Collection search - Karen Kain fonds [textual record, graphic material, sound recording]

Record information – Brief
1
Karen Kain fonds [textual record, graphic material, sound recording]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1951-1995.

Reference:

R4321-0-1-E, MG31-D250

Type of material:

Textual material, Photographs, Art, Sound recordings

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

107130

Context of this record:

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Karen Kain fonds
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Record information – Details
Fonds includes:

12 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

1951-1995.

Place of creation:

No place, unknown, or undetermined

Extent:

2.32 m of textual records.
2280 photographs : b&w, col.
10 prints : 9 posters, 1 lithograph.
5 audio cassettes (3 h).

Language of material:

English

Accession:

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Karen Kain collection [graphic material]

Scope and content:

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Fonds consists of textual records which depict the life and career of Karen Kain with the National Ballet of Canada as well as life dancing abroad. The textual series comprise as follows: Correspondence - family series; Correspondence - general series; Correspondence - fan mail series; Early childhood series; National Ballet School series; Schedules series; Appointment books series; Programmes and related material series; Memorabilia and honours series; Scrapbook series; and Clippings series.

The fonds also contains photographs of Kain's dancing career; posters promoting Kain's performances; a limited edition print by Al Hirschfeld; and an autographed poster of Kain, 1960-1995.

The fonds also contains sound recordings of CBC radio interviews with Kain about her career and autobiography Karen Kain : Movement Never Lies, 1988-1995.

Provenance:

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Kain, Karen, 1951-

Additional name(s):

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National Ballet of Canada

Biography/Administrative history:

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Kain, Karen, 1951- : Karen Kain was born in 1951. She entered the National Ballet School in Toronto in 1962 and was accepted into the National Ballet of Canada company in 1969. Her first principal role with the National Ballet was in The Mirror Walkers in 1970. The next year, at the age of 19, she danced her debut in Swan Lake and received favourable reviews in the American press. In 1973 Kain and her partner Frank Augustyn were sent to Russia to compete in the Moscow International Ballet Competition, where they won first prize for their pas de deux and where Kain shared the silver medal for women with an Australian dancer. Their success in Moscow made them stars back in Canada and Kain and Augustyn began to receive top billing with the National Ballet.

Kain began dancing with Rudolph Nureyev in 1972, when he came to Canada to mount his production of Sleeping Beauty for the National Ballet. They danced together for the next five years while Nureyev guest-starred with the National Ballet. Kain was invited to join his "Nureyev and friends" tour in 1975, along with Dame Margot Fonteyn and other dancers. Kain performed in 1974 as a guest artist with Roland Petit's Le Ballet de Marseille. Petit choreographed two new ballets for Kain, Les Intermittences du Coeur and Nana. She also danced in his Carmen, which was filmed for television. Kain danced in the 1980s with Eliot Feld's company in New York.

Although she enjoyed an international career, Kain made the choice to remain with the National Ballet of Canada, with which she continues to dance. Kain stopped dancing in 1977 but started again in 1981 with the National Ballet of Canada, where she performed for 15 more years. Kain retired definitively as a professional dancer in 1997-1998. She returned to the National Ballet of Canada in 1998 as part of the senior management team, in the role of artistic associate and succeeded Kudelka as artistic director in 1995. She stepped down from that role in 2021.

Throughout her career, Kain has received many recognitions of her contributions to ballet, including honorary degrees from a number of Canadian universities and the Order of Canada. She was showcased in a number of CBC specials, and has appeared in many televised productions of ballets. A television documentary, Karen Kain: Ballerina (1976), was followed by two more documentaries in 1989 and 1994. Her autobiography, written with Stephen Godfrey, was published in 1994.

Karen Kain is married to the actor-producer Ross Petty.

Finding aid:

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Textual records (Electronic) Finding aid is a file list. MSS2068 (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000000601.pdf

Sound recordings: (Electronic) See MISACS for item level descriptions.

Photographs: (Other) Accession record (1996-002 DAP) in MIKAN contains a detailed description of the contents of each photographic file.

Additional information:

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General note:

Received in 1995 from Karen Kain of Toronto, Ontario. Part of the papers were brought together by Kain's mother, and include material collected by her.

Exhibitions note:

Exhibition Title: Treasured Memories 1: A National Archives of Canada Exhibition. [125th Anniversary of the National Archives]. Curator: Martin Tétreault, National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; 1997.05.14-1998.01.31 (Karen Kain - MG31-D250 - vol.6), Exhibition Title: Treasured Memories 2: A National Archives of Canada Exhibition. [125th Anniversary of the National Archives]. Curator: Martin Tétreault, National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; 1998.02.01-1998.09.30 (Manuscript - MG31-D250)
Subject heading:

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Dancers Canada

Ballet - Canada

Dance - Canada
Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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123-020042-8
123-020061-4
1995-0140 MSS
1995-0212 MSS
1995-0261 MISA
1995/0140
1995/0212
1996-002 DAP
1996-02103-6
1996-171 DAP
2808 (1995-12-12)
95-265
96-012
MG31-D250

Former archival reference no.:

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MG31-D250
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Access restriction document

http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/r000000616.pdf

Textual records

[Consultation96 Restrictions vary]

Finding aid box [FA 2068] 149

[Consultation 10 Closed]

Graphic (photo)

[Consultation90 Open]

Graphic (art)

[Consultation90 Open]
Documents must be consulted under close supervision for conservation reasons.

Box [1996-002] 302

[Consultation 90 Open]

0302 Item no. assigned by LAC 1--10

[Consultation 90 Open]

Box [1996-171] 302

[Consultation 90 Open]

0302 Item no. assigned by LAC 1

[Consultation 90 Open]

Sound recordings

[Consultation90 Open]

Terms of use:

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Photographs: No restrictions except on photos by Max Waldman. Photos by Waldman must not be reproduced in any way without written permission of Max Waldman, 21 W. 17th Street, New York. Various copyright on items less than 50 years old. Copyright expired on items more than 50 years old. Copyright expired on items more than 50 years old.
Art: No restrictions. Various and unknown copyright.
Sound recordings: Reproduction and use in any form requires the written permission of the CBC.

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Date modified:: 2024-04-09