add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
H?pital Notre-Dame Hospital (Hearst) - Recrutement de m?decins ndh.on.ca | Los Procedimientos De Transplante De Pelo - Transplante De Cejas Y Pesta?a nadermedical.com |
Dame Ninette de Valois, OM, CH, DBE (6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish dancer, teacher, choreographer and director of classical ballet. She danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, later settling in England. She is most noted for establishing The Royal Ballet, one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century and one of the leading ballet companies in the world today. She also established the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School. As one of the creators of modern British ballet, she is widely regarded as one of the most influential personalities in ballet history.
[edit] BiographyBorn Edris Stannus in Baltyboys House, Blessington County Wicklow, Ireland, she was the second daughter of Lillith Graydon-Smith, a British army office and renowned glassmaker. Stannus began ballet lessons in 1908 at age ten while living with her grandmother in Kent, and became noticed throughout England because of her graceful movements. She legally changed her name to Ninette de Valois in 1921. She danced with Serge Diaghilev's Ballet Russes. She retired in 1926 at age 28 in order to promote ballet throughout Europe. In 1926, de Valois established the Academy of Choreographic Art, a dance school for girls. Her intention was to form a repertory ballet company and school and in 1928, she was engaged by Lilian Baylis to stage dance performances at both the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres in London. She established the Vic-Wells Ballet and Vic-Wells Ballet School in studios at Sadler's Wells theatre and these would become the predecessors of today's Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School. The Royal Ballet continues to be recognised as Britain's leading classical ballet company and one of the foremost companies of the 20th century and is based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. Along with Marie Rambert, de Valois is recognised as one of the key visionaries of British ballet. She modelled her company after the Imperial Ballet of Russia, and emphasized dancing a mix of classical ballets and contemporary works. She cultivated talents slowly, and invited Sir Frederick Ashton to be the chief choreographer at her company. Eventually, her company became one of the starriest in the world, with dancers like Margot Fonteyn, Robert Helpmann, Moira Shearer, Beryl Grey, and Michael Somes. In 1949 the Sadler Wells Ballet was a sensation when they toured the United States. Margot Fonteyn instantly became an international celebrity. During early 1950s, with the help of de Valois, the first ballet school of Turkish State Opera and Ballet in Istanbul was established. De Valois was not one to rest on laurels, though. She made sure that her company had a constant supply of talent, and in later years the company had such stars as Svetlana Beriosova, Antoinette Sibley, Nadia Nerina, Lynn Seymour, and, most sensationally, Rudolf Nureyev. de Valois also invited choreographers like Sir Kenneth MacMillan and George Balanchine to work with her company. She formally retired from the Royal Ballet in 1963, but her presence continued to loom large in the company. She was known as very stern and formidable, and perhaps for that reason someone gave her the nickname 'Madam.' The nickname stuck, and from then on even in formal articles and interviews she was called 'Madam.' She would good-naturedly sign 'Madam' in correspondence. In 1935, she married Arthur Connell, an Irish surgeon who died in 1986. They did not have children.[1] Ninette de Valois was the cousin of author Wei Wu Wei. She continued to make public appearances until her death at age 102 in London. [edit] Choreography
[edit] Honours and awardsDe Valois was made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur of France in 1950, and was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1951, a Companion of Honour in 1982. In 1992 she was made a member of the Order of Merit.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: Administrators of The Royal Ballet | Ballet librettists | British arts administrators | British ballet dancers | Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire | English centenarians | Erasmus Prize winners | Irish ballet dancers | Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur | Members of the Order of Merit | Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour | Olivier Award winners | People from Barnes | People from County Wicklow | 1898 births | 2001 deaths | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
