Direction

Susan Alexander, General Director

Born in New Brunswick, Susan Alexander studied arts and commerce at Concordia University in Montreal. Dance was always a passion, and she studied ballet with such notable teachers as Sheila Ross and Rudolf Kharatian. Since founding the Ballet Divertimento School in 1991, she has devoted herself entirely to guiding its development, including the development of projects such as the Dance-Study program. Her mission is to increase the range of courses and training available to aspiring dancers and to provide them with a fertile environment in which to germinate their talent. In 2002 Ms. Alexander co-founded with Alexandra Wells of the Julliard School the critically acclaimed Springboard Montréal Danse project (link) held each summer at the School.

Christine Cyr, Artistic and educational director

Lily Barette, Administrative director

With a background in the world of international folk dance, Lily Barrette has worked for over 18 years in coordination and management in the dance education field. For more than 12 years she served as assistant director of teaching at the Les Farandoles dance school in Chicoutimi. Over the years she has developed great expertise in organization, planning and supervision, and with all the logistics involved the smooth functioning of a dance institution. Lily Barrette joined the Ballet Divertimento team in 2007.

Alex Ursuliak, Artistic Consultant

Canadian-born Alex Ursuliak began his dance career after graduating from the Pedagogical Institute Theatre of Kiev in Ukraine. He worked for the National Ballet of Canada and the Stuttgart Ballet as both dancer and ballet master, and was director of the Ballet School of the Vienna State Opera and the John Cranko School in Stuttgart. He was also a visiting professor at some of the biggest companies in this and many other countries. A prolific choreographer, Alex Ursuliak has created and staged important works worldwide and coached many leading contemporary artists: Natalya Makarova, Martine Van Hamel, Veronica Tennant, Rudolf Nureyev and Erik Bruhn.

Owen Montague, Senior teacher

In addition to the National Ballet of Canada, Owen Montague had an international career as principal dancer with such prestigious companies as Netherlands Dance Theatre, Aterballeto, Ballet BC and Alberta Ballet. He has received many awards including two bronze medals at the first International Ballet competition in Jackson Mississippi, USA and a silver medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow, USSR. Owen Montague also received a bursary from the Canada Arts Council and the Peter Dwyer Scholarship. For the last 15 years, Owen has worked as an independent artist and has explored his interest in choreography, photography and costume design for motion and artistic production. He returns to Canada after 6 years as an associate professor of the department of dance and music, at the Kobe Jogakuin College of Japan.