Ellen Juliette Collin Price de Plane (21 June 1878,

Snekkersten Snekkersten is a former fishing village and current neighbourhood in the southern part of Helsingør, Denmark. Snekkersten station is an interchange between the Coast Line between Copenhagen (to Copenhagen) and the Lille Nord railway to Hillerød ...

- 4 March 1968,

Brøndby Municipality Brøndby Kommune (), a municipality ( da, kommune) in the former Copenhagen County (now Region Hovedstaden), is on the east coast of the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and has a total p ...

), better known as Ellen Price, was a Danish ballerina and actress, and a model for the statue ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...

'' 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 ...

. Price was born in a well-known artistic family: her father Andreas Nicolai Carl Price (1839–1909) and her mother Helga Collin (1841–1918) were ballet dancers in

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 ...

. Her father's cousin,

Juliette Price Elise Juliette Christiane Price, usually known as Juliette Price, (1831–1906) was a Danish ballet dancer. She studied under August Bournonville, becoming his favourite dancer. Early years Born in Copenhagen, Price was the daughter of the mim ...

(1831–1906), was a Danish

prima 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 ...

and a number of Price's other relatives were actors and musicians. Ellen Price as La Sylphide

In 1889 - 1895, Price was trained at school of

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 ...

and joined the theater of Royal Danish Ballet; she debuted on May, 28th 1895 with a

pas de trois In ballet, ''pas de trois'' is a French term usually referring to a dance between three people. Typically, a ''pas de trois'' in ballet consists of five parts: #Entrée (the opening number for the three dancers, usually preceded by a short i ...

in the ballet ''Window'' (La Ventana) written by composer

Hans Christian Lumbye Hans Christian Lumbye (; 2 May 1810 – 20 March 1874) was a Danish composer of waltzes, polkas, mazurkas and galops, among other things. Beginnings As a child, he studied music in Randers and Odense, and by age 14 he was playing the trumpet in a ...

and choreographed by August Bournonville. In 1903, she became a prima ballerina of Royal Danish Ballet. Her roles included ''

La Sylphide ''La Sylphide'' ( en, The Sylph; da, Sylfiden) is a romantic ballet in two acts. There were two versions of the ballet; the original choreographed by Filippo Taglioni in 1832, and a second version choreographed by August Bournonville in 1836. ...

'', ''Cinderella'', and ''Little Mermaid''. The role of the Little Mermaid gave her the most unexpected glory. The ballet ''The Little Mermaid'', based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy-tale and set to music by

Fini Henriques Valdemar Fini Henriques (baptized ''Finni'') (20 October 1867 at Frederiksberg - 27 October 1940 in Copenhagen) was a Danish composer and violinist. His parents were hospital inspector and justice counsel Vilhelm Moritz Henriques (1828-1889), ...

, was staged by the choreographer

Hans Beck Hans Beck (6 May 1929, Greiz – 30 January 2009, Markdorf) was the German inventor of Playmobil toys. He is often described as "The Father of Playmobil". He began to make toys at an early age and trained as a cabinet maker, before being recruit ...

(1861–1952) in 1909 with the

. Among spectators of ballet had been Danish brewer and art collector Carl Jacobsen; the ballet left such a strong impression on him that he commissioned sculptor

Edvard Eriksen Edvard Eriksen (10 March 1876 – 12 January 1959) was a Danish–Icelandic sculptor. Biography He apprenticed as a wood carver, after which he trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts between 1894 and 1899. Eriksen's most famous work i ...

to create a statue of the Little Mermaid. Though Price agreed to model for the statue, she refused to pose nude and her likeness was only used for the head of the statue. For the body of the statue, Eriksen used his wife Eline Eriksen as a model. The bronze statue that Eriksen created was unveiled on 23 August 1913 and presented to the city by Jacobsen. ''

'' statue has since become a symbol of

. Price worked in Royal Danish Ballet until 1913. Afterward, she pursued a career as a dramatic actress. She worked at drama theater of city Aarhus and acted in two

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

s. She died on 4 March 1968 in

; she was buried in the small city of

Gudhjem Gudhjem is a small town and fishing port on the northern coast of the Baltic island of Bornholm, Denmark. Its population is 736 (1 January 2022). Gudhjem is a popular venue for tourists who are attracted by its steep, picturesque streets, views ...

on the Danish island Bornholm in a southwest part of

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

External links

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Ellen 1878 births 1968 deaths Prima ballerinas Danish ballerinas Danish stage actresses People from Helsingør Municipality Danish artists' models Danish silent film actresses 20th-century Danish actresses Royal Danish Ballet dancers 19th-century Danish ballet dancers