Lynn Seymour
Encyclopedia
Lynn Seymour is a retired Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 ballerina
Ballerina
A ballerina is a title used to describe a principal female professional ballet dancer in a large company; the male equivalent to this title is danseur or ballerino...

 and choreographer.

She was born Lynn Springbett and studied ballet in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

.

In 1953 she was auditioned by Sir Frederick Ashton and given a scholarship to the Sadler's Wells Ballet School
Royal Ballet School
The Royal Ballet School is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in London...

. There she was in a class with Antoinette Sibley
Antoinette Sibley
Dame Antoinette Sibley, DBE is an English prima ballerina. She joined the Royal Ballet in 1956 and became a soloist in 1960. During her time there she was the Royal Ballet's most popular star...

 and Marcia Haydée :"perhaps the greatest constellation of talent ever seen in one classroom".

In 1956 she joined Covent Garden Opera Ballet, then moved to the Touring Royal Ballet in 1957 and a year later to the Royal Ballet as a soloist, becoming principal in 1959.

Her first created role was the Adolescent in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's The Burrow (1958), the first of many ballets on which she worked with the choreographer.
Her lyrical technique and intense dramatic powers were developed through the wide range of roles which she created with him including the Girl in Invitation (1960), the Fiancée in Baiser de la fée (1960) and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (1965, though Fonteyn danced the role at the ballet's premiere).

These works established her as the leading dance-actress of her generation, but she also danced the classic roles including Odette-Odile (1958) Giselle and Aurora (both 1960), and created roles in Sir Frederick Ashton ballets including the Young Girl in The Two Pigeons (1961) in which she began a much praised partnership with Christopher Gable
Christopher Gable
Christopher Gable, CBE was an English ballet dancer, choreographer, and actor.Born in London, Gable studied at the Royal Ballet School, joining the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet in 1957...

.

She was prima ballerina at Berlin Opera Ballet (1966–69) under MacMillan's direction and created the role of Anna Andersen in the one-act version of Anastasia (1967), after which she guested with various companies including London Festival Ballet, National Ballet of Canada
National Ballet of Canada
The National Ballet of Canada is Canada's largest ballet troupe. It was founded by Celia Franca in 1951 and is based in Toronto, Ontario. Based upon the unity of Canadian trained dancers in the tradition and style of England's Royal Ballet, The National is regarded as one of the premier classical...

, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is a modern dance company based in New York, New York. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey...

, London Contemporary Dance Theatre
London Contemporary Dance Theatre
The London Contemporary Dance Theatre was a contemporary dance company, based at The Place, founded by Robin Howard with Robert Cohan as its Artistic Director....

 and American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre , based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century. It continues as a leading dance company in the world today...

.

In 1971 she returned to the Royal Ballet as principal guest ballerina (until 1978) with new MacMillan tempestous characters such as the Grand Duchess Anastasia in the three-act version (1971) and Mary Vetsera in Mayerling (1978) and created Ashton's Isadora in Five Brahms waltzes in a manner of Isadora Duncan (1975) and Natalia Petrovna in Ashton's A Month in the Country (1976).

In 1973 she made her first ballet for the Royal Ballet Choreographic Group : Night Ride (mus. Finnissy). Her other works include Gladly, Sadly, Badly, Madly for LCDT (mus. Davis, 1975), Wolfie for Rambert Dance Company
Rambert Dance Company
Rambert Dance Company, is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it would exert a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingdom, and today, as a contemporary dance company, it continues to be one of the...

 (mus. Mozart, 1987) and Bastet for Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (mus. Berkeley, 1988).

She was artistic director of Munich State Opera Ballet (1978–80), then she briefly returned to the Royal Ballet before retiring and working subsequently as occasional coach at Covent Garden.

She has also appeared as an actress in the Herbert Ross
Herbert Ross
Herbert Ross was an American film director, producer, choreographer and actor.-Early life and career:Born Herbert David Ross in Brooklyn, New York, he made his stage debut as Third Witch with a touring company of Macbeth in 1942...

 1987 movie Dancers with Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974...

 and come back to the stage with Northern Ballet Theatre
Northern Ballet Theatre
Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet...

 in Gillian Lynne's A Simple Man (1987), with Second Stride in Escape at Sea (1993) and with Adventures in Motion Pictures in Matthew Bourne
Matthew Bourne
Matthew Bourne OBE is a British classical and contemporary ballet and dance choreographer.-Biography:Matthew Bourne was born in Hackney, London in 1960. He went to William Fitt and Sir George Monoux School in Walthamstow, London...

's Swan Lake (1996) and Cinderella (1997) in which she created the role of the Stepmother.
In 1989, at the invitation of Peter Schaufuss, she came out of retirement to dance again the title role of MacMillan's Anastasia witn the English National Ballet
English National Ballet
English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin and based at Markova House in South Kensington, London, England. Along with the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Scottish Ballet, it is one of the four major ballet companies in Great...

in New York.

In 2006-07 she worked in Athens where she served as artistic director of the Greek National Ballet.
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