Dame Antoinette Sibley

February 2013 saw former ballerina Dame Antoinette Sibley turn 74 years old, marking huge achievements in her life to date as one of the Royal Ballet's great classical ballerinas who was a fantastic interpreter of the Frederick Ashton repertoire. She both created and inherited roles from the ballerina Margot Fonteyn too. In time, both went on to become President of the Royal Academy of Dance, and now Darcey Bussell has taken over this role, another dancer of the Royal Ballet. She was the first ballerina to progress through both divisions of the Royal Ballet School and later created fantastic performances with Anthony Dowell, adding to many milestones in her career, making her one of the greatest ballerinas to emerge in the second half of the century. She joined the then Sadler's Wells Ballet School after studying at the Cone Ripman school, and her vivacious spirit and dancing quality caught the eye of Ninette de Valois. Sibley joined the company in 1956 and was cast first as Swanilda in Coppélia at the Royal Ballet School's first ever performance: de Valois thought they should have young graduates in the lead roles and Sibley went on to become a soloist. 1960 saw Sibley become a Principal of the company. In 1964 Ashton created the role of Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Sibley, casting Dowell as Oberon, and creating another famous partnership in the company's history. The pair went on to do classics such as Sleeping Beauty, as well as Macmillan's Romeo and Juliet and many other contemporary works. Sibley announced her retirement in 1979 in order to focus on her private life, following her performances of many great works including the title role in Manon, going against her usual performance persona. However, a couple of years later Sibley found that she was stronger than in previous years, and she returned to many of her most famous roles such as Manon, Aurora, Cinderella and Chloe. What a wonderful inspiration for dancers young and old. We hope Dame Antoinette had a wonderful birthday!