69 Best Performing Arts in Canada

This amazing circus is one of Montréal's great success stories. The company—founded in 1984 by a pair of street performers—has completely changed people's idea of what a circus can do. Its shows, now an international phenomenon, use no animals. Instead, colorful acrobatics flirt with the absurd through the use of music, humor, dance, and glorious (and often risqué) costumes. The Cirque has companies in Las Vegas and one each in Orlando and Los Angeles—but none in Montréal (though its HQ and a circus school are located in the northern part of the city). Nevertheless, every couple of years one of its international touring companies returns to where it all began, the Old Port, and sets up the familiar blue-and-yellow tent for a summer of sold-out shows.

An annual highlight in the first half of July is this exuberant Summer Festival, over seven days of rock, folk, hip-hop, and world music. The main concerts take place each evening on three outdoor stages in or near the Old City, including one holding up to 80,000 people on the Plains of Abraham. A pass (C$115) grants admission to all events throughout the festival. Some concerts at indoor theaters cost extra, but free music and activities, such as family concerts and street performers during the day, are also plentiful. At night rue St-Jean near the city gate turns into a free street theater, with drummers, dancers, and skits. Book accommodation several months in advance if you plan to attend.

Saint John's theater, opera, ballet, and symphony productions, along with touring bands and comedians, take place at this beautifully restored theater—and the 1912 vaudeville venue offers the most comprehensive programming in Atlantic Canada. Tours (C$2) are available from May through August during regular business hours, or by appointment September through April.

Known locally simply as The Hall, this historic building was constructed in the 1920s and served as the headquarters of the Longshoremen's Protective Union. In recent decades it has been established as an innovative theater housing the Resource Centre for the Arts Theatre Company (RCAT). It showcases professional main-stage and experimental second-space productions year-round. This theater and RCAT have been the launching pad for the province's most successful theatrical exports.

In the large plaza fronting city hall, as well as the little park across the street, neat rows of darling little wooden huts exactly like those you'd find in Germany offer stollen, steaming hot pretzels, gingerbread, mulled wine, roasted chestnuts, and other aromatic foods, while jewelry designers, wood sculptors, glassmakers, and other artisans chat animatedly with customers, as German Christmas carols play in the background. If you can’t get to Europe for the holidays, Québec City's German Christmas market is probably the most magical and most authentic you'll find in North America. The market opens in the third week of November and lasts until December 23rd.

A wide range of entertainment is staged at this fine theater next door to the provincial legislature, including international comedians and musicians, tribute bands, and cultural performances by Symphony New Brunswick, Theatre New Brunswick, and traveling ballet and dance companies.

From July through early September, actors perform works by the Bard and others in Point Pleasant Park, at the southern end of the Halifax peninsula. The natural setting—dark woods, rocky shore, and ruins of fortifications—provides a dramatic backdrop. Performances take place from Tuesday through Sunday at 7 pm, with an improv night on Mondays (weather permitting) and you can arrive up to two hours before to secure a good spot (at least 30 minutes before is recommended).

Toronto's go-to spot for experimental music, the self-titled "center for creative music" presents an eclectic selection of avant-garde and experimental music from world and classical to jazz and avant-pop in a relaxed environment.

The oldest contemporary dance company in the city, TDT has created more than 100 original works since its beginnings in the 1960s, often using original scores by Canadian composers. Two or three pieces are performed each year in its home theater in Cabbagetown.

Perhaps the most important film festival in the world after Cannes and Sundance, TIFF is open to the public and even the star-studded galas are accessible to the average Joe. More than 300 works by both acclaimed and lesser-known directors from around the world are shown. Movies that premiere at TIFF have won Academy Awards and launched the careers of emerging actors and directors—TIFF audiences have been among the first in the world to see movies like La La Land, Slumdog Millionaire, and Juno. The red carpet is rolled out for star-studded premieres, and actors and directors may be on hand afterward for Q&As. Along with the serious documentaries, foreign films, and Oscar contenders, TIFF has fun with its Midnight Madness program, screening campy horror films, comedies, and action movies.

It's not only wine drinkers who can enjoy festival fun. Victoria's annual cocktail party includes tastings, workshops, and other sipping and supping events every October.

A main theater with just under 1,000 seats is the focal point of this center, which also houses the St. John's Public Library. It is the site of musical and theatrical events from September through June.

Calgary's premier performing-arts facility is the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts, with four modern theaters and an 1,800-seat concert hall in two contiguous historic buildings. Productions by resident Alberta Theatre Projects (ATP) of works by Canadian playwrights are highly recommended, as are performances by the One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre and Theatre Calgary. EPCOR Centre also hosts the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, chamber groups, and a broad spectrum of music shows.

The Aussie Rules Foodhouse and Bar is a popular piano bar that features dueling pianos playing a wide variety of musical styles.

Most of the cultural activities in the Canadian Rockies take place in and around Banff, and these 16 buildings spread across 43 acres are the hub of that activity. The center presents pop and classical music, theater, and dance throughout the year. The season peaks in summer with concerts, performances, films, and other events, many in an outdoor amphitheater. The Walter Phillips Gallery showcases contemporary artworks by Canadian and international artists.

Friday night ceilidhs with Celtic dancing, fiddling, and a few stories thrown in for good measure, run weekly May through October. It's worth checking out the winter concert series, too.

Tickets for most shows in town are sold through this company. There are outlets around town.

For more than 40 years, Calithumpians has continued to delight family audiences with its shows about local history, folklore, and legend as well as modern social and environmental issues, always tinged with humor. Free outdoor performances run daily July through early September (12:15 pm weekdays, 2 pm weekends) in Officers' Square, and at 4:30 outside the Guard House.

Founded in 1950, the COC has grown into the largest producer of opera in Canada, and has proven innovative and often daring with presentations that range from popular operas to more modern or rarely performed works. The COC maintains its international reputation for artistic excellence and creative leadership by presenting new productions from a diverse repertoire, collaborating with leading opera companies and festivals, and attracting the world's foremost Canadian and international artists. It often hosts world-renowned performers, and it pioneered the use of scrolling SURTITLES, which allow the audience to follow the libretto in English in a capsulized translation that appears above the stage. Tickets sell out quickly. Tours (C$20 for adults; C$15 for seniors/students) of the COC's opera house, the magnificent Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, are given when the performance schedule allows (usually on Sundays); check the website for times and dates.

This arena is a huge venue where NHL hockey is played—the Ottawa Senators are the home team—and where such big-name acts as Rush perform when in town. It's 20 minutes from downtown, but double that during rush hour or when there is an event.

This artisan food and beverage fest in September features artisan island produce at its best: charcuterie boards abound with tastings paired with local ciders, microbrews, and more.

This movie theater screens lots of interesting foreign and offbeat films, and it's the only one within easy reach of Old Québec. Many of the films are shown in English.

With more than 35,000 films in its collection, and a ticket price of just C$10, Montréal's Museum of the Moving Image is the best place in the city to catch a foreign flick in its original language (with subtitles), in addition to Québécois and other Canadian productions. The museum also stocks scripts, television shows, and various new media, with a permanent display of vintage cinema equipment.

This award-winning troop has been touring the globe since 1993, and with well over 4,000 performances under its belt, shows no signs of slowing down. Constantly evolving, Cirque Éloize uses artistic mediums like video and music to bring the circus arts to the masses.

Cowboys Dance Hall includes a bar and a dance hall that plays Top 40 country, dance, and rock tunes, with live entertainment on occasion. It's open Wednesday through Saturday and holds 1,200 people.

The Rebecca Cohn Auditorium at Dalhousie University's Arts Centre hosts a full program of performances, including touring national and international entertainers—recent shows have ranged from Rufus Wainwright and Mavis Staples to comedian Billy Connolly and various tribute bands—and opera and classical concerts featuring Symphony Nova Scotia.

Canada's longest-running dinner theater, established in 1979, specializes in fun, fluffy musicals, with a season spanning late June through August. Watch lively shows while chowing down on a buffet meal.

From France to Jamaica to Cabo Verde, from traditional to contemporary sounds, this eclectic two-week music and dance festival brings together over 700 artists from 30 countries, for the biggest world music gathering in the Americas. At the outdoor stages in the Quartier des Spectacles, you'll find an appealing selection of pop-up restaurants and bars, a family area, open-air workshops with master dancers and drummers, and a Timbuktu market. Check the website for concerts held year-round.