Nadia Potts – 2024 Inductee
2024 Hall of fame inductee
NADIA POTTS
Nadia Potts began studying dance at age seven with Betty Oliphant and went on to train at Canada’s National Ballet School. In 1966, at age 18, she joined the National Ballet of Canada and, three years later was promoted to principal dancer, a position she held for the next 17 years. Nadia toured extensively, both with the National Ballet and as a guest artist throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe. She was partnered by many of the most renowned dancers of her time including Rudolf Nureyev, Erik Bruhn, Peter Martins, Anthony Dowell, Fernando Bujones, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, who chose her to dance in his debut of Erik Bruhn’s Swan Lake.
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After retiring from the stage, Nadia launched into a full-time teaching career and in 1989 became a professor and director of the Dance Program at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University), a position she held for 24 years. Nadia assembled a powerful teaching team and was an inexhaustible mentor and leader for her faculty. She created courses that encouraged dance, acting and production students to train in their individual disciplines while also expanding their understanding and expertise in other fields. Program graduates went on to work in dance, theatre, and musical productions, and several started companies of their own. Nadia received a GREET teaching Award from Ryerson and is the author of Betty Oliphant: The Artistry of Teaching published by Dance Collection Danse. In 2014 she was honoured with Dance Ontario’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She has been on the board of DCD since 2009.
