Lucette Aldous was an Australian prima ballerina during her performing years.
20 Facts About Lucette Aldous
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Lucette Aldous was the resident principal dancer with The Australian Ballet, and well known for performing the role of Kitri in the film of Rudolf Nureyev's production of Don Quixote, receiving many honours for her years of performance including being appointed AC in the 2018 Australia Day Honours list.
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Lucette Aldous was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in September 1938 and moved to Perth, Western Australia, when she was four months old.
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Lucette Aldous started her training at the age of 3 in 1941 and studied under Australian teacher Phyllis Danaher.
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In 1955 Aldous received a scholarship to attend the Royal Ballet School in London.
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Lucette Aldous later performed in a European tour as part of the Royal Ballet partnering Rudolf Nureyev in The Nutcracker.
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Lucette Aldous later moved to Sydney for further ballet training, where in addition she attended Randwick High School.
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Lucette Aldous claimed to have had a photographic memory, excelling in English, physiology, and business.
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Lucette Aldous began her professional career dancing Variations on a Theme in Britain's oldest dance company, Ballet Rambert, in 1957 under Dame Peggy van Praagh at the Theatre Royal.
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Lucette Aldous toured with Ballet Rambert in 1957 to the People's Republic of China after Mao Zedong opened the country up.
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Lucette Aldous returned to Australia in 1970 and made her debut with the Australian Ballet as a guest artist, being appointed resident principal artist in 1971.
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Lucette Aldous performed Fool on the Hill, Dame Gillian Lynne's production for the Australian Ballet and Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1976.
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Lucette Aldous was an advocate of Boris Knyazev's floor barre as a system of training and taught it at the Australian Ballet School.
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Lucette Aldous recorded and documented the exercises involved in the system of training for future generations as she considered this system a valuable conditioning and injury preventative regime.
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Lucette Aldous was concerned with the longevity of the style and that if not properly documented it would then be forgotten and as such saw it as her duty to ensure that the style was properly preserved.
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Alder was given the role of managing the new dance department and Lucette Aldous was a teacher in the academy.
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Lucette Aldous was married to barrister Maurice Fitzmaurice from 1960, divorcing in 1972.
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Lucette Aldous then married fellow ballet dancer Alan Alder in 1972, and they had one daughter, Floeur, a dancer.
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On 5 June 2021, Lucette Aldous died in Perth, Western Australia, at the age of 82.
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Lucette Aldous was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, the highest award in Australia, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2018.