Canadian Heritage committee  The right balance is that we always work towards hiring Canadians, without a doubt. As I said, if there's a Canadian, we take the Canadian first. Really I'm concerned that if we cannot consider that it's about excellence first and not about whether someone's Canadian, we are no longer going to have the standard of dance making in this country that we want.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll try. I think it's absolutely essential. We'd love to get into the public school system. In the U.K. they have made it comparable to a sport. They are able to go right into the public school system and get kids dancing on a regular basis as a physical activity. I can say there are statistics out there that show more kids are dancing on a weekend than playing hockey, and if that's any news for you guys it might be something to look at.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's proven that kids are more alert when they are physically active.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. I know the Canada Council can help you with all that information. When they were doing the mapping study, they examined all of that, and it's a very interesting thing to look at.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's a very large question. The beautiful thing about dance is that it incorporates the entire body, mind, and spirit. You are completely engaged in being present. It's been proven through many studies that art training or musical training and movement actually enhances our understanding of mathematics.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. I started that when I was very young, when I was at the National Ballet of Canada. The beautiful thing about our art form is that around the age of 35, if you're lucky, or 40, there's a natural transition built into what we do, because our bodies can only dance for so long.

Canadian Heritage committee  We have many different programs. Because we are a professional company, all of our dancers have gone through 10 to 12 years of training before they've come into a professional career. As a result, all of our programs are primarily around the graduate level of training, so we work alongside various professional schools such as École supérieure, or the National Ballet School, or Arts Umbrella to find programs that can help ensure that Canadian dancers are getting the proper preparation for a professional career.

Canadian Heritage committee  Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to be here. I would like to thank the committee for its interest and for this unique opportunity to talk about the value of dance ln Canada. I stand before you speaking for two organizations. I am the artistic director of Ballet BC and this year I have also been appointed the artistic director of dance at the Banff Centre for the arts.