Toronto Dance Theatre

ABOUT TDT

Christopher House

CHRISTOPHER HOUSE

Christopher House is one of Canada’s most respected dance artists. Born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland, he joined TDT as a dancer in 1979, was named Resident Choreographer in 1981 and became Artistic Director in 1994.

Christopher House has contributed over sixty works to the TDT repertoire including Glass Houses, Four Towers, Early Departures, Vena Cava and Chiasmata. He has created works for Lisbon’s Ballet Gulbenkian, the National Ballet of Canada, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and Ballet British Columbia, among others, and directed two collaborations with Joel Gibb and The Hidden Cameras. His most recent choreographies include Dis/(sol/ve)r (2009), Pteros Tactics (2010) and the “annotated remount” Nest Redux (2010), all for Toronto Dance Theatre. He is currently working on a major new work set to Rivers by Ann Southam that will premiere in April 2012.

As a performer, House has created roles in works by Sarah Chase, Peter Chin, David Earle, Mark Morris, James Kudelka and Peter Randazzo, and often appeared in his own works. While a guest with Les Grand Ballets Canadiens, he performed the title role in Michel Fokine’s Petrouchka, in Kudelka’s In Paradisum and in Nijinska’s Les Noces as well as in his solo Schubert Dances.

Christopher House has participated three times as a dancer in the Solo Performance Commissioning Project with Deborah Hay in Findhorn, Scotland. He premiered his adaptation of News by Deborah Hay in December 2006, and presented five performances of this solo at the Canada Dance Festival in June 2008. He will perform his adaptation of Hay’s At Once in London and Brighton, UK, in early December, 2011.

Artistic Advisor of the Professional Training Program of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, House has taught technique, improvisation, repertoire and creative process at The School of TDT and at such institutions as the Juilliard School, Rotterdam Dansacademie, Jacob’s Pillow, and at Ryerson, Simon Fraser and York Universities.

Christopher House has received many awards for his work, including three Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding New Choreography. He received the Muriel Sherrin Award for International Achievement in Dance in October 2009, and was made an honorary doctor of letters by Memorial University in 2010.

Christopher House is an Associate Dance Artist of Canada’s National Arts Centre.


“an intellectual force in the flighty North American dance scene”
The Village Voice, New York
“an arcing imagination of immense proportions”
The Globe and Mail, Toronto
“a fresh voice in modern dance”
The New York Times
“House’s movement has the quality that marks the best choreography: it manages to be surprising while still appearing inevitable…it’s a rare gift.”
Ottawa Citizen
“House’s unique voice bodes well, not only for his company, and for Toronto’s dance community, but our dance culture as a whole.”
Ballet Tanz, Germany
Photography credits: David Leyes
Privacy Policy