Ruby Ginner (8 May 1886 – 13 February 1978), later Ruby Ginner Dyer, was a British dancer and dance educator, born in France. She founded a dance school, and the Association of Teachers of the Revived Greek Dance.
Early life
Ruby Mary Adeline Ginner was born in
Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...
, and moved to England at age 11. Her father Isaac Benjamin Ginner was a doctor. Her mother Lydia Adeline Wightman was born in Scotland. Her older brother
Charles Ginner
Charles Isaac Ginner (4 March 1878 – 6 January 1952) was a British painter of landscape and urban subjects. Born in the south of France at Cannes, of British parents, in 1910 he settled in London, where he was an associate of Spencer Gore a ...
became a noted painter. She trained in ballet, and studied Greek dance.
Career
Ginner was principal dancer with the
Beecham Opera Company
The Beecham Opera Company was an opera company founded by Thomas Beecham which presented opera in English in London and on tour between 1916 and 1920.Jefferson, Alan (2004) "Beecham, Sir Thomas, second baronet (1879–1961)" ''Oxford Dictionary of ...
from 1910 to 1912, then led a group of dancers performing her interpretation of Greek dance from 1913. She and her dance troupe performed at a fund raiser for the
British Red Cross Society
The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...
in 1915. She danced on the London stage, in ''An Autumn Idyll'' (1912), ''Et pois bonsoir'' (1920), ''
The Trojan Women
''The Trojan Women'' ( grc, Τρῳάδες, translit=Trōiades), also translated as ''The Women of Troy'', and also known by its transliterated Greek title ''Troades'', is a tragedy by the Greek playwright Euripides. Produced in 415 BC during ...
'' (1920), ''
Medea
In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...
'' (1920), and ''L'enfant prodigue'' (1929).
Ginner founded the Ruby Ginner School of Dance in London during World War I. She later partnered with mime
Irene Mawer
Irene Mawer (13 March 1893 – 1 December 1962), was an English exponent of mime; drama; voice; and mime in education. She was later known as Irene Dale and Irene Perugini.
Mawer was a co-founder of the Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama (19 ...
, and the school was known as the Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama. Among her students was Australian health advocate Thea Stanley Hughes, Canadian dancer
Gweneth Lloyd
Gweneth Lloyd, OC (September 15, 1901 - January 1, 1993) was a co-founder of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, a ballet teacher and choreographer.
Lloyd was born in Eccles, Lancashire, United Kingdom. She attended The Perse School in Cambridge, but be ...
, actress and dancer Irene Mulvany-Gray (and her sister Hilda Mulvany-Gray) and dance educator Beatrice "Bice" Bellairs."Pioneer Women: early British modern dancers" National Resource Centre for Dance (2008-2010). She taught movement to actors at
Constance Benson
Gertrude Constance Cockburn Benson ( Samwell; 26 February 1864 – 19 January 1946) was a British stage and film actress. Before her marriage to Frank Benson, she was known by the stage name Constance Featherstonhaugh, pronounced "Fanshaw" ().
B ...
's studio, including a young
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...
.
In 1923, Ginner founded the Association of Teachers of the Revived Greek Dance; the organization became the Greek Dance Association, and in 1951 joined the
Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) is an international dance teaching and examination board based in London, England. The registered educational charity, which was established on 25 July 1904 as the ''Imperial Society of Dance Te ...
. She was decorated for her services with the Red Cross in Greece during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Books by Ginner included ''The Revived Greek Dance: Its Art and Technique'' (1930) and ''Gateway to Dance'' (1960). Ginner offered Greek dance as a healthier, more natural way of expressive movement than more modern dance traditions:
The natural physical rhythms of mankind are being slowly crushed out of existence. In many of the arts and crafts, in the daily necessities of life, in labour, and in travel, the free, glorious, and rhythmic movement of the body has given place to the action of the machine.
Personal life
Ruby Ginner married Alexander Dyer. They had a home called St Corentin, in Boscastle, Cornwall, where her brother painted landscapes from 1915 to 1947. Ginner died in 1978, aged 91 years, at a nursing home in Newbury. Her papers, including photographs and films, are in the National Resource Centre for Dance at the
University of Surrey
The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...
. The Ruby Ginner Awards are presented annually by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
References
External links
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Christina Broom
Christina Broom (''née'' Livingston; 28 December 1862 – 5 June 1939) was a Scottish photographer, credited as "the UK's first female press photographer".
History
Broom's parents were Scottish though she was born at 8 King's Road, Chelsea, Lo ...
Museum of London
The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...