14 Facts About Deanne Bergsma

Deanne Bergsma was born on 16 April 1941 and is a South African ballerina, who made her career in the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden.

Deanne Bergsma was born in 1941 and showed early promise as a dancer, Deanne Bergsma first came to London in 1957 to take up a place in the Royal Ballet School, having been talent-spotted by Claude Newman, former principal dancer and ballet-master of the Vic-Wells Ballet and now a visiting examiner of the Royal Academy of Dance.

Deanne Bergsma climbed rapidly through the ranks to become a principal ballerina and appeared in a wide array of roles, both classical and contemporary, until her retirement in 1975.

Deanne Bergsma was touring worldwide and was rarely out of the headlines.

Deanne Bergsma's development was supervised by one South Africa's most formidable dance teachers, Marjory Sturman.

Deanne Bergsma regularly took part in eisteddfods and school productions of the classics and was encouraged to take an RAD examinations.

Deanne Bergsma was partnered variously by Donald MacLeary, Keith Rosson, Desmond Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev.

Deanne Bergsma made her mark in many ballets of Ashton and Balanchine.

Deanne Bergsma had the benefit of personal coaching from Balanchine himself and from Bronislava Nijinska for the role of the Hostess in one of her best-known ballets, Les Biches.

Two years later Rudolf Nureyev and Deanne Bergsma danced together in filmed excerpts of this ballet.

Deanne Bergsma retired from the company in 1974, although she returned in 1988 to take the role of Berta in a revival of Ashton's Ondine.

Deanne Bergsma served on the judging panel for the Young British Dancer of the Year competition in 2011, and as a judge in the semi-finals of the Genee International Ballet Competition in 2010.

Deanne Bergsma coached younger dancers in several of her former roles.

Deanne Bergsma served for eight years as a member of the Royal Ballet's Board of Governors, which has oversight of the Royal Ballet companies in London and Birmingham and of both the junior and senior Royal Ballet schools.