This panel examines the careers of three Canadian women who contributed
to dance in Toronto. Their careers followed different paths, but each explored
new areas of dance. As a child Evelyn Geary appeared in stage shows at
local movie theatres, then toured with Captain Plunkett. After a stint
at the Roxy Theatre, she returned to Toronto to join the Uptown Theatre
as a featured dancer and choreographer. Soon after, Boris Volkoff joined
the Uptown, but with the theatre’s close in 1929, they ran a dance studio
until Geary resumed her dancing career in the United States. Gladys Forrester
moved to England with her army husband during the war, where she trained,
and performed in The Red Shoes. Returning to Canada, she joined Volkoff’s
Company and taught at Toronto’s Canadian School of Ballet in 1952. That
same year Forrester was invited to choreograph for the first CBC Television
broadcast. She worked in television until local TV shows were replaced
by large-scale American productions, then returned to full-time teaching.
Lilian Jarvis studied ballet with Volkoff before joining the National Ballet
of Canada as a charter member in 1951. Rising to principal dancer, she
performed lead roles in many ballets, before moving to New York, in 1963,
to study modern dance with Martha Graham. Returning to Toronto Jarvis taught
modern dance for various dance studios and developed her own innovative
training method called BioSomatics.
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