petipa's La Fille real gardee (interestingly, a version she never performed). Kain's enormous stature was reflected in the star-struck faces of the ballerina wannabes transfixed in the studio doorway. More to the point, Kain's easy personal charm has translated into a warm mentorship with her dancers.

Kain is a hands-on coach, angling feet, arching backs, tilting heads. She is also a practical problem solver, suggesting exercises where needed. When the students had difficulty with high, open shoulders, she had them lie face down, raising their upper bodies and arms off the floor using just their side muscles. Kain is also a never-ending fund of advice. "Your body is ahead of your legs." "Forward will happen if you go up in six and not out." "Get the thought and then the action." "Be in position to help your partner." "Your supporting leg is bending." She also never lets the students forget about characterization, flow, or line. Her quiet manner radiates both knowledge and an eagerness to impart what she knows, and the students respond to her immediately.

"I'm curious about the science of dance," says Kain, "which, to me, means discovering not only what creates the freedom in technique that we so love to watch, but getting the results you want to see in a dancer through verbal communication. Ballet contains a rigorous aesthetic that demands a certain look, yet today's dancer must also be able to perform the twenty-first-century repertoire. I'm slowly crafting my theories to create this all-round dancer."