1. Phyllis Bedells was a British ballerina and dance teacher.
13 Facts About Phyllis Bedells
1. 2.
Phyllis Bedells's father was a clerk for the Bristol Gas Company; both parents were musical.
3.
Phyllis Bedells's father founded the Bristol Amateur Operatic Society, and both Phyllis and her mother appeared in the society's productions.
4.
Phyllis Bedells studied ballet with Malvina Cavallazzi, Alexander Genee, Adolph Bolm, Enrico Cecchetti, and Anna Pavlova.
5.
From 1907 Bedells was a dancer at the London Empire Theatre and became the first British prima ballerina there in 1914.
6.
Phyllis Bedells left in 1916 to dance in West End musical revues and in opera ballets at Covent Garden.
7.
Phyllis Bedells appeared in two silent films, Fairyland and The Land of Mystery.
8.
Phyllis Bedells was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Dance in 1920 and helped to draw up its first syllabus.
9.
Phyllis Bedells retired from performing in 1935, giving a farewell performance at the London Hippodrome.
10.
Phyllis Bedells became a ballet teacher and an examiner for the Royal Academy of Dance.
11.
Phyllis Bedells published her autobiography, My Dancing Days, in 1954.
12.
In 1979, the annual Phyllis Bedells Bursary was established in her honour.
13.
Phyllis Bedells died in 1985, in Henley on Thames, aged 91 years.