Paula Doris Hinton (1 June 1924 – 5 November 1996) was an English ballet dancer who became the wife and dancing partner of the choreographer

Walter Gore Walter Gore (8 October 1910 – 16 April 1979) was a British ballet dancer, company director and choreographer. Early life Walter Gore was born in Waterside, East Ayrshire Scotland in 1910 into a theatrical family. From 1924, he studied a ...

Biography

Born in Ilford, Essex, Hinton was the daughter of travelling opera singers who settled in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Already in her mid-teens, she studied ballet there making her début in 1943 as Helen of Troy in ''Dr Faustus'' at the Playhouse, Liverpool. The following year,

Andrée Howard Andrée Howard (3 October 1910 – 18 April 1968), originally Andrea, was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. She created over 30 ballets, of which almost nothing remains. Early life Andrée Howard was born in London on 3 October 1910. ...

recommended her to the

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 ...

. Hinton was initially only given minor roles in ballets from the choreographers

Frederick Ashton Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the oppositi ...

Antony Tudor Antony Tudor (born William Cook; 4 April 1908 – 19 April 1987) was an English ballet choreographer, teacher and dancer. He founded the London Ballet, and later the Philadelphia Ballet Guild in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., in the mid-1950 ...

and

Frank Staff Frank Staff (15 June 1918 – 10 May 1971) was a South African ballet dancer, choreographer, producer, and company director. He was a major figure in the history of European theatrical dance in South Africa. Early life Frank Cedric Staff was b ...

. However she soon moved on to larger roles including the Queen of the Wilis in ''

Giselle ''Giselle'' (; ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (, ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet (" ballet-pantomime") in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, ...

''. After receiving further instruction from Stanislas Idzikowski and Audrey de Vos, she danced in ''

Les Sylphides ''Les Sylphides'' () is a short, non-narrative ''ballet blanc'' to piano music by Frédéric Chopin, selected and orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov. The ballet, described as a "romantic reverie","Ballet Theater", until 1955. A compact disk ...

'' and played the lead in Howard's ''

Lady into Fox ''Lady into Fox'' was David Garnett's first novel using his own name, published in 1922. This short and enigmatic work won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the Hawthornden Prize a year later. Being a work of fantasy set in the present-da ...

''. Her qualities were also noticed by their resident choreographer

in 1948 who gave her leading roles in his ''Winter Night'' and ''Plaisance''. During Ballet Rambert's 1948 tour of Australia, Gore created roles in ''Winter Night'' for himself,

Sally Gilmour Sarah Gilmour (2 November 1921 – 23 May 2004), was a British ballet dancer, and Ballet Rambert's "leading ballerina of the 1940s". The ''ODNB'' notes that she was "acclaimed in the 1940s as second only to Margot Fonteyn among British ba ...

and Hinton, and the ballet's plot mirrored the actual "love triangle" between the three of them. Up to that point, Gore and Gilmour had been in a relationship. After appearing in a dramatic role in his ''Antonia'', Hinton married Gore in January 1950. She made appearances with the

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...

, dancing the lead in the opera-ballet ''

Le Coq d'Or ''The Golden Cockerel'' ( rus, Золотой петушок, Zolotoy petushok ) is an opera in three acts, with short prologue and even shorter epilogue, composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, his last opera he completed before his death in 1908. ...

'' (music by

Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...

), and with ''Les Ballets des Champs-Elysées'' where she was burnt as a witch in Gore's ''La Damnée''. All in all, Gore created some 20 roles for her in the various companies he led, above all in his short-lived London Ballet. Hinton also spent a considerable time dancing in the Netherlands as well as in Frankfurt, Germany. In the early 1970s, Hinton returned to England to dance as a guest with the

Northern Dance Theatre Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet. The company ...

in Manchester. The ballet, ''Dance Pictures'', was a new work created by Gore for the company and premièred at The Place in London. Gore died in April 1979 while they were in

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

, Spain. Hinton attempted to revive Gore's ballets but with limited success. She died in

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

on 5 November 1996, leaving no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinton, Paula 1924 births 1996 deaths English female dancers English ballerinas People from Ilford