Angèle Albrecht (12 December 1942According to the birth certificate entry in the register of births, marriages and deaths of the Freiburg im Breisgau registry office dated 15 December 1942; also found in Niehaus 1972, p. 135 bzw. 2nd ed. 1978, .; Reclam's ''Ballet Encyclopaedia'' erroneously states 16 November. – 1 August 2000) was a German

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...

Life and career

Born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Albrecht was the daughter of the Munich painter and stage designer

Elmar Albrecht Elmar Albrecht (14 May 1915 – 3 November 1997) was a German painter and scenic designer. Life Born in Munich, after an internship at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Albrecht began studying at the Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule München in the ...

. After training with Lula von Sachnowsky and at the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

in London, she had engagements at the

Mannheim National Theatre The Mannheim National Theatre (german: Nationaltheater Mannheim) is a theatre and opera company in Mannheim, Germany, with a variety of performance spaces. It was founded in 1779 and is one of the oldest theatres in Germany. History In the 18 ...

(1960/61) and at the Hamburg State Opera (1961–1967), where she was discovered as a "great ballerina" under George Balanchine. From 1967 she was a solo dancer in the ''ballet du XXième siècle'' by

Maurice Béjart Maurice Béjart (; 1 January 1927 – 22 November 2007) was a French-born dancer, choreographer and opera director who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He developed a popular expressionistic form of modern ballet, talking vast th ...

in Brussels for many years, where she was successful in ''Bhakti'', '' Boléro'' and ''

The Rite of Spring , image = Roerich Rite of Spring.jpg , image_size = 350px , caption = Concept design for act 1, part of Nicholas Roerich's designs for Diaghilev's 1913 production of ' , composer = Igor Stravinsky , based_on ...

'', among others. Guest tours took her to Berlin and Venice (1964), Spain (1965), Munich (1966) and Zurich (1967) with the ballet of the Hamburg State Opera, and to Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Cuba, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal with the "ballet du XXième siècle" among others. In 1979, she retired from the stage and founded a ballet school in Brussels, which she gave up in the mid-1980s. She then taught in Munich, among others in the Dance Project and in the Roleff-King Ballet School. She had been married since 1969 to the (exiled) Polish concert pianist and composer Piotr Lachert (later divorced), who dedicated the ballet ''Angelica'' to her in 1972. Her son Tigran Albrecht is the offspring of her relationship with the choreographer Lorca Massine, the eldest son of Léonide Massine. Albrecht died in Munich at the age of 57. Her estate is located in the

Deutsches Tanzarchiv Köln The Deutsche Tanzarchiv Köln (German Dance Archive Cologne) is a national information and research centre for concert dance in Germany. It is located in the MediaPark in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, with an archive, library, video library a ...

Repertoire

* Calliope in ''Apollon Musagète'' (George Balanchine) – Hamburg 1962. * Walzer in ''Les Sylphides'' (

Michel Fokine Michael Fokine, ''Mikhail Mikhaylovich Fokin'', group=lower-alpha ( – 22 August 1942) was a groundbreaking Imperial Russian choreographer and dancer. Career Early years Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a prosperous merchant an ...

) – Hamburg 1962. * Cholerikerin in ''Die Vier Temperamente'' (George Balanchine) – Hamburg 1963. * Die Nacht in ''Orpheus und Eurydike'' (George Balanchine) – Hamburg 1963. * Ariadne in ''Bacchus und Ariadne'' (George Skibine) – Wuppertal 1964. * Beide Hauptrollen in ''Concerto barocco'' (George Balanchine) – Hamburg 1966. * Hauptrolle in ''Symphony in C'' (George Balanchine) – Hamburg 1966. * Carmen in ''Carmen'' (

Roland Petit Roland Petit (13 January 192410 July 2011) was a French ballet company director, choreographer and dancer. He trained at the Paris Opera Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets. Life and work The son of shoe designer Ros ...

) – Hamburg 1967. * Anna II in ''Die Sieben Todsünden'' (Dragutin Boldin) – Lübeck 1967. * Die Auserwählte in ''Sacre du Printemps'' (Maurice Béjart) – Brüssel 1967. * Klassische Partie in ' (Maurice Béjart) – Avignon 1967. * Fliederfee in ''Ni fleurs ni couronnes'' (Maurice Béjart) – Grenoble 1968. * La Femme in ''Baudelaire'' (Maurice Béjart) – Brüssel 1968. * Königin Mab in ''Romeo et Juliette'' (Maurice Béjart) – Brüssel 1968. * Shakti in ''Bhakti'' (Maurice Béjart) – Avignon 1968. * Yolande in ''Les 4 Fils Aymon'' (Léonide Massine/Paolo Bortoluzzi/Maurice Béjart) – Avignon 1969. * Elle in ''Les Vainqueurs'' (Maurice Béjart) – Brüssel 1969.

Reception

* Wilfried Hofman: "Angele Albrecht is a stroke of luck: she is an entirely original dancing talent, a woman of high, exotic and yet classical beauty and at the same time a modest, uncorruptible girl".Wilfried Hofman: ''Junge deutsche Tänzer: Angele Albrecht''. In ''Das Tanzarchiv'', 17. Jg. issue. 10 March 1970, pp. 309f. * Malve Gradinger: "a technically highly brilliant interpreter with a strong personality". Published in: Ballett-Journal / Das Tanzarchiv, No. 4 v. 1 October 2000,

Notes

References

External links