Beryl Grey

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

London, England
Occupation(s)Ballet dancer, ballerina
Spouse
Dr. Sven Gustav Svenson
​
​
(1950⁠–⁠2008)​
Children1

Dame Beryl Elizabeth Grey

FRSA
(née Groom; 11 June 1927 – 10 December 2022) was a British ballet dancer.

Early life

Beryl Elizabeth Groom was born in

Sadler's Wells School in 1937[3] where her teachers were Ninette de Valois and Vera Volkova.[5]

Career

In August 1941, she was taken into the company at the age of fourteen and joined them during a provincial tour, at

Le Lac des Cygnes
.

In 1942, Robert Helpmann created the first role for her in his second ballet The Birds where she was The Nightingale. In April 1943, she created her first dramatic role as Duessa in Ashton's ballet, The Quest, which was based on Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene. On 1 March 1944, she first portrayed the main role of Giselle in Derby. She then performed the role in London for the first time on her seventeenth birthday. Grey is also known for her interpretation of Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, which she first performed in 1946. She first performed the role of Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty on 20 June 1946 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

She was invited to screentest for the part of the French Princess in Laurence Olivier's 1944 film Henry V, who had been introduced to Grey by Helpmann. However when de Valois heard, she put an end to it.[2][6]

From 1957 until the mid-1960s, Grey was an international guest ballerina across Europe, South America, Australasia, the Far East, the United States and Canada. In 1957, she became the first English dancer to appear as a guest ballerina with the

This Is Your Life in April 1974 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews
at the London Festival Ballet's Donmar rehearsal studios in London's Covent Garden.

Personal life and death

Grey was married to Sven Svenson until his death in 2008. The couple had one son together, Ingvar.[4][2]

Grey died on 10 December 2022, at the age of 95.[4][2]

Awards, titles and positions

She held numerous honorary doctorates and had been Vice President of the Royal Academy of Dancing since 1980, was President of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing

Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to dance.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Birthday's today". The Daily Telegraph. 11 June 2013. Archived from the original on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2014. Dame Beryl Grey, former prima ballerina, 86
  2. ^ a b c d e Pritchard, Jane (11 December 2022). "Dame Beryl Grey obituary". The Guardian.
  3. ^ a b Fisher, Hugh. Beryl Grey. Adam and Charles Black: London (1955), pp. 5-21
  4. ^ a b c Wiegand, Chris (11 December 2022). "Dame Beryl Grey, British ballerina with 'all the gifts', dies aged 95". The Guardian.
  5. ISBN 978-1-55553-421-9
    .
  6. ^ "Dame Beryl Grey obituary". Pehal News. 11 December 2022.
  7. ^ "Dame Beryl Grey, DBE". dbpt associates. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  8. ^ Dame Beryl Grey biography Archived 16 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine, istd.org
  9. ^ "No. 61962". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2017. p. B25.

External links

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