Karen Kain, C.C., O.Ont., inspired dancers and audiences for over three decades as a ballerina of the National Ballet of Canada. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Karen received her training at Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto, joining the corps de ballet of the National Ballet of Canada in 1969. She was quickly promoted to Principal Dancer in 1971 with the company after her sensational debut as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake. In 1973, Karen was awarded the Silver Medal in the Women’s Category at the prestigious International Ballet Competition in Moscow and, along with Frank Augustyn, received a special prize for Best Pas de Deux. She has performed internationally with such companies as Paris Opéra Ballet, Roland Petit’s Le Ballet de Marseilles, the Bolshoi Ballet, London Festival Ballet, The Hamburg Ballet and Vienna State Opera Ballet. Karen retired from dancing following a farewell tour in 1997 and took up the position of Artist-in-Residence with the National Ballet. In 2005, she was named Artistic Director. Among her many awards, she is a Companion of the Order of Canada, the first Canadian recipient of the Cartier Lifetime Achievement Award and was named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Government of France. In 1997, Karen was honoured with a Governor General’s National Arts Centre Award and received a Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in 2002.

Photographer Liliana Reyes, courtesy of Dance Collection Danse