40 Years of Kittiwake, 40 Years of History
Artistic Directors
Linda Rimsay 1987-2006 (get real HS)
Linda Rimsay founded Kittiwake Dance Theatre in 1987 after Newfoundland Dance Theatre dissolved and the Young Dancers Project transformed into KDT. She led the company as Artistic Director for 20 years until her departure in 2006. Under her direction, Kittiwake focused on showcasing dance as an art through a wide variety of performances across the province, while simultaneously sharing the artform through offering an assortment of workshops for locals. She aimed to create a launchpad for dancers’ to have a career without having to leave home to do so.
Martin Vallée 2007-2023
Martin Vallée joined the Kittiwake team in 2003 as an artistic associate and choreographer, succeeding Rimsay and taking over as artistic director in 2007. He would hold this position until 2023 and during his time as AD he had several goals. Assuming the position with the aim to continue advancing the professional dance scene and cultural landscape within the province, he did so with a focus on three things: developing a returning audience, encouraging collaboration with other artistic disciplines, and creating opportunities for various artistic professionals such as choreographers and composers to create original works.
Yukichi Hattori 2024-present
Yukichi Hattori became artistic director of Kittiwake in 2024, taking over following Martin Vallée’s departure. Not intimidated by those who came before him, Hattori intends to honour the work Rimsay and Vallée have done previously, while bringing a fresh outlook to the table. What makes him stand out is his focus on refining the quality of movement produced by the dancers, pushing the limit while simultaneously highlighting proper science-based conditioning.
Early days
The Nutcracker
Kittiwake has been performing the classic Tchaikovsky ballet annually since its inception back in 1987, becoming a much treasured holiday tradition in St. John’s. Every year without fail, Kittiwake has wowed audiences with their production of The Nutcracker.
The story goes: On Christmas Eve, Clara receives a Nutcracker as a present from family friend Drosselmeyer. Unfortunately, her brother Fritz breaks her new doll leaving Clara heartbroken. As Clara goes to sleep that night, reality blurs together with dreams while her Nutcracker takes her on a magical journey.
While you may have come to associate The Nutcracker with the Arts and Culture Centre, in the beginning, it was a smaller production hosted in more intimate venues. We started small, hosting the production in the LSPU Hall which seats just under 200, transitioning to The Reid Theatre at Memorial University once we outgrew the LSPU Hall. However, with the constant community support, The Nutcracker has grown large enough to require the big stage and more importantly, more seats. In addition to shows in St. John’s, we have also taken The Nutcracker on tour across the province, providing dancers across Newfoundland the chance to take part in the tradition and sharing the holiday magic with even more audiences and communities. In 2016, we started the tradition of partnering with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra to elevate the audience experience even more by incorporating live music.
Innovation: Original Works Then and Now
Staying true to creativity as one of Kittiwake’s values, for the last 40 years Kittiwake has always placed an emphasis on creating and showcasing original works and choreography. In addition to our past and current Artistic Director’s contributions, we’ve also had submissions from our dancers as well as up-and-coming choreographers through the RBC-Kittiwake Emerging Choreographer-in-Residence program. As a result Kittiwake boasts a sizable collection of original works, including but certainly not limited to:
In the community: summer dance, collaborations, PFA and summer intensive
Another of Kittiwake’s core values is being community-centric. Due to its non-profit and charity status, Kittiwake by nature relies on the generosity of the community and its patrons to keep its doors open. However, it has always been with the intent to provide. Kittiwake has always been focused on increasing access to dance and uplifting dance and other forms of arts around the province.
Kittiwake today
Kittiwake has come a long way since it first opened its door in 1987. We look back on every version of Kittiwake that has come and gone with a sense of fondness and respect. While we are proud of all the things we’ve accomplished under the name Kittiwake Dance Theatre, with a shift to professionalizing the company in 2018, and rebrand in 2025 centered on ballet to reflect it, we are so excited and pleased to usher in this new era and see where the future takes us as Kittiwake Ballet.
place holder but add maybe a carousel of photos that aren’t necessarily relevant to above topics but are a part of Kittiwake (ex: studio pics, random pics from the road, extra nutcracker pics, posters, programs.)