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Desmond Kelly

06 June 2008

Desmond Kelly talks about his life leading up to his time as Artistic Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet.

'I was born in Penhalonga, a tiny little town in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. My parents were quite ordinary people; there was no tradition of dancing or music or anything theatrical in my family. My mother was from Ireland. She'd gone to South Africa to be a nun, but found herself teaching English and Geography. She met my father, was married three weeks later, and ended up having six children! My father was a fitter and turner. When I was about five, we moved to Bulawayo, a larger town, and my sister started having dance lessons. We were very close we still are. In fact, she lives in Birmingham now. These lessons took her away from me, so I wanted to go too. I did, and I was hooked!

'When I was 14 or 15, I won an RAD scholarship to study in England. The problem was that we didn't have any money. My mother was very supportive and wrote to a charity, a sort of lottery fund, and they sent a cheque for £130 - a lot of money then - to pay for my boat trip to England and to help me live for a short while. Incredibly, 40 years later, we were performing in Eastbourne. I was staying in a tiny hotel and came down to pay my bill. The receptionist at the desk asked, "are you the Desmond Kelly from Zimbabwe?" I replied that I was, and she told me that it had been she who had written that cheque all that time before. What a small world!

'When I got to England I studied with Ruth French in London for about nine months. I got my first contract with London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet) when I was 17 - My first salary was ten pounds a week!

'I was promoted to Principal in 1963. I had never partnered a girl before I joined Festival Ballet, as we hadn't studied pas de deux in Zimbabwe. I had the good fortune to dance with Jeanette Minty and she taught me everything I know about partnering. She was a joy to dance with, and my later reputation as a partner was entirely down to her.

'It was on tour in Israel with Festival Ballet that I met my darling wife. We were on the beach and there was a sand bar some way off the coast. All the boys decided to swim to it. Denise did too, and I decided that she was the girl for me. She was colonial too - from New Zealand - and we hit it off straight away. Now we've been married for over 40 years.

'It was also with Festival Ballet that I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was my first tour. We spent three months in South America. None of us had any money, but we were invited everywhere! The company was extremely close, like a family, a bit like our Company still is today, and it was an incredible experience. We started in Mexico City and visited lots of places - Caracas, Lima, São Paola, Rio - I can't remember them all. Though now, after several decades, the novelty has worn off. The best thing about touring is definitely getting home and unpacking my suitcase!

'When Denise and I left Festival Ballet, we spent some time living in different countries, first in Switzerland, where I spent a season as a Principal with Zürich Opera Ballet. We then decided to go and see Denise's family in New Zealand. There we were both offered work, as the Royal New Zealand Ballet had heard that we were coming. We ended up staying for a couple of years and I was a Principal and Ballet Master there until 1969.

'I remember one day we were dancing in a former orange-packing factory it was real pioneering stuff in those days and I received a telegram. It was from the National Ballet of Washington DC. They invited us both to America to dance, and having decided that we were ready for a change, we took them up on the offer. We danced there for about 18 months, and it was with them that I first danced with Margot Fonteyn. She was guesting there and we danced Cinderella and La Sylphide together. Margot was amazing; a truly special woman. Some of my fondest memories of dancing are from being on stage with her she had the most incredible eyes that you could lose yourself in. I'm not one for shedding tears over pieces of dance, but a few years later, I watched her doing Swan Lake. In the second act, when she was torn away from Siegfried, she put so much grief and heartbreak into her performance that I couldn't help but cry.

'Acting is so important to me. I've always wanted to go on stage and convince the audience that I am a character, not just a smiling dancer, and Margot felt the same - she was an extraordinary dance-actress. Unfortunately, today there is more emphasis on technique.

Click here to read the second half of this article.

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