Ninette de Valois

(pseudonym of Edris Stannus). Born June 6, 1898, in Baltiboys, Ireland. British ballerina and choreographer.

Ninette de Valois studied with E. Espinosa and E. Cecchetti and made her debut in London in 1914 at the Lyceum Theater. From 1923 to 1926 she danced with Diaghilev’s company. In 1926 she founded the Academy of Choreographic Art in London, where classical dance was emphasized. On the basis of this academy, she organized, with L. Baylis, a ballet school at the Old Vic Theater in London from which the Sadler’s Wells company (renamed the Royal Ballet in 1957) was later formed. She directed the Royal Ballet itself until 1963, whereupon she became director of its school. Among the ballets she produced were Les Petits Riens based on Mozart’s music (1922), Gordon’s The Rake’s Progress (1935) based on W. Hogarth’s series of paintings, Bliss’ Checkmate (1937), and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (1952). She is the author of books on the ballet. In 1947 she was made an honorary doctor of music by the University of London and in 1950, an honorary doctor of literature by Oxford University.