Gladys Forrester was born in Winnipeg on February 27, 1914 or 1916. She began highland dance classes at age seven and soon added studies in ballet, tap, acrobatics adagio and musical theatre. By the age of eight, she was hired to dance in the Doll Revue at theatres in Winnipeg and Regina and later performed with the Winnipeg Kiddies. She toured Canada performing Three Little Maids in 1926. During this time, she began studying part-time in New York and by 1937 she had earned her teaching credentials from the Chicago National Association of Dancing Masters. She opened a school in Winnipeg that same year and taught there until 1941.
She married G.V. Smither in March of 1942 and accompanied him back to his native England, where she was later cast in the corps de ballet of The Red Shoes film. When the couple returned to Canada, Gladys joined the Winnipeg Ballet for one season in 1949, but also performed with the Volkoff Canadian Ballet, Canadian National Exhibition shows and Melody Fair musicals in Toronto, Ontario. She became a leading dancer and choreographer for several CBC Television productions, including the Canadian General Electric Hour. She opened a studio at the corner of Bloor and Islington in Toronto in 1966 and taught there until she sold it in 1978 and did demonstrations for the Canadian School of Ballet. She received the Royal Academy of Dancing President’s Award in 1998. Gladys Forrester Smither passed away March 29, 1998 in Toronto.
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The Gladys Forrester fonds includes the following series: newspaper articles (1988-2002); Dance Ontario Awards (1993); alumni questionnaire (1991); obituaries (1998); research paper (2001).
No further accruals are expected.
The records of Gladys Forrester came to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet archives as several transfers of records from the RWB and were also collected by members of the Alumni Association.
Dance Collection Danse and York University both house other material pertaining to Gladys Forrester.
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