Collection RAD/2/BED - Phyllis Bedells Archive Collection

7 boxes; 8 albums (1.5m)

British ballerina born in Bristol on 9 August 1893 (died 2 May 1985). Bedells began her career at London's Empire Theatre in 1907 supporting Adeline Genée and Lydia Kyasht. She became 'Prima Ballerina' at the Empire in 1913, the first British dancer to hold this position. In 1920 she became a founding member of the Association of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain (Later the RAD) and was also one of the original committee members of the Camargo Society in 1930. Bedells continued performing until 1935 and teaching until 1966. Her autobiography - My Dancing Days - was published in 1954. She was actively involved with the RAD all her life receiving the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award in 1958 and the Fellowship in 1971. In 1979, the Academy initiated the Phyllis Bedells Bursary award in honour of her services to the RAD over the years.

The archive contains a variety of materials – programmes, press cuttings and photographs – which provide a comprehensive record of Bedells’ professional dancing career as well as some personal papers and correspondence relating to her work for the RAD and teaching activities. The complete manuscript of her autobiography, My Dancing Days (1954), is housed alongside several other interview transcripts and scripts for radio programmes or magazine articles presenting a very detailed profile of her life and career.