Maryon Lane
| Maryon Lane | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Patricia Mills 15 February 1931 Zululand, South Africa |
| Died |
13 June 2008 (aged 77) Kyrenia, Cyprus |
| Occupation | Ballet dancer |
| Spouse(s) | David Blair |
Maryon Lane (15 February 1931 – 13 June 2008) was a principal Ballerina with the Royal Ballet[1]
Biography
Maryon Lane was born Patricia Mills on 15 February 1931 in Zululand, South Africa. She studied in Johannesburg and in 1946 went to the Sadler's Wells School in London after winning a scholarship from the Royal Academy of Dancing. In the year afterward, she became a member of Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, founded by Ninette de Valois. It was at this point in her life that she changed her name to Maryon Lane as the theatre had another South African dancer called Patricia Miller.[1]
Aged seventeen, Lane had risen rapidly to become the principal soloist at the theatre, starring in ballets by Frederick Ashton and Ninette De Valois. By 1953, she was given the ballerine role in Coppélia and helped to create new ballets, particularly those of Kenneth MacMillan.[1] In 1953, she was cast by MacMillan in his very first creation, Somnambulism, and in the following year, she was given the lead role of the ugly little clown in Laiderette, set to the music of the Swiss composer Frank Martin.[1] In 1955 she was again the principle in Danses concertantes set to a score by Stravinsky's score. The ballet was immediately successful and De Valois transferred it to Covent Garden.[1]
By the time she was starring in Covent Garden, she had married her former Royal Ballet colleague David Blair, who had recently been promoted as Margot Fonteyn's partner. In 1960 their twin daughters were born. In 1968 she left the companybut made guest appearances, also with Festival Ballet and Ballet Rambert. She later worked as a teacher with the Royal Ballet and Ballet Rambert and then with other companies, schools and seminars.[1]
Middle aged, she moved to Cyprus and founded her own small school in Kyrenia, inviting former colleagues to visit as guest teachers.[1]
Other starring roles
Maryon Lane also starred in:[1]
- The Sleeping Beauty
- La fille mal gardée by Frederick Ashton's as a Lise.
- Pineapple Poll by John Cranko
- Mam'zelle Angot by Léonide Massine as Mam'zelle Angot.
- Petrushka by Mikhail Fokine as a vapid doll.