Yvonne Cartier (27 February 1928 – 11 May 2014) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

-born

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 ...

dancer and instructor, and mime. Her artistic biography coincides with the rebirth of theatrical dancing in England after World War II.

Ballet career

Born in the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

suburb of

Saint Heliers Saint Heliers is an affluent seaside suburb of Auckland with a population of as of This suburb is popular amongst visitors for the beaches, cafés, and views of Rangitoto Island, the distinctive volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf. St. Helier ...

on 27 February 1928, Cartier began dancing on stage at the age of four in a

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

. While studying ballet with Valerie Valeska and Bettina Edwards, she saw the Borovanski Ballet on tour, and decided to make dance her career. In 1946, following in the footsteps of Bettina Edward's student

Rowena Jackson Rowena Othlie Jackson (also known as Chatfield; born 24 March 1926) is a New Zealand former prima ballerina. Early life Jackson was born in Invercargill on 24 March 1926 to William Ernest Jackson and Lilian Jane, née Solomon. As a young child ...

, she emigrated to England on scholarship to 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 choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

, studying with Winifred Edwards, George Goncharov,

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 ...

and Audrey de Vos. In London, she joined the Saint James' Ballet, run by Alan Carter. With Michel de Lutry (ballet master for the project), his wife Domini Callaghan, and Sonia Hana, Yvonne Cartier took part in one of the very early television programmes,

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's ''Ballet for Beginners''. When the Ballet for Beginners Company went on tour, it was joined by

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...

(later the film-maker), who danced Coppelius to Yvonne Cartier's Swanhilda. She then took odd jobs in revue theatre in London, such as Sauce Tartare with

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, t ...

. It was whilst dancing in

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

that she came across Larice Arlen, ballet mistress, wife to the Managing Director of Sadler's Wells Opera. Larice Arlen pushed Cartier to re-audition for

Sadler's Wells Theatre Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...

Ballet, which she joined, and there created ballets for John Cranko, Andrée Howard, Walter Gore and

Ninette de Valois Dame Ninette de Valois (born Edris Stannus; 6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, ...

. At Ninette de Valois' request, she then joined the main company at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

. There, she also danced all the classics.

Mime and dance instructor

Following a serious injury to the ankle, inoperable at the time, Cartier left England for France in 1957, and worked for 20 years as a mime with the celebrated troupes of

Jacques Lecoq Jacques Lecoq (15 December 1921 – 19 January 1999) was a French stage actor and acting movement coach. He was best known for his teaching methods in physical theatre, movement, and mime which he taught at the school he founded in Paris known as ...

and Marcel Marceau, and as choreographer and movement specialist to theatre companies. At the Ecole Charles Dulin, she taught mime and movement, and then acted as assistant to

Michael Cacoyannis Michael Cacoyannis ( el, Μιχάλης Κακογιάννης, ''Michalis Kakogiannis''; 11 June 1922 – 25 July 2011), sometimes credited as Michael Yannis, was a Greek Cypriots, Greek Cypriot theatre and film director, writer, produce ...

for '' Les Troyennes'' at the Théâtre National Populaire, which production she later staged for the Festival d'Avignon. She also assisted

Georges Wilson Georges Wilson (16 October 1921 – 3 February 2010) was a French film and television actor. He was the father of French actor Lambert Wilson. Biography Wilson was born in Champigny-sur-Marne, Seine (now Val-de-Marne) as the illegitimate s ...

for his staging of ''Grandeur et Décadence de la Ville de Mahagonny''. Thereafter, she returned to the classical dance, teaching in several Paris-area Conservatoires, notably the

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

Conservatory. Cartier trained several high-level artists including Muriel Valtat and Betina Marcolin. She was Consultant to Beryl Morina's authoritative ''Mime in Ballet'' (2000). Cartier was the photographic model for Gordon Anthony in Felicity Gray's ''Ballet for Beginners'' (1952), and she continued to teach and coach in Paris until her death, on 11 May 2014.

References

* Devliotis, Cherie: ''Dancing with delight : footprints of the past : dance and dancers in early twentieth century Auckland'', Polygraphia, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cartier, Yvonne New Zealand ballerinas Ballet teachers New Zealand mimes 2014 deaths 1928 births Entertainers from Auckland 20th-century New Zealand dancers 20th-century New Zealand educators New Zealand expatriates in England