12 December 2022 10:32

Dame Beryl Grey, RAD Vice President dies at 95

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of RAD's Vice President and former ballerina Dame Beryl Grey at the age of 95.

Beryl began ballet at the age of four. At ten she was given a scholarship to the Vic-Wells Ballet School and joined Sadler’s Wells Ballet four years later. In 1957 she made ballet history, dancing Odette/Odile with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, and Giselle with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad.

She continued to dance as a guest ballerina with companies throughout the world until the mid-1960s. In 1966 she became director general of the Arts Educational School, and Governor of London Festival Ballet, where she was later artistic director (1968-79).

Dame Beryl received numerous honorary doctorates in recognition of her work. She was awarded the CBE in 1973 and created a Dame of the same order in 1988 and became a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Birthday honours list in 2017. She was also awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award by the RAD in 1995.

Find out more about the wonderful life and amazing contribution Dame Beryl Grey made to dance in this Dance Gazette article, Life in Full Colour.