How Siphesihle November followed his ballet dreams from South Africa to Canada

When Siphesihle November moved to Canada on Canada Day at age 11, he wasn't sure if every day would be as exciting as the celebratory atmosphere he landed in. Today, he's a principal dancer for the National Ballet of Canada.

November was born outside of Cape Town, South Africa in Zolani where he was surrounded by dance.

"My mom used to dance when she was younger — not professionally," he tells Q's Tom Power. "My cousins and my older brothers danced a lot, so I grew up around dance and music. It felt like a part of who I was and part of my personality from a young age. Everyone in the community knew me as a dancer before I knew what dancing really was."

Eventually, November took ballet classes, which he found to be very rigid and disciplined at first. "It's such a foreign way to move, it's not always natural," he says. "I think that structure and that restriction to be perfect in something was really hard to get used to because there wasn't a lot of room for interpretation. You have to be so disciplined for so long in order to be able to express yourself later on. Those early years are incredibly difficult to get through."

A Canadian couple visiting South Africa encouraged November to apply to Canada's National Ballet School. November says finding dance and ballet at such a young age showed him a path forward to move away from the poverty in his community and find more opportunities and success. He says he's been able to go home and visit his family a few times a year with the support and understanding of the National Ballet, keeping his mom and him close while missing her hugs.

After six years of studying dance at Canada's National Ballet School, November was invited to join the National Ballet of Canada as a member of the corps. He says one of the best days of his life was the day Karen Kain, former artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada, asked to meet with him.

Prior to her reaching out, November had been concerned that he wouldn't fit the roster. "Obviously ballet is typically white," he says. "The company was looking for 5'11 men to fill a spot. Well, I'm not 5'11, and I'm definitely not Caucasian."

Kain's outreach reassured November that he was wanted from the start. 

"To get that email for a meeting and for her to express how much she wanted me to join the National Ballet and to support me in my career moving forward at that time was probably one of, if not the greatest, day of my life," he tells Power. "I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I really wanted to join the National Ballet of Canada, but I just didn't know if it was possible. I wasn't sure if that's what they needed in the roster."

In 2020, he became a soloist and shortly after was promoted to principal dancer, which has added a sense of pressure that he's comfortable with. "I don't mind pressure," he says. "From a young kid coming here with pressure, going through the bout of school was pressure, getting to that point of promotion was pressure. I like it. I don't mind it when it comes to dance. I'll take [pressure] any day."

November is currently taking on the lead role of Basilio in Don Quixote and one of the lead roles in George Balanchine's Jewels, which are both being staged as part of the National Ballet's June Season.

Though he may not have loved ballet at the start of his life in dance, November says ballet is all encompassing and he feels it can speak to anyone's artistic tendencies.

"It encompasses so many things that we all love as people: movement, athleticism, artistry, visual and music," he says. "If you're into any of those things, even the slightest, you can love ballet because you can find that in every ballet…. I love taking people on a journey through movement. I love that I can guide people to be able to see themselves in the world a little bit differently, and to have interest in the world in a different way and hopefully help them reach different parts of who they are."

The full interview with Siphesihle November is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Siphesihle November produced by Cora Nijhawan.