Elisabeth Schooling

Elisabeth Schooling (27 April 1915 – 22 June 1998) was a British ballet dancer.

Early life Elisabeth Schooling was born in Hendon, London in 1915.

Career

From 1928, Schooling studied with Marie Rambert, and she danced in Ballet Club's (which later became Ballet Rambert) first seasons. Her first solo role was as the Bride in a 1934 ballet entitled Mermaid, which was choreographed by Susan Salaman and Andrée Howard, using music by Ravel.

Also in 1934, it was noticed that Schooling had a very similar appearance to the barmaid in Édouard Manet’s painting Un bar aux Folies Bergère. Marie Rambert’s husband Ashley Dukes suggested there might be a ballet around the picture, also introducing can-can dancers. Bar aux Folies-Bergère was first performed on 15 May 1934 at the Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill, London. Although the role was created by Pearl Argyle, Schooling danced it subsequently.

In 1938, her future husband Frank Staff did his first choreography for Ballet Rambert, in The Tartans, a new version of Frederick Ashton's ballet of the same name, for three dancers, being himself, Schooling and Walter Gore, with music by Boyce.