Dame Ninette de Valois memorial

One of the world’s foremost figurative sculptors, Richard MacDonald, together with dancer Sergei Polunin, visited the Royal Ballet School in Covent Garden, London on one of a series of exploratory visits to sculpt contributory works for a memorial to the school’s founder, Dame Ninette de Valois.

When completed in April 2012, the monumental work, which Mr MacDonald is still conceptualising, will stand in the grounds of the Royal Ballet Lower School, White Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey.

The American has been taking inspiration for the work from the Principal Dancers of the Royal Ballet including Tamara Rojo, Carlos Acosta, Roberta Marquez and Thiago Soares and former Royal Ballet School students Sergei Polunin, Marianela Nunez and Steven McRae.

Dame Ninette de Valois was born on June 6, 1898, Blessington, Ireland, and died on March 8, 2001.

She appeared in revues and pantomimes from 1914 before joining the Ballets Russes as a soloist in 1923. She founded the Academy of Choreographic Art in 1926 to teach movement to actors and co-founded the Camargo Society in 1930. In 1931 she founded and directed the Vic-Wells Ballet; this became the Sadler’s Wells Ballet (1946 – 1956) and later the Royal Ballet (1956), which she directed until 1963.

She choreographed many ballets in the 1930s and 1940s and remained active with the company until 1971.