Peter Ottmann

Biography

Peter Ottmann, Senior Ballet Master

A native of Renfrew, Ontario, Peter Ottmann studied at Canada’s National Ballet School. Upon graduating in 1976, he joined The National Ballet of Canada and was promoted to First Soloist in 1983. His career as a dancer was marked by strong, vividly realized characterization and an instinctive sense of nobility and classic line, qualities which allowed him to create several landmark roles with the company. Following his retirement from dancing in 1993, he became the company’s Resident Choreologist and Ballet Master. In 2005, he was appointed Senior Ballet Master, a position to which he brings his years of experience as a performer and his deep technical understanding of balletic art.

As a dancer, Mr. Ottmann performed such roles as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, The Prince in The Sleeping Beauty, Albrecht and Hilarion in Giselle and James and Gurn in La Sylphide. He also performed in a full range of the company's contemporary repertoire, creating roles in ballets by Glen Tetley, William Forsythe and James Kudelka, among others. As Senior Ballet Master, Mr. Ottmann has set works for the Paris Opéra Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro and The National Ballet of Canada, coaching dancers in works by a broad array of choreographers, including John Cranko, Rudolf Nureyev, Glen Tetley, James Kudelka and Jiří Kylián.