REX HARRINGTON.
Artist-in-Residence, National Ballet of Canada

Recognized as one of the finest male dancers of his era, a performer admired for both his dazzling and magnetic stage presence and his incomparable and sensitive partnering skills, Rex Harrington is one of Canada’s most renowned stage artists. Born in Peterborough, Ontario, Mr. Harrington graduated from Canada’s National Ballet School in 1981 and joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1983. He became a Principal Dancer with the company in 1988 and remained in that position until his retirement in 2004.

Over a brilliant 20-year career, Mr. Harrington danced both in Canada and abroad such lead classical roles as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Siegfried and Rothbart in Swan Lake, Peter/The Nutcracker in The Nutcracker, Albrecht in Giselle, the Prince in Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

Mr. Harrington also created numerous important roles in his career, notably the central role in James Kudelka’s The Four Seasons, the Elder in Mr. Kudelka’s The Contract (The Pied Piper), Lewis Carroll in Glen Tetley’s Alice, The Young Gentleman in Mr. Tetley’s La Ronde, as well as lead roles in works by such choreographers as John Alleyne, Jean-Pierre Perrault and Dominique Dumais.

Mr. Harrington has guested internationally with such companies as La Scala Opera Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet and has partnered such ballerinas as Karen Kain, Ekaterina Maximova, Carla Fracci, Evelyn Hart, Allessandra Ferri and Greta Hodgkinson. Mr. Harrington was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000. He was given a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2005 and an Honourary Degree from York University in 2006. Mr. Harrington was appointed to the position of Artist-in-Residence with the National Ballet in 2006.