Dame Marie Rambert

Dame Marie Rambert
Marie Rambert in 1948
Born	Cyvia Rambam (1888-02-20)20 February 1888 Warsaw, Congress Poland, Russian Empire
Died	12 June 1982(1982-06-12) (aged 94)
Nationality	Polish-British
Occupation	Ballerina and dance pedagogue
Years active	1912–1979
Known for	Founder of Ballet Rambert, now Rambert Dance Company
Spouse(s)	Ashley Dukes (1918–1959; his death); 2 daughters

Dame Marie Rambert, Mrs Dukes DBE (20 February 1888 – 12 June 1982) was a Polish-born dancer and pedagogue who exerted great influence on British ballet, both as a dancer and teacher.

Born to a Jewish father from Warsaw, Congress Poland, and a Russian mother, she was originally named Cyvia Rambam. Her father and his siblings had to later change their last names for specific political reasons. Her father changed his to Ramberg, one of his brothers went to Rambert, and the last changed his name to Warszawski. She changed her name to Myriam Ramberg, and finally left it as Marie Rambert. In later years Marie was known to friends and dancers as Mim. She met her husband Ashley Dukes, a soldier on leave, at a dinner party in 1917. In Rambert's autobiography she says "after four days of personal meetings, and seven months of correspondence we were married on 3 March 1918." This was done partly as a joke so that Dukes could get four weeks of extended leave instead of two days. Their marriage lasted 41 years, until he died in 1959; the couple had two daughters, Angela (1920–2006) and Helena. The poet, Aidan Andrew Dun, is her grandson.

Rambert began her dance training in her schooling early on. Subjects like foreign languages and history seemed to come easy; however she was a restless child and ended up getting bad marks because of her endless movements during class. At one point in her early training her dance instructor stated that 'In her, was the true spirit of dance.' She was unimpressed with the structure and performance of ballet, and was not drawn into dance as a passion until she became enthralled by Isadora Duncan when she attended one of Duncan's performances, and was 'profoundly moved by the beauty of Duncan's dance.'

After becoming active in political riots, and the tragic day of May Day, Rambert's parents urged her at one point to move to Paris and take up medicine while safely living with her aunt and uncle who were also doctors. She attended a party where she danced a mazurka and danced it with such liveliness that there was applause afterwards; this was her first performance, whether she thought it or not. She met Raymond Duncan, brother of Isadora, at this same party, who congratulated her on a wonderful performance, and again she was back into her passion for dance. She studied with Madame Rat from the Paris Opera, and later studied with Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, at Dalcroze College who introduced her to eurhythmics.