Charlotte Geeves has been the executive director of the Bristol Old Vic theatre in Britain since 2019.National Ballet of Canada/Supplied
The National Ballet of Canada has announced that Charlotte Geeves, a British arts administrator with recent leadership stints at the Bristol Old Vic and the Henley Festival, will serve as the company’s new executive director.
The appointment follows a year-long international search, spurred by former executive director Barry Hughson’s departure for the American Ballet Theatre last year.
“We’re in a very strong place financially and everything is clicking well at the moment, so we had the confidence to be very deliberate and make sure we found what we felt was the right candidate for the existing team,” said Rags Davloor, board chair of the National Ballet.
“Charlotte has been exposed to a variety of different work cultures and different cultural organizations,” he continued, noting Geeves’s recent professional experience outside the ballet world. “She’s very intellectual, she’s extremely bright. We have no concerns about her ability to learn the business and adapt.”
With Adieu, Guillaume Côté leaves the National Ballet of Canada to make way for new talent
Since 2019, Geeves has been the executive director of the Bristol Old Vic theatre in Britain. Before that, she worked for a variety of performance companies across the country, including Sadler’s Wells in London, home to several dance companies.
“Sadler’s Wells opened me up not just to ballet, but to the whole spectrum of dance,” said Geeves. “What was really fascinating was the influence ballet continues to have on contemporary work. … It was one of the most enjoyable jobs I’ve ever done.”
Geeves will work closely with the National Ballet’s artistic director Hope Muir in what Davloor called a “co-CEO” model, which will see the women work collaboratively on artistic, financial and operational initiatives.
“I’m fascinated by Hope’s artistic vision for the company,” said Geeves. “It really resonates with me as an arts leader, her questions about pushing and breaking boundaries. Dance has this unbelievable way of being able to transgress boundaries in a way other sorts of theatre can’t do.”
According to Davloor, Geeves’s priorities for the National Ballet align with a soon-to-be-finalized strategic plan. Those initiatives include nurturing talent within the company, increasing audiences, and using ballet to speak to the diversity of both Toronto and Canada as a whole, as well as expanding the company’s national and international presence through touring.
“I feel really passionate about making sure people see themselves reflected on the stage in those more traditional pieces of work, but also in more contemporary work,” said Geeves. “And I’m interested in the scope of the work Hope is doing with young people — as well as where that work might be able to take us.
“As a national company, there’s a responsibility to be able to tour across the whole of Canada,” she continued, “while being sensitive to the other ballet companies across the country, and working in partnership and collaboration. These are things that really, really excite me.”
While Geeves has spent little time in Canada herself, she says she’s ready to learn its cultural landscape while leaning on her leadership experience in Britain.
“I’ve got a lot to learn about the cultural ambition of the country,” she said. “And I know that there is a difference between what the Brits and Canadians will like. But I’m looking forward to exploring, and learning from individuals within the company.”
Pending the finalization of her immigration to Canada, Geeves’s tenure with the company will begin in September.
