One day Pamela Anderson stood in the centre turn lane of a highway, clad only in a Canadian flag...picturing it? Welcome to the lead photo for the "Best of Canada" edition of SNAP!. Now in its seventh year, SNAP! combines a juried competition for established and emerging photographers with a gala fundraiser on March 2 at the National Ballet School. Organizers predict that the works offered in live and silent auctions will raise $140,000......

While the word "nutcracker" might evoke some painful mental images in some, for many it's a familiar part of the holiday season. The original ballet was composed in Russia by one Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1892, and The National Ballet of Canada has been performing The Nutcracker since 1964. James Kudelka did a revamp of the choreography in 1995, and since then The National Ballet's Nutcracker has become what The Globe and Mail has......

Martin Knelman, writing in the Star, once apologized for the lacklustre exterior of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts by describing it as a building that "has to be experienced from the inside out rather than the other way around." What better way to reinforce the impression that the performances showcased inside are principally targeted at an elite class than by plopping down a building that offers little to those standing on......

Contributor Tony Makepeace is taking us for some spins around our city with his fantastic VR panoramas. You can look up, down, side to side, in and out—pretty much every direction but back at yourself, which would be kind of creepy. Say hello to Panoramaist: the Toronto shoe-gazer's worst enemy. Click on the preview image above to launch the QuickTime VR panorama in a new window. Panoramaist is best viewed on a fast computer.......

Ballet Jorgen's Anastasia is making its way around the country, and if you missed its Toronto stop on Saturday, you missed quite the treat. Audiences packed into the Toronto Centre for The Arts to see Bengt Jorgen's intricately choreographed tale about the infamous Russian Grand Duchess, which follows the four years leading up to that fateful day in 1918 when she disappeared forever. Jorgen is known for his eccentric ballets, but with Anastasia he......

The National Ballet of Canada kicked off its summer season last week with an impressive triple-bill performance at the new Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. First came James Kudelka's acclaimed The Four Seasons, set to Antonio Vivaldi's set of four violin concertos. Kudelka is notorious for his very animated choreography, and he certainly did not disappoint. The Four Seasons follows the character known only as "everyman" through the cycles of life, as represented......

Every couple of weeks "What's The Frequency, Campus?" will highlight some of the intriguing shows and special programming happening on Toronto's campus and community radio stations. The differences between commercial radio and campus/community radio are vast. While the content is miles apart (you’ll never hear the same song played three times an hour on a community station), the two are also operating on wildly different budgets. Commercial stations are largely owned by huge media empires......

L’Oréal Fashion Week kicked off this morning with an 11 a.m. press conference at Queen's Park. Seems the Ontario government excludes fashion from its definition of culture. So members of the Fashion Design Council of Canada want fashion visionaries to get the same recognition as their colleagues in art, dance, theatre and music. Clearly Toronto Fashion Week isn't the same kind of high-octane glamathon as Paris or Milan. In fact, most shows will be......

Celia Franca, Photo: Janine; Karen Kain, Celia Franca and Veronica Tennant, Photo: Bruce Zinger; Celia Franca in Lilac Garden, Photo: Ken Bell Celia Franca, companion of the order of Canada, founder of The National Ballet of Canada, and Artistic Director for 24 years, died at the age of 85 today in The Ottawa Hospital. Says current National Ballet artistic director, Karen Kain, "[Franca] inspired generations of dancers by her example and her devotion to......

Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann courtesy of the TSO. If you’re turned off at the idea of classical music concerts because they seem like an activity for the high society rich, think again. There are plenty of ways to enjoy Toronto’s healthy classical music scene on the cheap or for free. Toronto Symphony Orchestra In an effort to infuse some young blood into its increasingly grey-haired audience demographic, the TSO offers $12 concert tickets to......

Do visions of quality seasonal live pop culture for the whole family dance in your head? The National Ballet of Canada's The Nutcracker and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, featuring The Rockettes look all cheery and innocent, but Torontoist knows that behind all the tinsel, sugar plums, long legs and rosy cheeks lurk two fearsome competitors. How far will they go to win your holiday dollar? Only one thing is certain: when Torontoist pits......

Last week, we had a sneak preview of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. It's the new home for the Canadian Opera Company and The National Ballet. Yesterday marked the official ribbon cutting ceremonies.......

The Pugly Awards results were finally announced for this year. They scout out the best and the pugly architecture around the city based on your votes. To qualify, the building must be completed the year prior to the award cycle. Getting bottom nods this year is Hall Of Shamer The Glenlake condos on Dundas West. First impression: the badly rasterized rendering on the site is more livable than the real thing... which I can't......

Ed. Note: Torontoist wants to welcome Rob to the Torontoist team. Rob has lived in NYC and Montreal (lucky him) and is currently at U of T studying architecture so it's appropriate that his first post is on Doors Open Toronto. If you're like Torontoist, you've spent this grey winter staring out from streetcar windows contemplating the city's facades as you zip by. But while they may look amazing on the outside, it's time for......

There’s a major announcement being, er, announced at the National Ballet of Canada today at 3 p.m. today, presumably the naming of the artistic director who is replacing James Kudelka. Michael Posner in the Globe and Mail has the inside scoop: "Karen Kain, the country's best-known and arguably best-loved ballerina, will today be named" to the position.She was in many ways both the obvious and logical choice. Eight years after retiring from the stage and......

You know what the Amish say about dancing leading to sex? Turns out it's true! Horndog choreographer James Kudelka's salacious new ballet An Italian Straw Hat, which premiered at the Hummingbird on Sunday, opens with some simulated cunnilingus and then moves through various scandalous positions until there are a couple of dancing horses playing horsey on stage. This ain't your grandma's National Ballet of Canada. And, yet, perhaps that's underestimating your grandma. An Italian Straw......

Most metropolitan cities around the world would be lucky to have one, maybe two buildings designed by superstar architects. Toronto is about to get another, adding to our collection of world-class architecture, which has grown significantly over the past few years....