Mona Vangsaae

Mona Elly Hou Vangsaae (29 April 1920 – 17 May 1983) was a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer and instructor. At the Royal Danish Theatre, thanks to her excellent technique and dramatic versatility she became a soloist in 1942, taking roles in Bournonville's productions and in works by the Danish choreographers Nini Theilade and Harald Lander. The roles of Julie in Frederick Ashton's Romeo and Juliet and Aili in Birgit Cullberg's The Moon Reindeer were created for her. After retiring from the stage in 1962, she became an instructor for Bournonville's ballets together with her son Peter Schaufuss.

Biography Born in Copenhagen on 29 April 1920, Mona Elly Hou Vangsaae was the daughter of the shoe maker Albert Carl Hou Vangsaae (1896–1981) and Boline Vilhelmine Elise Kappen Andersen (1898–1971). She married twice, first in 1942 with the hairdresser Børge Angelo Jahncke (1911–1975) and then in 1946 with the principal dancer and ballet master Frank Schaufuss (1921–1997). She had two children: Liselotte (1943) and Peter (1949) who became an artistic director.

Vangsaae attended the ballet school at the Royal Danish Theatre from the age of six. She was trained in the Bournonville tradition by Valborg Borchsenius and Harald Lander. She found the training hard work but slowly became accustomed to performing on stage.

On retiring from the stage in 1962, together with her former husband Frank Schaufuss she was co-director of the Danish Dance Academy (Det danske ballet akademi) at Det Ny Teater until 1974. As a choreographer, in 1958 she created both Spektrum and the Mozart-based work Et Nodeblad. She was particularly successful from 1971 to 1973 with her production of Bounonville's Le Conservatoire for the London Festival Ballet. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she helped her son Peter with productions of La Sylphide and Napoli in Toronto, Marseille, Stuttgart and Berlin. She later taught girls at London's Royal Ballet School until a month before she died.

Mona Vangsaae died in Copenhagen on 17 May 1983.

Awards and honours Vangsaae was honoured as a knight of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1953.