Calgary City Ballet was founded in 1982 with the goal of developing a professional ballet company based in Calgary that would represent the city nationally and internationally, and to establish a fully integrated dance school for amateur and professional dancers.
Calgary City Ballet began with five professional dancers under its first artistic director, Hungarian-born Laszlo Tamasik. Tamasik was previously a member of the Budapest Ballet Company and Les Grandes Ballet Canadiennes before becoming ballet master for Les Ballets Jazz du Montréal. He then assisted in establishing the National Ballet Company of Portugal, served there as ballet master and choreographer, then returned to Les Ballets Jazz du Montréal in 1978 as that company’s artistic director.
Tamasik’s tenure saw the initiation of the Canadian National (CN) Restoration Project in 1984. That year, the Calgary City Ballet Society purchased the St. Mary’s Parish/CN Railway Station building in order to restore the historically-designated building and rehabilitate the site for rehearsal and office space. The result was the Nat Christie Centre, which became the main studio and office for Calgary City Ballet and ultimately, Alberta Ballet.
Tamasik was followed in 1986 by Turkish-born dancer and choreographer Umran Sumen, who began her career with the National Ballet Company of Turkey in the 1960s before further study at the Royal Ballet School of London and the Ballet of the Vienna State Opera.
Sumen held the position until 1988, when the company’s third and last artistic director, Jean Leger, was appointed. Leger served as artistic director until 1990, when Calgary City Ballet merged with Alberta Ballet and ceased to exist as an independent organization. Leger, along with several Calgary City Ballet dancers, was not brought into the amalgamated organization.
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