DANCE COLLECTION DANSE

Janet Baldwin Volkoff, Gweneth Lloyd and Boris Volkoff at the First Canadian Ballet Festival,
Winnipeg, 1948
performed in Gillies’s choreography
for the Janet Baldwin Ballet and later
brought him to set work on her own
group in Sudbury. Her connection
with Carse led to teaching opportunities
in Edmonton with Carse’s
newly formed Alberta Ballet. Cook
was also an important team member
in the initiative to start a dance
program at Grant MacEwan College.
Margaret Hample, Arnold Spohr and
James Pape, May 31, 1948
Cook made a career change in
the 1980s when she began studies in
theology ultimately being ordained
as a United Church Minister in
1984. During her
years of ministry,
she also
choreographed
liturgical dances.
Her church
work brought
her to Manitoba
and eventually
retirement in
Winnipeg where
she assisted her
dance colleagues
in the archives at
the Royal Winnipeg
Ballet.
Cook’s collection
fills several
gaps in the story
of Canada’s
burgeoning
professional
ballet scene of
Barbara Cook
Photo: Marcel Ray Photographers
the mid-twentieth century giving
us more details about Boris Volkoff,
Janet Baldwin and Don Gillies.
Lillian Lewis, May 31, 1948
It also provokes more questions
about the activities and connections
between members of this generation.
For example, a series of snapshots
depicts members of the Winnipeg
and Volkoff companies picnicking
by the Port Credit River in Mississauga
roughly a month after the
First Canadian Ballet Festival.
There are also rare items in the
collection including Cook’s costume
from Gillies’s acclaimed work
I Want! I Want! for the Janet Baldwin
Ballet, and photographer Arthur
Kushner’s photos
taken from the
balcony of the
Walker Theatre
during the first
Canadian Ballet
Festival. I spoke
to Kushner about
his photos almost
twenty years ago
and he told me he
had given them
all away, mostly
to Gweneth
Lloyd. Lloyd’s
photos from
this period were
sadly lost in the
1954 fire that also
destroyed her
company’s documents,
musical
scores, costumes
and sets. DCD now has some copies
of these treasures from the past.
6 Dance Collection Danse