Veronica Tennant


Veronica Tennant, is a Canadian producer, director, and filmmaker and the principal dancer of the National Ballet of Canada. She was born in London, England and moved to Canada with her parents and sister in 1955. Dancing from the age of four, by the age of 18, she became the youngest person ever to enter the National Ballet of Canada, and made her debut in the principal role in Romeo and Juliet.
By 1976, she was a star at the National Ballet and touring across North America, Europe and Japan with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev, among others, as prima ballerina. In 2015, she conceived and directed NIÁGARA: A Pan-American Story, a multidisciplinary project for the 2015 Pan American Games.

Awards

Veronica Tennant has been awarded honorary doctorates from Brock University, York University, Simon Fraser University and the University of Toronto. She serves often as keynote speaker. She has received several awards, including the Toronto Arts Award and the Arts and Letters Award from The Canadian Club of New York City.
In 1975, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 2003. In 2001, she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In 2006, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2004, Tennant received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.