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Dame Beryl Grey

(1927-), Ballet dancer and Artistic Director of London Festival Ballet

Sitter in 4 portraits
Grey joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1941 and within a year was performing leading roles. On her fifteenth birthday she danced Odette/Odile in the full-length Swan Lake. She was noted for her interpretations of the Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Queen of the Wilis in Giselle and second ballerina in Balanchine's Ballet Imperial. Her created roles included Fairy Winter in Cinderella (1948) and sixth variation in Birthday Offering (1956). She left the Company in 1957 and was the first British dancer to appear with the Bolshoi and Kirov Ballets in 1958. Artistic director of London Festival Ballet,1968-79, she was made a Dame in 1988.

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Dame Beryl Grey in 'Swan Lake'

by Unknown photographer
vintage print, 1940s
NPG x194273

Dame Beryl Grey

by Derek Allen
gelatin silver print, 1950s
NPG x198387

Dame Beryl Grey

by J.S. Lewinski
bromide print on card mount, 1968
NPG x13716

Manola Asensio; Dame Beryl Grey

by Alan Bergman
selenium-toned bromide print, 1978
NPG x125579

Groups

Ballerinas and dancers

Place

London

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The Royal Ballet at 75

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Dame Beryl Grey

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