Harold Turner (dancer)
| Harold Turner | |
|---|---|
| Born |
2 December 1909 Manchester |
| Died | 2 July 1962 (aged 52) London |
| Occupation | Ballet dancer |
| Spouse(s) |
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Harold Turner (2 December 1909 – 2 July 1962) was an English ballet dancer, teacher, and ballet master. Widely recognized as "modern British ballet's first male virtuoso," he had an illustrious career as a principal dancer, after which he continued to perform in character roles. He is acknowledged as a key figure in British dance history.
Harold Turner was born in Manchester, in northwestern England. The son of Edward Harold Turner and Laura (Greenwood) Turner, he was raised in a cultured, musical household. His father was a viola player with the Hallé Orchestra, based in Manchester, and with the London Symphony Orchestra. His mother, who had interests in the performing arts, supported his decision to begin ballet training in 1925 at the relatively late age of 16. He studied first with Alfred Haines in Manchester. Blessed with a lithe, muscular physique and innate musicality, he quickly showed an aptitude for classical ballet. He made his professional debut with the Haines English Ballet while still a teenager. Then, encouraged by Léonide Massine, he moved to London and continued his studies with Marie Rambert at her school in Bedford Gardens.
Remarkably, Turner mastered classical ballet technique in very few years. He was invited to perform with a number of fledgling British ballet companies, becoming known for his virtuosity and exciting stage presence. He danced with Rambert's Ballet Club for several years, from 1928 to 1932. In 1930 the ballerina Tamara Karsavina joined Rambert's performing group as a guest artist and chose Turner, then only 20 years old, to partner her in Le Spectre de la Rose, a work originally choreographed for her and Vaslav Nijinsky by Michel Fokine. There was not much partnering to do, but the buoyant role of the Spirit of the Rose required exceptional elevation, ballon, and stamina.
In 1935, Turner joined the Vic-Wells Ballet, a predecessor of today's Royal Ballet, as a principal dancer. At the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres, he danced major roles in productions of both classical and contemporary ballets, including the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, Franz in Coppélia, Albrecht in Giselle, and Harlequin in Le Carnaval as well as in new works by Frederick Ashton and Ninette de Valois. Of the numerous roles he created during his five years with this company, the two most memorable are the Red Knight in Checkmate by de Valois and the Blue Boy in Les Patineurs (The Skaters) by Ashton. Both were created in 1937; both are principal male roles. The Red Knight is engaged in a dramatic, grim struggle of love and death with the Black Queen; the Blue Boy is a perky, lighthearted show-off performing dazzling tricks on a frozen pond. Turner excelled in each role. "It is arguable that he has never been surpassed, possibly never even equaled, in either of these very different creations. Certainly, at the time, no one else in the company could have tackled either one of them, and it was years before he was replaced in either role."
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