Dame Margaret "Peggy" van Praagh was a British ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, repetiteur, producer, advocate and director, who spent much of her later career in Australia.
Early life
Peggy van Praagh was born in London and was of Dutch, Scottish and English descent. Her father, Harold John van Praagh, was a British physician with a Jewish background and her mother was Ethel Louise née Shanks. She was educated at King Alfred School, London where she meet A.S. Neill who heavily influenced her passion for dance through artistic thinking and creativity which aided her in the dance community. Throughout the course her schooling, she was involved in a series of plays and productions.
Dancing
She began dancing very early in London at the age of 4. One review stated: "At last night's concert a dainty extra was a very charming dance by little Peggy van Praagh... Peggy is only six but she is quite a clever little artiste and is booked again for Saturday's matinee by request." Late in 1929, van Praagh was offered a two-week position at a small company formed by Anton Dolin. Despite the brief engagement, it allowed her to become a student of Margaret Craske where she studied mime with Tamara Karsavina, repertoire with Lydia Sokolova, modern expressionist dance with Gertrud Bodenwieser and ballet history with Cyril W. Beaumont. Van Praagh joined Ballet Rambert in 1933. Later she also danced with Antony Tudor's London Ballet. Van Praagh performed in some of Tudor's ballets such as Jardin aux Lilas, Dark Elegies, Gala Performance, Soirée musicale and The Planets. In the early years of World War II, she was heavily involved in staging lunch time ballet shows called Ballet for a Bob, which attracted large audiences of civilian and military personnel. In 1941, she was employed by Ninette de Valois largely to teach company classes for Sadler's Wells Ballet, although van Praagh also danced in a number of company productions including Les Patineurs, Comus and Coppelia in which she danced the leading role of Swanilda.
Choreographer and teacher
In 1945, van Praagh became a teacher at the Sadler's Wells Ballet School. She worked there until 1956. During this time 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, the Netherlands and the US.
In 1959, on the recommendation of Ninette de Valois, van Praagh was appointed Artistic Director of the Borovansky Ballet in 1960. Following the demise of the Borovansky Ballet in 1961 and its subsequent reformation as Australian Ballet, she became its founding artistic director in 1962, where she remained until 1974, and was invited back again for the 1978 season. From 1965–1974, van Praagh held the position jointly with Sir Robert Helpmann. Under van Praagh's direction, the Australian Ballet made the first of many overseas tours, developed a repertoire of ballets that included works from the established international repertoire as well as commissioned works from Australian and overseas choreographers, and hosted guest appearances by a number of notable dancers including Sonia Arova, Erik Bruhn, Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. While with the Australian Ballet, she also nurtured the development of Australian choreographers including Graeme Murphy, Ian Spink, John Meehan and Leigh Warren. Marilyn Rowe, a protégé of van Praagh, and later Director of the Australian Ballet School said of her mentor: "Peggy had a five point plan for the development of the Australian Ballet:"
A company of dancers engaged on annual contracts. Such contracts were heretofore unknown,
A repertoire of established classics together with the best works by contemporary choreographers, designers and composers
To present, as guest artists, the world's best dancers and teachers
