Blue Plaque for Dame Ninette de Valois Founder of The Royal Ballet

Dame Ninette de Valois O.M. (1898-2001) was commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque on the 6 June 2006 at 11am at 14 The Terrace, Barnes, London, where she lived from 1962 to 1982.  Ninette de Valois was responsible for transforming the status of ballet in Britain and founded The Royal Ballet, The Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Royal Ballet School.  The timing of the unveiling is particularly apt as it marks de Valois’ birthday on 6 June and falls within the 75th anniversary of The Royal Ballet this year. 

Ninette de Valois was born Edris Stannus in County Wicklow, Ireland; her professional name reflected a possible connection with the French royal family.  Her family moved to London around 1908 and de Valois was enchanted by the ballet performances of Adeline Genée, Anna Pavlova, and the Diaghilev Ballet.  She was taught ballet by Lila Field and became known as one of her “Wonder Children”, before going on to become a leading dancer in London and joining Diaghilev’s “Ballet Russe” in 1923.  The two years de Valois spent with “Ballet Russe” formed her tastes and set firm her resolve to form a British ballet company.

De Valois established her “Academy of Choreographic Art” in 1926, and embarked on production work at the Festival Theatre in Cambridge, the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, and London’s Old Vic.  Diaghilev's death in 1929 left Britain almost without real ballet, but within a year de Valois, Lydia Lopokova, Marie Rambert and others formed the “Camargo Society” to put on a programme of original and classical ballets.

In 1931, Lilian Baylis asked de Valois to set up a ballet company and school at the new Sadler's Wells and it was there that she developed the talent to make English ballet possible. While under the guidance of de Valois, Constant Lambert, and Frederick Ashton, the company staged many successful new works.  Although Sadler's Wells was a modest theatre, committed to providing cheap seats for “artisans and labourers”, by the end of the Second World War the Vic-Wells Ballet was internationally renowned.

In 1946, the Vic-Wells Ballet was invited to become resident at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and in 1956 the company and school were granted a Royal Charter. Dame Ninette, as she was by then, though her pupils and dancers knew her as 'Madam', had fulfilled her ambition – England had a state-sponsored national ballet and the future of her company and school was secure.  De Valois retired from The Royal Ballet in 1963, but she continued to be extremely busy and influential.  In 1992 she was honoured with the Order of Merit.

14 The Terrace, Barnes, was the house de Valois loved best and was close to White Lodge in Richmond Park, the lower school of The Royal Ballet School, where she taught until she was in her nineties. The house was much frequented by friends and colleagues from the world of ballet, and de Valois was well known in the area.

As a talented dancer, teacher and choreographer, Ninette de Valois choreographed more than 100 works including “Job” (1931), “The Rake’s Progress” (1935) and “Checkmate” (1937). The vision, determination and creative genius of Ninette de Valois created a legacy that continues to be acknowledged across the world today.