director

Umran Sumen
Founder and Artistic Director

Umran graduated in 1966 from the State Conservatory in the Faculty of Fine Arts in Ankara ,Turkey, after nine years of study.

Subsequently, she received her Masters degree from Hecettepe University in Ankara. For the next sixteen years she danced with the National Ballet Company of Turkey as a leading soloist.

At the invitation of Dame Ninette de Valois, she studied at the Royal Ballet School of London and was later sent by the Turkish National Ballet to study choreography and teaching with the Ballet der Wiener Staatsoper Austria, for one year.

Umran has worked with world famous choreographers and teachers, among them Anton Dolin, Dame Ninette de Valois, Molly Lake, Travis Kemp, Beatrice Appleyard, Todd Bolender, John Gilpin, Alfred Rodrigues, Richard Glasstone, Sulamif Messerer, Valery Panov, and Yuri Grigorovich. Her repertoire includes thirty classical and modern productions. In 1986 she was appointed Artistic Director of the Calgary City Ballet.

In 1993 Umran was awarded the commemorative medal for the 125th anniversary of Canadian Confederation and Immigrants of Distinction on Arts and Culture . This medal has been given to Umran for her outstanding contribution to the arts and culture of Canada through her work as a dancer and teacher. Umran was featured in the Memory Project in 2004.

She is a member of the Turkish National Ballet Company (TNBC), the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and the Canadian Dance Teachers' Association (CTDA).