Heather Ogden is a Principal Dancer with The National Ballet of Canada. Born in Toronto, she trained at the Richmond Academy of Dance in British Columbia before joining the National Ballet in 1998 and rising to Principal Dancer in 2005.
Coached by Magdalena Popa and under the direction of James Kudelka, Karen Kain and Hope Muir, Heather has enjoyed an ongoing 27 year career with the National Ballet of Canada as one of the country’s most celebrated ballerinas.
A powerful dancer of extraordinary depth and range, she has performed nearly every lead role in the classical repertoire including Odette/Odile in
Swan Lake, Aurora in
The Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in
Romeo and Juliet, Tatiana in
Onegin, and the title roles in
Cinderella,
Anna Karenina,
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Her repertoire also includes
Nijinsky,
The Merry Widow,
La Bayadère,
The Winter’s Tale,
The Nutcracker,
Le Petit Prince,
Carmen and Emma Bovary.
She is equally acclaimed for her work in contemporary ballet, having originated roles in creations by Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor, Crystal Pite, John Neumeier, Christian Spuck, Helen Pickett, Jorma Elo, Guillaume Côté, Robert Binet and Emma Portner. Heather has enjoyed a long standing artistic relationship with James Kudelka and has been a key interpreter of many of his works and creations including
Cinderella,
Summer from
The Four Seasons, Hélène in
An Italian Straw Hat,
…black nights bright day… and most recently,
Passion.
Heather has an extensive George Balanchine repertoire. Her interpretations have been shaped in part by a close relationship with legendary Balanchine muse Suzanne Farrell, working directly with Farrell in her company in Washington DC for many years. Heather has performed in theatres all over the world both with the National Ballet and as an international guest artist.
Heather is a spokesperson for Canadian Ballet and serves as a private coach, mentor and speaker for the art form
In 2011, Heather was chosen by ballerina Evelyn Hart for the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Mentorship program. In 2014, she was named ambassador for Rolex Canada. Heather was a founding board member for Fall For Dance North.
