Peggy van Praagh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dame Margaret "Peggy" van Praagh, DBE, OBE (b. 1 September 1910, London, England - d. 15 January 1990, Melbourne, Australia) had a long and distinguished career in ballet as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, producer, advocate and director.
Peggy van Praagh was educated at King Alfred School, London. She studied dance in London, and joined Ballet Rambert in 1933 and danced there and with Sadler's Wells until 1945 before becoming a teacher at Sadler's Wells Dance Theatre (1945 - 1956). She maintained a long, fruitful association with choreographer Antony Tudor.
From 1956 until 1960 she undertook freelance teaching and producing in Germany, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Holland and the USA.
She came to Australia in 1959 and became artistic director of the Borovansky Ballet in 1960. She was instrumental in establishing the Australian Ballet in 1962. She was artistic director of the Australian Ballet from 1962 - 1974, and again in 1978.
She died, aged 79, in Melbourne in 1990.
[edit] Affiliations/Honours
- Fellow of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (London), 1933
- Member of the Royal Academy of Dancing, 1969
- Hon. D. Litt (University of New England), 1974
- Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE, 1966)
- Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE, 14 June 1970)
- Queen Elizabeth Coronation Prize
- Special Artist's Award, Australia Council, 1975
- Britannica Australia Award for Arts, 1970
- Honorary life member of the Australian Ballet Foundation, 1979.
