Ninette de Valois
(1898-2001), Founder and Director of the Royal Ballet; wife of Arthur Blackall ConnellDame Ninette de Valois (Edris Stannus)
Sitter in 27 portraits
Born in Ireland, Edris Stannus began her training with the Lila Field Academy for Children in London. She took the stage name Ninette de Valois and during the war danced at the Lyceum. In 1919 she became premiere danseuse at Covent Garden and she was a member of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes for two seasons, 1923-5. Resolved to form her own company, she established the Academy of Choreographic Art in 1926 and was engaged to arrange dances at the Old Vic. She founded the Vic-Wells Ballet (later The Royal Ballet) in 1931. Among the major ballets she created were Job (1931), The Rake's Progress (1935) and Checkmate (1937). She was made a Dame in 1951.
Violetta Elvin; Ninette de Valois; Margot Fonteyn
by Keystone Press Agency Ltd
bromide press print, 14 October 1954
NPG x184371
'Sadlers Wells Ballet in Italy' (Ninette de Valois; Margot Fonteyn; Pamela May)
by Unknown photographer
gelatin silver print, 1954
NPG x196076
by Anne-Katrin Purkiss
bromide fibre print, February 1988
NPG x31694
by Cecil Beaton
pencil, late 1960s-early 1970s
NPG D17943(55)
by Sir (Henry) Ashley Clarke
vintage colour snapshot print, October 1954
NPG x136203
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