Biography of Beryl Morina

BERYL MORINA Beryl Morina was 11 years old when she was accepted into the Vic-Wells School of Ballet; later to become The Royal Ballet School. Unlike the Royal Ballet School of today, there was no provision for a general education; indeed there were very few pupils under school leaving age. So after one year, albeit Beryl had gained in technical strength - she had an unusual ability for pirouettes and batterie - her parents decided to send her to Princess Mestchersky’s School in Paris to learn French among other subjects.

While in Paris, with Serge Lifar’s encouragement, she trained intensively with Madame Kschessinska. Married to the Grand Duke Andrè of Russia, she was in fact H.S.H. Princess Romanovsky-Krasinsky, but she was famous as Mathilde Kschessinska,  prima ballerina assoluta of the Maryinsky Theatre.

“Kschessinska taught with immense patience”, Beryl recalls, “If during a private lesson, I failed to pick up an enchainement, she would simply mark it through again without comment, so never to distress”. Kschessinska’s classes were well described by Arnold Haskell in his book, Balletomania (Victor Gollancz, 1934) where he observes her classes were “definitely an artistic experience.”

During this period in her training, Beryl also had double work lessons partnered by Anatole Oboukhov. About a year later, when Beryl was 13 years old, Serge Grigoriev saw her dance when visiting Kshessinska’s studio and stated that if she continued to make the same progress for the next two years, he would engage her as a soloist in The Ballet Russe. Yet it was only the following year when she was accepted into the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and worked with Massine who gave her the part of  Venus in his then new ballet  Venusberg, later to be renamed Bacchanale. However, the war intervened and Beryl, too young to travel with the company to the U.S.A. without a chaperone, spent the war years in England.

In London The Lydia Kyasht Russian Ballet was being formed, the first ballet company, following the outbreak of war, to give a season in London. Beryl Morina, still only 14 years old was engaged as a principal. She danced  The Blue Bird Pas de Deux, from The Sleeping Beauty with David Latoff; The Sugar Plum Fairy from Casse Noisette and  Prelude in  Les Sylphides. In 1941 she joined The Ballet Group directed by Pauline Grant whose ballets were performed at The Little Theatre just off the Strand. “Performances were at 1.00pm and 5.40pm in an attempt to avoid the worst of the air raids, which were mainly at night”, she recalls. The London Star Evening newspaper devoted a whole page to photographs of The Ballet Group under the heading: WARTIME BALLET CRAZE IN LONDON. Unfortunately the performances came to an end when The Little Theatre was destroyed after a night of bombing. Following a foot injury around this period, Beryl embarked upon a year’s study at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, which she never regretted.

Later, she worked for Rupert Doone who had choreographed an interesting solo for her:  Le Bal from Symphonie Fantastique (Berlioz). This was performed at the City Literary Institute with which Doone was involved.

A soloist in the London musicals of  Merry-go-Round at The Royal Adelphi Theatre and Carissima at The Palace Theatre, Beryl was première danseuse in Frank Staff’s ballet  The Triumph of Spring in Ivor Novello’s Perchance to Dream at the London Hippodrome. After the war Beryl returned to Kschessinska in Paris, this time to be coached in rèpertoire. In 1948 she joined an Arts Council company, The St. James Ballet, directed by Alan Carter. This was a very small but interesting company where almost all the artists concerned went on to have very successful careers in their individual fields of work. It was here that Beryl was given the title role in The Beggars Rhapsody (Brahms) choreographed by Angelo Andes, who had worked and studied with the Ballets Jooss and whose artistic influence affected her profoundly, enabling her, she felt, to develop a greater artistic discernment.

After an appearance on television in 1950 dancing The Aurora Pas de Deux from The Sleeping Beauty, with Jack Spurgeon, Beryl was invited as guest artist for The Israeli Ballet Theatre Company. She was then asked to give a recital and subsequently gave recitals throughout the country. For these performances, some of the dances had been choreographed for Beryl by Andes. These included a specially adapted version of  The Beggar’s Rhapsody and 3 dances to 3 of Scriabine’s Préludes: Growth, Dedication and Fulfilment.

In praise of these performances, critics would comment on Beryl’s “deep spiritual profundity”, the success of which she ascribes to “the hypnotic quality of the choreography.” By way of contrast, Andes had also arranged a Jota Aragonesa for her, with which these performances usually ended.

Before leaving the country, Beryl gave classes to the Israeli Opera Ballet, but found time to attend a choreographic course given by Anna Sokolov, whose teaching gave her the courage to do her own choreography.

Returning to England she continued teaching. This included 13 years at Bedales School and 20 years of children’s and adult ballet education (beginners to advanced) for the I.L.E.A all of which included choreographing ballets for public performances.

In 1947 she had been asked by Anna Ivanova to give the first public demonstration of Russian ballet training for The National Association of Teachers of Dancing. This formed part of the introduction to the Association of the Russian Method. As a result she was presented with the first Fellowship for that method. Today she is an examiner for that branch and on the committee as a technical and artistic adviser.

Beryl Morina was married to the late Hans Hevesi, the psychotherapist with whom she had five children.

She believes that British ballet has made enormous progress over the last thirty years, both in the way dancers are trained and in the production of dramatic ballets. However, she does have reservations about the artistic value of the continuous use of high extensions in a musical phrase, or indeed a whole composition: “The movements themselves suggest a climax or a crisis, which can be wonderful, but it is a rare musical composition which dictates a climax from beginning to end.” She recalls her teachers advice to young dancers and choreographers: “do not seek to dazzle, but to charm and transport”: Dancing in Petersburg (Victor Gollancz, 1960). Indeed Beryl Morina believes that the increasing use of acrobatics tends to eliminate the subtlety and poetry of movement - qualities which she maintains come naturally to the British soul. “Fortunately”, she reassures us, “these qualities may still be seen in some of our ballets today.”