It was a year of transition, with choreographers known for dancing in hobnailed boots learning to tip-toe in pointe shoes and to swirl about in diaphanous fabrics. Heralding a return to intimacy, couples dancing was big &emdash; witness the swing-dance revival, the ballroom boom and the welcome rerun of Forever Tango. Old was definitely new again, as seen in retrospective shows like Fosse: A celebration in Song and Dance.

This hankering for the past continued to fuel the trend for ethnic nostalgia shows. Riverdance and Lord of the Dance were still going strong, and in their wake came a Canadian version of the Celtic roots phenomenon, Needfire. Below, a list of the years notable shows, in alphabetical order:

1. Serge Bennathan: C'est Beau Ca, la Vie!
2. Dominique Dumais: the weight of absence
3. Paul-André Fortier: La part des anges
4. Kimberley Glasco dancing in La Bayadère
5. Ginette Laurin: En Dedans
6. Eddison B. Lindsay: Danse Belé
7. Jose Navas: One night Only 3/3
8. Jean-Pierre Perreault: Les années de pélèrinage
9. Lata Pada: Yatra: An inner Journey
10. Gerry Trentham: Cathedral