August 1951, what was then The National Ballet Guild of Canada launched its first cross-country audition tour. By the end of the month, the ballet had chosen 29 dancers for the troupe and was rehearsing for their first performance in the St. Lawrence Hall. For The National Ballet Guild of Canada's early performances, Franca chose classic ballets, as she believed this would allow the dancers to be properly judged by the international dance community. The first performance was in the Eaton Auditorium on November 12, 1951. The program included Les Sylphides and Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor. Development The company toured Canada extensively, with Franca, Lois Smith and David Adams as its stars. In 1964, the National Ballet adopted the 3200-seat O'Keefe Centre (now known as Meridian Hall) in Toronto as its home venue. The company moved in 2006 to new facilities at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. In 1976, Alexander Grant, former Principal Dancer with London's Royal Ballet and Artistic Director of Ballet for All, became the Artistic Director of the National Ballet. Under his leadership, the company added a number of works by Frederick Ashton to its repertoire. The National Ballet of Canada became the first Canadian company to perform at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London in 1979. In 1981 the company participated alongside Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, le Groupe de la Place Royale, the Danny Grossman Dance Company, the Toronto Dance Theatre, Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers and the Anna Wyman Dance Theatre in the Canadian Dance Spectacular, a dance show at Ottawa's National Arts Centre which was filmed by the National Film Board of Canada for the 1982 documentary film Gala. In 1989, Reid Anderson became the artistic director. He led the company through a difficult economic recession by choreographing traditional ballet pieces while also commissioning Canadian and international choreographers to create contemporary pieces. In 1995, he left the company citing a frustration of the continued funding cuts from the government, and the directorship was taken up in 1996 by choreographer James Kudelka. In 2005, Karen Kain, former Principal Dancer, became Artistic Director of the company. In 2009, Innovation debuted, a mixed programme featuring three world premieres by Canadian choreographers Crystal Pite, Sabrina Matthews and Peter Quanz. In 2011, the company premiered a new version of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet by Alexei Ratmansky. The National Ballet of Canada remains