Ninette de Valois

Dame Ninette de Valois was born Edris Stannus on 6 June 1898 in County Wicklow, Ireland, into a gentry family. Her father was a British Army officer, and her mother was a glassmaker.

Early dancing career

She moved to England in 1905 and began ballet lessons at age ten. At thirteen, she started professional training, changed her name to Ninette de Valois, and made her professional debut as a principal dancer in a West End pantomime. By 1919, she was principal dancer of the Beecham Opera at the Royal Opera House, and she continued studying with notable teachers.

Ballets Russes

In 1923, she joined Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, staying for three years. She performed across Europe, was promoted to Soloist, and created roles in famous ballets such as Les biches and Le Train Bleu.

During this time, she mentored the young Alicia Markova, who later became a celebrated prima ballerina. De Valois later said she learned how to run a ballet company from Diaghilev. She reduced her dancing in 1924 after doctors found damage from undiagnosed childhood polio.

London and Dublin dance schools

After leaving the Ballets Russes, she founded the Academy of Choreographic Art in London in 1927, aiming to create a repertory company with a distinct British style. That same year, poet W. B. Yeats suggested she start a ballet school in Dublin, and she established the Abbey Theatre School of Ballet, which ran until 1933.

Her London students gained experience performing at The Old Vic, where she choreographed short ballets. When Sadler’s Wells Theatre reopened in 1931, she moved her school there, renaming it the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School, and formed the Vic-Wells Ballet company. These became the foundations of the Royal Ballet, the Royal Ballet School, and the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Vic-Wells Ballet

During these years, de Valois choreographed many ballets, sometimes commissioning music from Irish composers. The Vic-Wells Ballet began with six female dancers, with de Valois as lead dancer and choreographer. Its first full ballet performance was on 5 May 1931 at the Old Vic, followed by a debut at Sadler’s Wells ten days later. As the company grew, she hired new dancers and choreographers.

She retired from the stage in 1933 after Alicia Markova joined as Prima Ballerina. Under de Valois’s direction, the company became one of the first Western troupes to perform the Imperial Russian Ballet repertoire. She built a British repertory by engaging Frederick Ashton as Principal Choreographer and Constant Lambert as musical director in 1935, and she choreographed notable works herself, including Job. She is widely regarded as a hugely influential figure in ballet and the “godmother” of English and Irish ballet.