Karen Kain

This is Karen Kain (www.ballerinagallery.com/kain)

My hero is Karen Kain. Karen Kain was born on March 28,1951, in Hamilton, Ontario Canada. In Canada she was known to be a Prima Ballerina. Karen’s full name is Karen Alexanderia Kain. She is the daughter of Charles Alexander, an electrical engineer and her mother was Winifred Mary Kain, a real estate agent. Karen always dreamed of being a dancer but her father always wished that she would go to school and get a good education.

This is Karen Dancing (www.ballerinagallery.com)

Karen’s career was a Ballet dancer. She started dancing as a shy child at the age of 11 years old. At the age of 18 in 1969 she auditioned at the National Ballet School of Dance and was accepted. She was very excited and yet scared because it was a whole new adventure away from home. Her teacher was Celia Franca. In school she was partnered with Frank Augustyn, a male dancer. He was born in Hamilton, Ontario to a family of German and Polish descent. His father worked as a steel worker. Frank’s interest was gymnastics and that love turned into a love of dance. Frank’s father couldn't understand his son’s interest in something reserved for women. But in the late 1960’s, he was simply an innocent young man pursuing a dream to become a dancer.

Then after years of dancing he became a male dancer at the National Ballet School with Karen. The two danced many years all over the world becoming known as the Golden Dust Twins and a household name in Canada, in the mid 1970’s. The two practiced long hard hours everyday. Karen was a perfectionist. She always was the one who stayed late to practice long after everyone had left. It was all that hard work that made her a star. The two danced in many performances including Sleeping Beauty , Houston TX, The Cinderella Gang, Hamilton, Palace, 1986, Café Dances, 1991, The Nutcracker, Ottawa, 1972, Romeo and Juliet, Toronto, Ontario, 1972,and The Mirror Walkers.

The similarities between myself and Karen are that she has a great love of dance and I have a great love for dance as well. The differences between us are that I only dance at a dance school not an academy. However my love for dance is the same as Karen’s. I started dancing when I was 5 years old and now I am 12 years old. I attended Lorraine Judd Dance School. The school was founded in 1959 in Seymour, CT. My teachers are Ms. Karen, my ballet teacher, Ms. Suzanne, my tap teacher,and Ms. Kelly, my jazz teacher. These teachers are pros at dancing because they have danced there a long time. Another teacher that I like is a Jazz teacher, Ms. Diane. Ms. Diane has been dancing for 32 years at the same dancing school I go to. The artistic director/owner is Suzanne T. Winoski who attended Allentown College and majored in Dance. I know this is the only start in my dance career but with hard work and practice I can someday be as well known and admired as Karen Kain. I see that she had many people, including her own father, not believe in her yet she believed in her abilities and she became a success.

Karen Kain dancing (www.ballerinagallery.com)

Karen Kain retired in 1997. She will always be a household name in Canada and in many dancers’ hearts everywhere including mine. She will always be known as the Prima Ballerina.