Kenny Pearl

Kenny Pearl began formal training in dance in Toronto when he was 18, with David Earle and Patricia Beatty, and at Canada’s National Ballet School. He moved to New York City after graduating from the University of Toronto with a B.A. in English literature. He lived there for 13 years, dancing with the Martha Graham Dance Company and around the world with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He also performed independently over the years with a dozen other companies, acted in several plays, and was a rehearsal director for the Graham Company.

He has taught in New York at the schools of the Graham and Ailey companies and at the High School of Performing Arts (the setting for the movie Fame, now LaGuardia High). He has been a frequent guest teacher at the Juilliard School of Music.

Pearl studied acting and wrote and performed comedy cabaret in New York for several years before coming back to Toronto in 1981. After a season performing at the Stratford Theatre Festival, he was Artistic Director of Toronto Dance Theatre from 1983 to 1987. He has also taught for a dozen years at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, and has been on faculty at Ryerson University since 2002. He has been a guest teacher in Montreal, Quebec City, Vancouver, Mexico City, and throughout the United States. He was a rehearsal director for Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie from 2007-2011, and, since 2009, has organized bi-annual workshops for emerging dance artists.

A book telling the story of his 13 year New York adventure will be published soon.

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