Aram Manukyan

My heart is full and I am immensely proud of Alberta Ballet and Alberta Ballet School !!!
Swan Lake by

WINTER GALA 2025
Thank you, dear Maestro and for your vision and unwavering beliefe of UNITED and !
Thank you, , for your trust and leadership!
And THANK YOU to all my colleagues at AB and ABS, all the dancers, staff, all the parents and of course all the students!
I am truly proud of all of you and am honored to be part of this GREAT organization!!!

Seoul, South Korea, YGP Korea

Aram is encouraging Alberta Ballet Students to reflect on their own dance journey during this unprecedented time.

"The first couple of years after graduating from ballet academy were pivotal time in my life. I was fortunate to have received a dance contract to the National Opera and Ballet company, however my home country was being affected by the collapse of the Soviet Union and theatre was on the verge of a closure. It was a psychologically difficult time to process the world around me and extremely difficult to provide for my family… It became apparent to me that all I knew was the world of ballet and I started to wonder if there was life for me outside of it - therefore I quit.

I quit ballet and found myself training as an apprentice shoemaker. For six months I stepped back from ballet to evaluate my life – my future. It was during this time that it became very clear to me – ballet was truly my passion and I couldn’t imagine a life without it. With my dance career now spanning almost 4 decades, I know that if I didn’t take that time away to reflect, I would have never known my true calling. Those 6 months heavily contributed to who I am today.

I was able to take myself out of ballet, but I couldn’t take ballet out of me.

COVID-19 is forcing today’s young dancers to take that step back – both physically and mentally. For myself, the opportunity to reflect and evaluate was an invaluable lesson and I encourage students to embrace this time to listen to your mind, heart and soul for all three are equal contributors to dance. This reflection time will more than likely re-ignite your passion and hunger for dance allowing you to return 100% committed to your training. I look forward to the time we can be all together again.."

Read more about Aram's ballet journey in our latest faculty blog at https://bit.ly/3alJQch