Vincent de Paul Warren, (August 31, 1938 – October 25, 2017) was a Canadian dancer, teacher, dance historian and lecturer. After a distinguished career as a ballet dancer and teacher, he became widely known and respected as a historian and archivist. He is celebrated as a leading figure in the dance world of Canada.
Early life, education, and training
Vincent de Paul Warren was born in Jacksonville, Florida. He and his fraternal twin Denis were the youngest of their parents' fourteen children. Influenced by his mother's love of opera and music, Vincent was a sensitive boy, receptive to what he has called "a fantasy life of beauty." At age ten, he saw the ballet movie The Red Shoes (1948) and discovered his future profession. At eleven, he began taking ballet classes with Betty Hyatt Ogilvie, a former Balanchine dancer. His twin brother Denis was drawn to the Roman Catholic church and at thirteen left home to join the clergy. Vincent, however, continued his dance training throughout his teenage years. He graduated from high school at eighteen, and soon he, too, left home, headed for New York City with a letter of introduction to Igor Schwezoff, a Russian-trained teacher at the American Ballet Theatre School. He was given a scholarship to study at the school, where he excelled in classes. As a promising student, he was soon offered another scholarship, at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School, where Antony Tudor was teaching. At age nineteen, in 1957, he auditioned for a position in the company at the Met and was hired as a member of the corps de ballet.
Ballet dancer
Warren danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet for two years, 1957–59, during which time he took the opportunity to expand his training with leading teachers in New York City. In dance classes with Merce Cunningham and James Waring, he became adept in the expressive styles of modern dance while continuing to study classical ballet technique with Igor Schwezoff, Anatol Oboukoff, and Antony Tudor. In 1959-60, he danced with the Santa Fe Opera Ballet and then the Pennsylvania Ballet, based in Philadelphia. In 1961, he joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montréal, where, except for dancing as guest artist with Ballet Nacional de Guatemala (1963) and seasons with the Théâtre Français de la Danse in Paris (1969–70) and the Cologne Opera Ballet (1970–71), he remained until his retirement from the stage in 1979.
After more than a decade of living and dancing in Canada, he became a Canadian citizen in 1973.
Repertoire
With Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Warren danced leading roles in many classical, romantic, neoclassical, and contemporary works. Among them were Albrecht in Giselle, Siegfried in Le Lac des Cygnes (Swan Lake), the Poet in Les Sylphides, and Drummer Boy and First Cadet in Bal des Cadets (Graduation Ball), David Lichine's merry romp at a girls' school celebration. He also appeared in principal roles in George Balanchine's Allegro Brillante, Divertimento no. 15, The Four Temperaments, Serenade, and Theme and Variations. Notably, Warren created many roles for the artistic director and resident choreographer of the company, Ludmilla Chiriaeff and Fernand Nault. He danced principal male roles in Chiriaeff's Bagatelle (aka Jeux d'Arlequin), Cendrillon (Cinderella), Mémoires de Camille, Pierrot de la Lune, Quatrième Concert Royal, and Suite Canadienne, among others. Her penultimate choreographic work was Artère (1976), a solo she made especially for him, set to music by Gabriel Charpentier. In Nault's productions, Warren danced leading roles in Carmina Burana, Casse-Noisette (The Nutcracker), Hip and Straight, Pas Rompu (Not Broken), and the hugely successful Tommy, set to the rock opera by The Who.
In works by other contemporary choreographers, Warren was cast in leading roles in Catulli Carmina and Villon by John Butler, L'Oiseau de Feu (The Firebird) by Maurice Béjart, Icare by Lucas Hoving, Aureole by Paul Taylor, and Les Noces by Lar Lubovitch. In the ballets of Brian Macdonald, Warren starred in Diabelli Variations, Double Quartet, Romeo and Juliet, and Tam Ti Delam, set to a Québécois folk song by Gilles Vigneault. He was especially acclaimed for his interpretation of the title role in Macdonald's Adieu Robert Schumann, created in 1979 for his farewell performance, with both ballerina Annette av Paul and pianist Denise Massé playing Clara Schumann, and along famed Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester singing Clara's reminiscences. Reviewing the performance, CBC Radio's Kati Vita wrote: "Vincent Warren blazes through the work like a slender crimson flame and compels such attention [that] one is oblivious to all else when he is on stage."