Anne Marie Vessel Schlüter (born 1 May 1949) is a Danish ballet dancer who joined the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world and originates from 1748, when the R ...

in 1965. After retiring from the stage in 1988, she headed the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

's ballet school until 2006, maintaining the traditional Danish style of August Bournonville. In 1989 she married

Poul Schlüter Poul Holmskov Schlüter (; 3 April 1929 – 27 May 2021) was a Danish politician who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1982 to 1993. He was the first member of the Conservative People's Party to become Prime Minister, as well as the first ...

who served as

Prime Minister of Denmark The prime minister of Denmark ( da, Danmarks statsminister, fo, Forsætisráðharri, kl, Ministeriuneq) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Island ...

from 1982 to 1993.

Biography

Born on 1 May 1949 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Anne Marie Vessel is the daughter of the ballet dancer Tove Schultz and the ballet director Poul Vessel Christensen. She first performed on the stage of the Royal Theatre when she was just four in the opera ''

Madame Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lut ...

''. When she was seven, she became a pupil at the Royal Danish Ballet school. That year her parents divorced but maintained a friendly relationship, contributing to her pleasant upbringing. She danced her first solo part while still a student in

Elsa-Marianne von Rosen Elsa-Marianne von Rosen (21 April 1924 – 7 September 2014) was a Swedish ballet dancer, choreographer and actress. She performed all over Scandinavia. She acted between 1939 and 1970. She appeared in the television series '' Tales of Hans An ...

's ''Jomfrukilden''. She also undertook study trips to

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. As a dancer, she performed widely in Bournonville's works, especially ''

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

'', ''Blomsterfesten i Genzano'', '' Konservatoriet'', '' Sylfiden'', ''Fjernt fra Danmark'' and '' Kermessen i Brügge'', but she also took many other leading roles including Swanhilda in ''

Coppélia ''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-� ...

'', Helena in

John Neumeier John Neumeier (born February 24, 1939) is an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. He has been the director and chief choreographer of Hamburg Ballet since 1973. Five years later he founded the Hamburg Ballet School, which also in ...

's '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', Clara in ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchai ...

'' and both the pupil and the pianist in

Flemming Flindt Flemming Flindt (30 June 1936 – 3 March 2009) was a Denmark, Danish choreographer born in Copenhagen. He studied at the Royal Danish Ballet and Ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris, Paris Opera Ballet schools, joined the Royal Danish Ballet and ...

's '' The Lesson''. In 1988, she retired from the stage to join the Royal Theatre's ballet school where she served as director until 2006. In 1991, together with

Frank Andersen Frank Andersen (born 15 April 1953 in Copenhagen) is a former Danish ballet dancer who was twice artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. He has been an influential supporter of the Danish choreographer August Bournonville. Biography Ander ...

, she produced '' Et Folkesagn'' with Queen Margrethe's scenography. She continued to give lessons at the ballet school and acted as ballet instructor at the Royal Theatre. When she was 64, she embarked on choreography with a solo for the character dancer Lis Jeppesen in ''242 år i trikot''. As of May 2019, Vessel Schlüter is still active in the theatre, with plans for a further production of ''Et Folkesagn''.

Personal life

From 1976-1982 she was married to Kim Ry Andersen, lawyer at the Danish Ministry of Justice and Danish Ministry of Culture, deputy director at the Royal Theater Copenhagen. Then her partner was the ballet dancer Alexander Kølpin, who was 16 years her junior. When she was 36 and Kølpin was 19, she gave birth to Niclas Vessel who is now an actor. On 21 July 1989 she married Poul Schlüter who was then the Prime Minister of Denmark.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vessel Schlyter, Anne Marie 1949 births Actresses from Copenhagen Danish ballet dancers Danish choreographers Spouses of prime ministers of Denmark Knights First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog Living people