Toni Lander

Toni Lander née Pihl Petersen (1931–1985) was a Danish ballerina who specialized in the ballets of August Bournonville. After becoming a solo dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet in 1950, she was a guest dancer with the Original Ballet Russe in 1951. She was then engaged by the Paris Opera Ballet until 1954. Lander also appeared with the London Festival Ballet in the late 1950s and with the American Ballet Theatre in the 1960s. After a few years back in Denmark in the early 1970s, in 1976 she joined the Ballet West in Salt Lake City. After a short illness, she died there of cancer in May 1985.

Early life Born in Gentofte on 19 June 1931, Toni Pihl Petersen was the daughter of Knud Åge Carl Pihl Petersen (1905–1972) and Agnes Margrethe Andersen (1907–1950). While with the Ballet West, she presented Études at the Paris Opera, Budapest Opera and the National Ballet of Amsterdam. In 1983, she had divorced Marks and was ready to accept an invitation to become the first female artistic director for the Royal Danish Ballet. She was prevented from doing so by a rapidly developing cancer which led to her death in Salt Lake City on 19 May 1985, aged only 53.