Fanny Emily Mary Hooper, known as Minnie Hooper (1876 – 1964), was an Australian dance instructor and ballet mistress. She has been credited, with

Jennie Brenan Jennie Frances Brenan (1877–1964) was an Australian dancer and dancing teacher. She was encouraged to train as a dancer by J. C. Williamson and in time she opened a dancing school which supplied his dancers and after 1910 those required by the J ...

and

Minnie Everett Minnie Everett (28 June 1874 – 7 June 1956) was an Australian ballet-mistress and producer, closely associated with the J. C. Williamson's company. She was the world's first woman producer of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. History Everett wa ...

, with maintaining the high standard of Australian dance and ballet in the 1920s, between the reigns of Emilia Pasta and

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th ...

. She had a long series of contracts with

J. C. Williamson's J. C. Williamson's, formerly Williamson, Garner, & Musgrove and Williamson and Musgrove, was an Australian theatrical management company and theatre owner. With its beginnings in the theatrical productions of J. C. Williamson and his p ...

and conducted classes at her dance studio on Pitt Street, Sydney.

History

Hooper was born in Carlton, Victoria, third daughter of George Charles Beech Hooper (April 1846 – 23 June 1920) and Emma Jane Hooper, née Taylor, (1847 – 8 July 1931), of "Strathmore", Grey Street, East Melbourne, Victoria, later of 18 Rosstown Road,

Carnegie, Victoria Carnegie is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 12 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Carnegie recorded a population of 17,909 at the 2021 census. Th ...

/ East Caulfield, Victoria. In 1894 she was appearing in shows as a member of the "Parisian Pas de Quatre" with Annie Cobb, Lena Cassellis, and Alice Mitchell. She appeared as a

harlequin Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque dialect, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the ''zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian language, Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city o ...

in the 1896 Christmas pantomime at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, choreographed by Emilia Pasta and produced by Charles B. Westmacott for

Williamson and Musgrove George Musgrove (21 January 1854 – 21 January 1916) was an English-born Australian theatre producer. Early life Musgrove was born at Surbiton, England, the son of Thomas John Watson Musgrove, an accountant, and his wife, Fanny Hodson, an ac ...

and "trouser parts" in successive pantos, the later ballets being arranged by

. In 1902 she appeared in a series of musical plays at the

Criterion Criterion, or its plural form criteria, may refer to: General * Criterion, Oregon, a historic unincorporated community in the United States * Criterion Place, a proposed skyscraper in West Yorkshire, England * Criterion Restaurant, in London, Eng ...

: George Dance's operetta '' The Lady Slavey'' directed by J. F. Sheridan, closely followed by ''Mrs Goldstein'', written by Sheridan and F. W. Weierter, and ''Little Christopher Columbus'', in which Hooper was praised. She led the ballet in ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' and a revival of ''A Trip to Chicago''. She also produced a pantomime ''Cinderella'', which ran for four weeks, and at its conclusion Hooper and Rosevear, who designed the costumes, were each presented with an engraved gold watch by a grateful Sheridan. Other work for Sheridan included ''The Lady (or New) Barmaid'' (1903) with music by John Crook, In 1919 she made a claim against

of £30 for salary withheld during government-imposed closure of theatres due to the

influenza epidemic Flu season is an annually recurring time period characterized by the prevalence of an outbreak of influenza (flu). The season occurs during the cold half of the year in each hemisphere. It takes approximately two days to show symptoms. Influen ...

. She succeeded on the grounds that the restrictions applied to Melbourne city, and her contract was not limited to the metropolitan district.

Family

Minnie Hooper married Ernest Cox Rose (died 24 June 1941) on 15 December 1896. They had one son *John David Rose (born c. 1932) They had a home, "Wiltshire Hall", Brook and Alfreda streets,

Coogee, New South Wales Coogee is a beachside suburb of local government area City of Randwick 8 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is typically associated as being part of the Eastern ...

. Two sisters were dancers: *Fifth daughter, Ruby Effie May Hooper (1885–1960) operated a dance academy in Sydney and played in pantomimes. She married a Mr Moser. *Sixth daughter Violet Alice Rose "Vi" Hooper (1887–1964) shared a dance academy with Hilda McMurtry at 343 Swanston Street, Melbourne. She married a Mr Carl.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Minnie 1876 births 1964 deaths Ballet in Australia Australian ballet mistresses