Catherine Lafortune

Catherine Lafortune’s outstanding performance at the annual show of L’Académie des Grands ballet Canadiens earned her an invitation by Madame Ludmilla Chiriaeff to join the company without having to pass the obligatory audition thus launching her 16 years dance career. She rapidly attained the rank of soloist performing major roles from the classical repertoire including Swan Lake, Gisèle and Les Sylphides to name a few. She had the privilege to perform in many of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes works presented by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens as well as to perform Balanchine ballets in New York. Catherine Lafortune collaborated with many Canadian choreographers such as James Kudelka, Brian Macdonald and Fernand Nault and was seen in works by Nacho Duato, Kurt Joss, José Limon, Ohad Naharin and Paul Taylor, among others. Catherine Lafortune appeared in the NFB productions of: Sur les scènes de l'Orient (1984), Na Floresta (1992) et Point d’équilibre (2018).

Following her dance career, she was appointed ballet mistress for the company and head of the graduate program at the École supérieure. Ms. Lafortune completed her Bachelor’s degree in dance at the Université du Québec à Montréal. In 2005, she co-founded l'Académie de danse Regina Assumpta, where she held the position of pedagogical director for 12 years during which time she also headed seminars for the Réseau d’enseignement de la danse, was a member of the dance faculty at the Banff Center for the Arts and taught at the École nationale de cirque. In 2010, Ms. Lafortune returned to L'École supérieure as a teacher and was later appointed manager of the novice and junior cycles for the professional division as well.