Lesley Collier

Lesley Faye Collier CBE (born 13 March 1947) is an English ballerina and teacher of dance. In 1972 she became a principal dancer of the Royal Ballet. In 1995 she began to teach at the Royal Ballet School.

Lesley Collier

CBE
Born
Lesley Faye Collier

(1947-03-13) 13 March 1947[1]
Orpington, England
OccupationDancer and dance teacher
Years active1965–present

Early life

Born at Orpington in Kent to Roy & Mavis née Head, Collier began dancing at the age of two and won a scholarship to attend the Royal Ballet School. In 1965 she completed her years at the school and for her graduation performance danced the leading role in Frederick Ashton's The Two Pigeons.

Dancing career

Upon leaving the Royal Ballet School in 1965, Collier joined the Royal Ballet. In 1968 she was given her first solo roles.[2] She went on to perform in all of the important classical ballets,[3][4] and in 1972 became a principal dancer.[5]

On 13 November 1978 Collier danced with Wayne Sleep in a Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium.[6]

In 1981 The Ballet Goer's Guide called her "a dancer of sparkling technique and speed".[7]

During her dance career Collier was leading ballerina in Giselle, La fille mal gardée, Anastasia, Romeo and Juliet, and Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

Subsequent career

After retiring in 1995 she joined the teaching staff of the Royal Ballet School.[8]

Family

In late 1977 in Westminster, Collier married Nicholas A. Dromgoole, once Headmaster of Pierepont House School, latterly ballet correspondent of The Times.

On DVD

References
  1. "Lesley Collier - Oxford Reference". www.oxfordreference.com. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  2. Selma Jeanne Cohen, International Encyclopedia of Dance: a project of Dance Perspectives Foundation, Inc. (Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 186
  3. Annabel Thomas, Lucy Smith, P. Bessant, Ballet & Dance: Part 1 (1987), p. 44
  4. 'Collier, Lesley', in The World Who's Who of Women (International Biographical Centre, 1980), p. 207
  5. Robin May, The World of Ballet (1989), p. 38: "Lesley Collier is British and was born in 1947. A pupil of the Royal Academy of Dancing and of the Royal Ballet School, she joined the company in 1965 and became a principal in 1972."
  6. 1978, London Palladium Archived 2 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine at eabf.org.uk, accessed 13 February 2012
  7. Mary Clarke, Clement Crisp, The Ballet Goer's Guide (1981), p. 338
  8. Lesley Collier at the Ballerina Gallery, accessed 13 February 2012
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