For the first time in nearly three decades — and after a nine-month international search — the Royal Winnipeg Ballet has a new artistic director.
The board of directors on Friday named Christopher Stowell to the role, which he will take over from André Lewis in June.
“I am so honoured and delighted to be taking on this role and to be filling the very big shoes of André and look forward to having him as a partner over the next couple of months so the transition is smooth,” Stowell said at a news conference.
“It’s a dream come true. This is a Canadian gem of an organization, and I feel deeply, deeply honoured to be taking on this role.”
Stowell, currently the associate artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto, and his husband, also named Chris, will move to Winnipeg. Stowell said they are excited to become part of the community.
“We feel already very welcome in this community. It’s particularly inviting here, because I can tell from the pride this city has in its cultural offering that there is a lot to experience,” Stowell said.
“We were also very happy when we were here in December to see that Winnipeg is a place where equity, diversity and inclusion are not just words but really life values.
“These are life values that are very important to Chris and I, so we embrace all of that and want to be a part of that.”
Though he is still becoming familiar with Winnipeg, Stowell knows the RWB well.
Stowell was literally born into the ballet world, to parents Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, founding artistic directors of Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle.
Russell has visited Winnipeg to meet then-artistic director Arnold Spohr, while the RWB often toured through Seattle, where Stowell was a ballet student.
“All of us students were really eager to see this company. They were always just unexpected in a really exciting way. There was a distinction about them, a vibrancy,” he said.
He thinks of that often and wants to ensure that vibrancy “goes long into the future.”
In addition to being a former dancer, Stowell has been a teacher, choreographer and artistic director in many places, including San Francisco, New York, Japan, China and across Europe.
He spent the past six years as associate artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada and worked closely with former artistic director Karen Kain.
“I feel like this art form still has a lot to say and in particular, I feel the RWB can be a leader in exploration and change and expansion and bringing this art form to more people in more accessible and a greater variety of ways,” Stowell said.
RWB board chair John Osler said they reviewed applications and held interviews with candidates from Canada, the U.S., Australia, England and Europe.
“The RWB’s reputation worldwide attracted some of the best and brightest, and we’re thankful for the opportunity to select from such a large pool of talented individuals,” he said.
The organization is worthy of a search of that nature, Lewis said.
“And when I found out they had selected Christopher Stowell, I knew the organization would be in capable, talented and innovative hands,” he said.
“I can leave knowing that Stowell acknowledges our deep history and commitment to bringing the joy of dance to our communities and inspiring innovation for future generations of patrons and dancers.”
Founded in 1939, the RWB is Canada’s oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America.
Lewis’s career with the organization has spanned 50 years, beginning when he was accepted into the school in 1975 at age 19.
He became associate artistic director in 1989, after he retired from dancing. Seven years later, he took on the position of artistic director, and in 2018 was also appointed chief executive officer.
“It has been my honour to be part of the organization,” Lewis said at Friday’s event.
He announced in February 2023 that he would be stepping down and after he suggested the dual role of director and CEO be separated, the RWB hired Elena Tupyseva in November 2023 as the new executive.
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