Ninette de Valois - Vic-Wells Ballet

Vic-Wells Ballet

At its formation, the Vic-Wells ballet had only six female dancers, with de Valois herself working as lead dancer and choreographer. The company performed its first full ballet production on 5 May 1931 at the Old Vic, with Anton Dolin as guest star. Its first performance at Sadler's Wells, was on 15 May 1931. As a result of the success of the ballet company, de Valois hired new dancers and choreographers to work with the company. She retired from the stage herself after Alicia Markova joined the company and was appointed Prima Ballerina in 1933.

Under de Valois' direction, the ballet company flourished in the 1930s, becoming one of the first Western dance companies to perform the classical ballet repertoire made famous by the Imperial Russian Ballet. She also set about establishing a British repertory, engaging Frederick Ashton as Principal Choreographer and Constant Lambert as Musical Director in 1935. She also choreographed a number of her own ballets, including her most notable works, Job (1931), The Rake's Progress (1935) and Checkmate (1937). Eventually the company included many of the most famous ballet dancers in the world, including Margot Fonteyn, Robert Helpmann, Moira Shearer, Beryl Grey, and Michael Somes. In 1949 the Sadler Wells Ballet was a sensation when they toured the United States. Margot Fonteyn instantly became an international celebrity.

In 1947, de Valois established the first ballet school in Turkey. Formed as the ballet school of the Turkish State Opera and Ballet in Istanbul, the school was later absorbed into and became the School of Music & Ballet at Ankara State Conservatory, a department of the Hacettepe University.

De Valois was not one to rest on laurels, though. She made sure that her company had a constant supply of talent, and in later years the company had such stars as Svetlana Beriosova, Antoinette Sibley, Nadia Nerina, Lynn Seymour, and, most sensationally, Rudolf Nureyev. de Valois also invited choreographers like Sir Kenneth MacMillan and George Balanchine to work with her company. She formally retired from the Royal Ballet in 1963, but her presence continued to loom large in the company.

She was known as very stern and formidable, and perhaps for that reason someone gave her the nickname 'Madam.' The nickname stuck, and from then on even in formal articles and interviews she was called 'Madam.' She would good-naturedly sign 'Madam' in correspondence.

The Royal Ballet continues to be recognised as Britain's leading classical ballet company and one of the foremost companies of the 20th century and is based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.

In 1935, she married Arthur Connell, an Irish surgeon who died in 1986. They did not have children. Ninette de Valois was the cousin of author Wei Wu Wei.

She continued to make public appearances until her death at age 102 in London.