Peter Boneham

Peter Boneham is an American-born Canadian choreographer, dance educator, and artistic director. Born on November 7, 1934, in Rochester, New York, he received his ballet training at the Eastman School of Music before building an early performance career in New York City with companies including American Ballet Theatre, the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and the William Dollar Concert Ballet Group. In 1962, he appeared on Broadway in Do Re Mi.

In 1964, Boneham relocated to Montreal to dance with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Two years later, he joined Le Groupe de la Place Royale, Canada's first professional contemporary dance company, as assistant director. He assumed the role of artistic director in 1971, a position he would hold longer than any other artistic director at a Canadian contemporary dance company. The company relocated from Montreal to Ottawa in 1977 and presented works by Boneham alongside those of other Canadian choreographers.

In 1988, Le Groupe de la Place Royale was reconstituted as Le Groupe Dance Lab, repositioning itself as a laboratory environment for the development of emerging choreographers. Boneham stepped down as artistic director in July 2008 after designating a successor, and the organization closed the following year in 2009.

Among the honors Boneham received are the Jean A. Chalmers Award for Creativity in Dance in 1991, the Dance Ontario Award in 1992, and the Victor Tolgyesy Award in 1996. In 2005, he was presented with a Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement, and in 2008 he was appointed to the Order of Canada. A book documenting his career, Peter in Process: Peter Boneham's Sixty Years in Dance, written by Sara Porter and published by Dance Collection Danse, appeared in 2010.