Artistic Autocrat

Dance historian Carol Bishop-Gwyn has selected a fascinating personality to write about in her choice of the classical dance czarina Celia Franca, whose ruthless dedication led to the creation of one of Canada’s most esteemed arts companies, The National Ballet of Canada. This is a portrait of one of the most crucial figures in our post-war artistic and cultural development, when a wave of sophisticated immigrants, mostly European and many British, arrived in Canada to cultivate Canada’s tentative artistic life.

The Pursuit of Perfection: A Life of Celia Franca starts off slowly as Bishop-Gwyn sets out in copious detail aspects of Franca’s ancestry and early life. Some of these facts will be important in the later tale, such as Franca’s Jewish origins, her attachment to marriage, her early experience with television at the BBC (which will come in handy later) and, above all, her indoctrination in and adherence to the British school of classical ballet. As a...