Ninette de Valois
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Dame Ninette de Valois OM CH DBE |
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|---|---|
Ninette de Valois aged 16
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| Born |
Edris Stannus 6 June 1898 Blessington, County Wicklow, Ireland |
| Died | 8 March 2001 (aged 102) Barnes, London, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Citizenship | British |
| Education |
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| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1900s–90s |
| Organization | |
| Known for | Ballet |
| Notable work | |
| Home town | London |
| Title | Founder & Artistic Director |
| Term | 1931–1963 (Royal Ballet) |
| Predecessor | None (Founder) |
| Successor | Sir Frederick Ashton |
| Spouse(s) | Arthur Connell |
| Awards |
Albert Medal (1964) Laurence Olivier Award (1992) |
Dame Ninette de Valois OM CH DBE (6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Anglo-Irish dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. She began life in Ireland as Edris Stannus. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, later establishing the Royal Ballet, one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century and still one of the leading ballet companies in the world. She also established the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of ballet and as the "godmother" of English and Irish ballet.
Ninette de Valois was born on 6 June 1898 at Baltyboys House, an 18th Century manor house near the town of Blessington, County Wicklow, Ireland, then still part of the United Kingdom, the second daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Stannus DSO, a British Army officer, by his marriage to Elizabeth Graydon Smith, a distinguished glassmaker known as Lilith Stannus. She was named Edris and in 1905 moved to England, to live with her grandmother in Kent.
The young Edris Stannus started attending ballet lessons in 1908, at the age of ten, and at the age of thirteen she began her professional training at the Lila Field Academy for Children. It was at this time that she changed her name to Ninette de Valois and made her professional debut as a principal dancer in pantomime at the Lyceum Theatre in the West End. In 1919, at the age of 21, she was appointed principal dancer of the Beecham Opera, which was then the resident opera company at the Royal Opera House. She continued to study ballet with notable teachers, including Edouard Espinosa, Enrico Cecchetti and Nicholas Legat.
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