Adeline Genée, born Anina Margarete Kirstina Petra Jensen, was a Danish-British ballerina, choreographer, and dance educator renowned for her refined technique and charm. Genée was adopted at the age of eight by her aunt and uncle - Antonia Zimmermann and Alexander Genée - who were both famous dancers and wanted to train their young niece for the stage. Alexander ran his own ballet company and Genée appeared with Alexander Genée’s company at the Berlin Opera and Munich Opera before coming to London. Genée made her debut at London's Empire Theatre on 22 November 1897 becoming the regular star ballerina performing in productions such as Old China (1901), The Milliner Duchess (1903), High Jinks (1904), Cinderella and Coppelia (1906).
In 1920 she became founder president of the Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain (later the RAD) and was instrumental in obtaining the Royal Charter in 1935. She continued as president of the RAD until 1954 and inspired the Genée International Ballet Competition (now The Fonteyn).
Betty Hassall was born in Cheltenham in 1909 and was a pupil of Judith Espinosa and Irene Hammond, whom she succeeded as Principal of the Hammond School in 1946. As a Children's Examiner for the RAD she was a pioneer of the original Ballet in Education syllabus and later Chairman of the Panel of Children's Examiners. An instigator of the Regional scheme she was the founding Chair of the Liverpool Region and was awarded a Fellowship of the RAD in 1979.
Kenneth MacMillan was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and began ballet classes in Retford, England, in 1940. He joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet School in 1944 and later the Sadler's Wells Ballet but gave up dancing for choreography partly due to crippling stage fright. His first choreographic work was Somnambulism, created for the Sadler's Wells Ballet Choreographic Group in 1953 and he created works for both Royal Ballet companies throughout his career. He created significant works for The Stuttgart Ballet and his works are danced by ballet companies world-wide. He has also created work for television and cinema.
Kenneth MacMillan was Director of the Deutsche Oper Ballet in Berlin from 1966 to 1969, Artistic Director of The Royal Ballet from 1970 to 1977 and its Principal Chroreographer from 1977 until his death. He was also Associate Director of American Ballet Theatre from 1984 to 1989, and Artistic Associate of the Houston Ballet from 1989 to 1992.
Kenneth MacMillan was knighted in 1983, and he received honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh (1976) and the Royal College of Art (1992). His awards include the Evening Standard Ballet Award (1979); Society of West End Theatre Ballet Award, 1980 and 1983; and, posthumously, the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production in 1993 for The Judas Tree; the Society of London Theatre Special Award in 1993; and the Tony Award for Best Choreography in 1994 for Carousel
Born in Queensland, Australia, Deborah Williams was educated in Sydney, won a scholarship to and studied painting and sculpture at the National School of Art. She moved to London in 1970, where she married Kenneth MacMillan. She has designed ballets for the stage and television and returned to painting full-time in 1984. She was a member of the Board of the Royal Opera House (1993-94) and was Chairman of The Friends of Covent Garden (1995-96). Between 1996 and 1998 she was a member of the Arts Council of England and Chair of the dance panel. She has been a member of Kenneth MacMillan and Partner LLP since 2011 and is custodian of her late husband's work.
Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE (née Hookham), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina and Prima Ballerina Assoluta of The Royal Ballet. In 1954 she succeeded Adeline Genée as president of the Royal Academy of Dance, a position she held until her death in 1991.
Lila de Nobili was a Italian stage and costume designer and fashion illustrator.
Nicholas Georgiadis was a Greek painter, stage and costume designer, best know for his work in ballet, particularly in collaboration with Kenneth MacMillan. He studied architecture in Greece, graduating in 1946, winning a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship to Columbia University, New York in 1952. In 1953 Georgiadis came to London to study Painting and Stage Design at the Slade School of Fine Art, winning the school's First Prize for Stage Design in 1955. This led to a commission from Ninette de Valois and his first collaboration with Kenneth MacMillan, on Noctambules in 1956. Although primarily known as a designer for ballet, Georgiadis also worked in opera and drama and a number of film projects. He was also an accomplished painter.
Beryl Grey was born in London and began dance classes at the age of four.
Wilson studied science at Cambridge and was an engineer by profession. His interest in ballet was sparked by a visit to see Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in the 1920s and secured when he befriended a young Beryl Grey who introduced him to key figures in the ballet world at that time.