Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

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Boris Volkoff 1900-1974

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted March, 2013

Photo Source - The Dance Current

This 2009 Heritage Toronto plaque can be found on the wall of a building on the east side of Yonge Street north of Bloor Street across from Cumberland Street. Here's what it tells us:

Coordinates: 43.67115 -79.38708

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Boris Volkoff came to Toronto in 1929 as an outstanding ballet dancer trained in a technical and expressive style associated with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Volkoff began choreographing shows for the Toronto Skating Club in 1934, and eventually built an international reputation for his ballets on ice. He would also earn the title "the father of Canadian Ballet". In his dance school, founded on this site in 1030, Volkoff inspired new generations of dancers, developed an audience to support their art, and created original Canadian works for them to perform, including "The Red Ear of Corn" (1949). Volkoff also founded one of Canada's earliest ballet companies and co-founded the influential Canadian Ballet Festival; both make possible the formation of The National Ballet of Canada in 1951. A year before his death, Bris Volkoff was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for "his pioneer work in the field of ballet".

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> Posted October, 2016
The plaque is so richly deserved.
Wanda Howie [email protected]

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