Nadine Paula Ann Baylis (15 June 1940 – 3 November 2017) was a British stage and costume designer, who "set the standard for modern dance costume".

Early life

Nadine Baylis was born in London, the daughter of Alice (nee Down) and Sydney Baylis, who ran a car hire business, and then a pub in

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, i ...

, west London. She went to

Lady Margaret School Lady Margaret School an all-girls' Church of England secondary school in Parsons Green, Fulham, London. It was awarded specialist school status (a government funding scheme defunct since 2010) as a Mathematics & Computing College in Septem ...

, in

Parsons Green Parsons Green is a mainly residential district in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The Green itself, which is roughly triangular, is bounded on two of its three sides by the New King's Road section of the King's Road, A308 road ...

. Baylis was educated at London's

Central School of Art and Design The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...

Career

Early in her career, Baylis worked with

Ralph Koltai Ralph Koltai CBE, RDI (31 July 1924 – 15 December 2018), was a German-born, naturalised British stage designer, who worked as associate designer of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and latterly as a sculptor. Early life Koltai was born on 31 ...

. Baylis was closely associated with

Ballet Rambert Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

, and first worked with them in 1965, and the ballets of

Glen Tetley Glen Tetley (February 3, 1926 – January 26, 2007) was an American ballet and modern dancer as well as a choreographer who mixed ballet and modern dance to create a new way of looking at dance, and is best known for his piece ''Pierrot Lunaire ...

Later life

Baylis died on 3 November 2017, and lived at Scotsgrove,

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the county border wi ...

, Buckinghamshire.

Selected productions (as designer)

*''Ziggurat'' (Ballet Rambert, 1967) *''Embrace Tiger and Return to Mountain'' (Ballet Rambert, 1968) *''Field Figures'' (Royal Ballet, 1970) *''Sacre du printemps'' (Munich State Opera, 1974) *''The Tempest'' (Ballet Rambert, 1979) *''Alice'' (

National Ballet of Canada The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca as the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...

, 1986) *''Orpheus'' (

Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson's, J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teache ...

, 1987) *''Oracle'' (National Ballet of Canada, 1994) *

Michael Corder Michael Corder (born 17 March 1955) is a British choreographer and director. Corder trained 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 ...

's ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1992) for the

Norwegian National Ballet The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet ( no, Den Norske Opera & Ballett, links=no) is a Norwegian opera company and ballet company. The first fully professional company each for opera and ballet in Norway and the only such professional organisati ...

London Contemporary Dance Theatre The London Contemporary Dance Theatre (LCDT) was a contemporary dance company, based at The Place, founded by Robin Howard with Robert Cohan as its Artistic Director. Founded in 1967, and strongly influenced by the ideas of American modern and pos ...

's ''The Phantasmagoria'' in 1987 * Ben Stevenson's ''Alice in Wonderland'' (1992) for

Houston Ballet Houston Ballet, operated by Houston Ballet Foundation, is a professional ballet company based in Houston, Texas. The company, consisting of 59 dancers, produces over 85 performances per year. History Tatiana Semenova (1955–1967) Houston dev ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baylis, Nadine 1940 births 2017 deaths British costume designers Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design People educated at Lady Margaret School