Frank Joseph Augustyn,OC (born January 27, 1953) is aCanadianballet dancer and artistic director. He was principal dancer of theNational Ballet of Canada and theBerlin Opera Ballet.

Frank Augustyn was born inHamilton,Ontario. As a boy, Augustyn's interests were in gymnastics and acrobatics; he once appeared on the variety seriesTiny Talent Time as a gymnast.^[1] During a summer course at Canada's National Ballet School (often called The National) intended to help improve movement and his control for his gymnastic acrobatic training, his abilities for ballet were recognized byBetty Oliphant, founder and director of the school. Although Augustyn's parents were reluctant to have their son pursue ballet as a career, Augustyn continued in the school until at seventeen he joined the professional companyNational Ballet of Canada.^[2]

Augustyn joined theNational Ballet of Canada in 1970. He was the National Ballet's principal dancer from 1972 to 1989. From 1980 to 1981, he was principal dancer at theBerlin Opera Ballet. From 1985 to 1986, he was the principal guest artist at theBoston Ballet. From 1989 to 1994, he was the artistic director of theOttawa Ballet. He was a founding member ofBallet Revue (dancing his own piece, Personal Essay) and has appeared frequently on international television. Television viewers are familiar with Mr. Augustyn's series on ballet,Footnotes, seen on Bravo U.S. and Bravo Canada. In this series, which he co-wrote, co-produced and hosted, Mr. Augustyn outlines the history and techniques of classical ballet. He publishedFootnotes--Dancing the World's Best Loved Ballets, which was based on the television production, as well as his memoir,Dancing from the Heart.

Augustyn often danced withKaren Kain. They won the award for bestpas de deux at the 1973 Moscow International Ballet Competition, dancing the extremely difficult Blue Bird pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty. Director of the dance program atAdelphi University^[3] since 2000, Augustyn was appointed Program Chair in 2007, stepping down in 2019 appointing Orion Duckstein to chair. He is currently an assistant full time professor at Adelphi, and co-owner of Classical Ballet School of Long Island.

In 1979, Augustyn was made an Officer of theOrder of Canada.

• Doob, Penelope Reed; Bowring, Amy (16 November 2015)."Frank Augustyn".The Canadian Encyclopedia (online ed.).Historica Canada.

• 1953 births
• Living people
• Canadian male ballet dancers
• Canadian people of Ukrainian descent
• Officers of the Order of Canada
• People from Hamilton, Ontario
• National Ballet of Canada dancers

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards