Longtime Royal Winnipeg Ballet director will step down in 2025, ending 50 years with company

The longtime artistic director of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet says he will step down from the role in 2025, ending a 50-year career with Canada's oldest ballet company.

Andr Lewis became the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's artistic director in 1996, and in 2018 he was also appointed chief executive officerof the company.

The company said in a statement Thursday that the board of directors has begun the transition and will launch an internationalrecruitment plan to hire his successors.

Lewis's role will be split into two, with new people coming on to take over as executive director by June 2023 and artistic directorby 2024.

Lewis began his dance training in Ottawa before being accepted into the professional division of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Schoolin 1975.

He joined the company in 1979 where he had a career as a dancer for 10 years before he shifted to a management role.