Stanley Williams (1925–1997) was a

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

r and, later, a renowned

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

instructor.

Early days

Stanley Williams was born in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

but grew up 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 ...

, and was enrolled at the Royal Danish School of Ballet. His instruction was steeped in the

Bournonville August Bournonville (21 August 1805 – 30 November 1879) was a Danish ballet master and choreographer. He was the son of Antoine Bournonville, a dancer and choreographer trained under the French choreographer, Jean Georges Noverre, and the ne ...

tradition, training with

Harald Lander Harald Alfred Bernhardt Stevnsborg Lander (25 February 1905 – 14 September 1971) was a Danish dancer, choreographer and artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. Lander was born in Copenhagen. He started as a dancer, studying under ballet ...

, although he also studied with

Vera Volkova Vera Volkova (russian: Bepa Boлкoвa; (31 May 1905 – 5 May 1975) was a Russian ballet dancer and expatriate dance teacher. Born near Tomsk, she trained at Petrograd's Akim Volynsky's School of Russian Ballet with Maria Romanova (the mother of G ...

, a disciple of

Agrippina Vaganova Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova (russian: Агриппина Яковлевна Ваганова; 26 June 1879 – 5 November 1951) was a Soviet and Russian ballet teacher who developed the Vaganova method – the technique which derived from the te ...

. In 1943, Williams joined the

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 Ro ...

, becoming a

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be male or female. The position is similar to that of '' soloist''; however, p ...

six years later, and by 1950 he had begun teaching at the Royal Danish School of Ballet in

. In the 1950s, Stanley Williams was performing as a principal dancer with George Krista's Ballet Comique in London, where he also stood as balletmaster. By 1964, Williams's reputation had reached

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

, who invited him to instruct at the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York

From 1964 until his death in 1997, Stanley Williams was first among instructors at the

. As a teacher, he was soft-spoken. His original teaching style relied a lot on exercises to develop speed, foot work and petit allegro (small jumps), in the tradition of the

and

Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

styles. Williams contrasted slow movement with sudden, almost spastic moves, and spoke in vague terms that some students found hard to understand. One of his famous phrases was "You're going out, you have to go in," which he constantly repeated to correct many different types of movements and steps without being too specific. Williams often stressed his dislike of certain features of the

Russian ballet Russian ballet (russian: Русский балет) (french: Ballet russe) is a form of ballet characteristic of or originating from Russia. Imperial Russian Ballet Until 1689, ballet in Russia was nonexistent (ballet has its origins in the cour ...

style, which in his opinion, lacked the movement flow, continuity and contrast he was seeking. He smoked a pipe and was the only person allowed to smoke in the Rose building, where SAB and

NYCB New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fi ...

are situated. He apparently accepted the job as a teacher on the condition that he be allowed to smoke in the building. The smell of his pipe, which often pervaded the SAB corridors, became associated with him and SAB. He often worked in class with pianists like Lynn STANFORD or Katerina BAPTIST. They played for him using triolet giving an impression of a soft circle music. Katerina BAPTIST released a CD of music for the class "in memory of Stanley Williams". In 1992 he was awarded the Mae L. Wien Award of $10,000 by the

Notable students

Peter Martins Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as ...

Patrick Bissell Walter Patrick Bissell (December 1, 1957 – December 29, 1987) was an American danseur. He was a leading principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. On his death at age 30 from a drug overdose, he was described by the artistic dire ...

Gelsey Kirkland Gelsey Kirkland (born December 29, 1952) is an American ballerina. She received early ballet training at the School of American Ballet. Kirkland joined the New York City Ballet in 1968 at age 15, at the invitation of George Balanchine. She was p ...

Peter Boal Peter Boal is artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and director of its affiliated school in Seattle, Washington. He was born in Bedford, New York, in 1965 and began studies at the School of American Ballet (SAB) at age nine. Boal assume ...

Lawrence Leritz Lawrence Leritz (born September 26, 1962) is an American actor, dancer, singer, producer, director, fitness expert and choreographer. Life and career Born in Alton, Illinois, Leritz made his stage debut in the children's chorus of the world st ...

Fernando Bujones Fernando Bujones (March 9, 1955 – November 10, 2005) was an American dancer. Born in Miami, Florida to Cuban parents, Bujones is regarded as one of the finest male dancers of the 20th century and hailed as one of the greatest American male dan ...

Edward Villella Edward Villella (born October 1, 1936) is an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He is frequently cited as America's most celebrated male dancer of ballet at the time. He has won numerous awards, including the Daytime Emmy Award for Outst ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Stanley English male ballet dancers Danish male ballet dancers Dance teachers British emigrants to Denmark Ballet teachers 1925 births 1997 deaths Mae L. Wien Faculty Award recipients Danish expatriates in the United States