Deanne Bergsma

Deanne Bergsma (born 16 April 1941) is a South African ballerina, who made her career in the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden. She was born in 1941 and showed early promise as a dancer, She first came to London in 1957 to take up a place in the Royal Ballet School, having been talent-spotted by Claude Newman, former principal dancer and ballet-master of the Vic-Wells Ballet and now a visiting examiner of the Royal Academy of Dance. In two years she had graduated from the school and joined the Royal Ballet company in 1957. She climbed rapidly through the ranks to become a principal ballerina and appeared in a wide array of roles, both classical and contemporary, until her retirement in 1975. This eighteen-year career coincided with an exciting period for the Royal Ballet. Apart from the stream of new works from Ashton and Macmillan the company's resident director-choreographers, it was the heyday of the partnership of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. The company was touring worldwide and was rarely out of the headlines.

Deanne Bergsma
Bergsma as Odette in Swan Lake
Born16 April 1941
Harrismith, South Africa
SpouseKeith Grant
Children2
Career
DancesBallet

Early life

Born in Harrismith in 1941 in the Orange Free State. The daughter of a doctor and one of four children. In 1946 the family moved to Pretoria. By a happy chance the new family home had an adjoining studio which was used for dancing classes. Thus at an early age Deanne was introduced to ballet. Her development was supervised by one South Africa's most formidable dance teachers, Marjory Sturman. Deanne regularly took part in eisteddfods and school productions of the classics and was encouraged to take an RAD examinations. Hence she came to the notice of Claude Newman, as mentioned above, and made her way to London and the Royal Ballet School.

Career

A tall and elegant dancer Deanne Bergsma's earliest opportunities to shine were in the classical repertoire, notably as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, as the Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty and as Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, in Giselle. She was partnered variously by Donald MacLeary, Keith Rosson, Desmond Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev. She also made her mark in many ballets of Ashton and Balanchine (famously an adherent of tall ballerinas). She had the benefit of personal coaching from Balanchine himself and from Bronislava Nijinska for the role of the Hostess in one of her best-known ballets, Les Biches. A totally new dimension was added to Bergsma's repertory and reputation in 1970, when the American choreographer Glen Tetley chose her and Desmond Kelly to create the leading roles in his new ballet Field Figures. Two years later Rudolf Nureyev and Bergsma danced together in filmed excerpts of this ballet. (See Films below).

She retired from the company in 1974, although she returned in 1988 to take the role of Berta in a revival of Ashton's Ondine.[1]

Bergsma served on the judging panel for the Young British Dancer of the Year competition in 2011,[2] and as a judge in the semi-finals of the Genée International Ballet Competition in 2010.[3]

Deanne Bergsma as The Hostess in Les Biches

Roles

Role Ballet Composer Choreographer
Firebire / Tsarevna The Firebird Stravinsky, Igor Fokine, Mikhail
Sylvia (Title Role) Sylvia Delibes, Léo Ashton, Frederick
Lady Mary Lygon Enigma Elgar, Edward Ashton, Frederick
The Lilac Fairy Sleeping Beauty Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilych Petipa, Marius & Ashton, Frederick
Berta Ondine Werner-Henze, Hans Ashton, Frederick
Lykanion Daphnis and Chloe Ravel, Maurice Ashton, Frederick
Josephine Wedding Bouquet Berners, Lord Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson Ashton, Frederick
The Polish Mother Death in Venice Britten, Benjamin Ashton, Frederick
Winter Fairy Cinderella Prokofiev, Sergei Ashton, Frederick
Birthday Offering Glazunov, Alexander Ashton, Frederick
La Valse Ravel, Maurice Ashton, Frederick
Girl with the Fan Lord of Burleigh* Mendelssohn, Felix Ashton, Frederick
Odette / Odile Swan Lake Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich Petipa, Marius (and others)
Myrtha Giselle Adam, Theo Petipa, Marius & Wright, Peter
Prayer Coppelia Delibes, Léo Petipa, Marius & Cecchetti, Enrico
Field Figures Stockhausen, Karlheinz Tetley, Glen
Raymonda (Title Role) Raymonda Glazunov, Alexander Petipa, Marius & Nureyev, Rudolf
Variation La Bayadere Minkus, Ludwig Petipa, Marius
Choleric Four Temperaments Hindemith, Paul Balanchine, George
The Siren Prodigal Son Stravinsky, Igor Balanchine, George
Terpsichore Apollon Musagete Stravinsky, Igor Balanchine, George
Pas de Trois Ballet Imperial Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich Balanchine, George
Serenade Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyish Balanchine, George
The Hostess Les Biches Poulenc, Francis Nijinska, Bronislava
The Bride Les Noces Stravinsky, Igor Nijinska, Bronislava
Requiem Canticles Stravinsky, Igor Robbins, Jerome
Allegro Concerto Shostakovich, Dmitri MacMillan, Kenneth
Chosen Maiden Rite of Spring Stravinsky, Igor MacMillan, Kenneth
Queen of Hearts Card Game Stravinsky, Igor Cranko, John
Brandenburg Bach, Johann Sebastian Cranko, John
Black Queen Checkmate Bliss, Arthur Valois, Dame Ninette de

*Lord of Burleigh is usually performed to an orchestrated version of Mendelssohns' Songs Without Words. But at a gala performance in the Maltings in 1970 Benjamin Britten accompanied Deanne Bergsma on stage at the piano.

Operas

In the later years of her career at Covent Garden Bergsma made appearances in non-singing roles in opera productions. Benjamin Britten asked her to create the role of the Polish Mother in what was be his last opera Death in Venice. This production, directed by Colin Graham, with set designs by John Piper, costumes by Charles Knode and choreography by Frederick Ashton, was premiered at the Maltings in Snape in 1973 and later performed at Covent Garden, at the Fenice Theatre in Venice and at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels. At Covent Garden she also appeared in John Schlesinger's production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann in the non-singing role of Stella. In Anthony Besch's production of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito she made a mime appearance as Titus's inamorata Berenice.

Film

Film Year Director/Choreographer Cast inc. Notes
I am a Dancer 1972 Pierre Jourdan Deanne Bergsma, Rudolph Nureyev Scenes from various ballets including Glen Tetley's Field Figures
Death in Venice 1981 Tony Palmer Robert Gard, John Shirley-Quirk, James Bowman, Deanne Bergsma and Vincent Redmon Opera by Benjamin Britten, conducted by Steuart Bedford

Post Retirement

After retiring in 1975 at Anthony Dowell's invitation she returned to Covent Garden as a guest artist in revivals of Ondine, The Firebird and as the Queen Mother in Dowell's production of Swan Lake. She also coached younger dancers in several of her former roles. She served for eight years as a member of the Royal Ballet's Board of Governors, which has oversight of the Royal Ballet companies in London and Birmingham and of both the junior and senior Royal Ballet schools. Until 2020 she served as a leading external examiner for the Royal Ballet schools.

Personal life

In 1968 she married Keith Grant, then General Manager of both the Royal Opera Company and the Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group. They have a son and a daughter.

References

  1. "Governors". Archived from the original on 12 June 2008. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
  2. "The Young British Dancer of the Year Award 2011" Ballet News (10 February 2011).
  3. "Royal Academy of Dance presents Genée International Ballet Competition 2010", Ballet News (19 November 2010).
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