Nancy Elizabeth Oliphant (August 5, 1918 – July 12, 2004) was a co-founder of the National Ballet School of Canada.

Life

Oliphant was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1918. Her father was a lawyer who died within weeks of her birth in a train crash. Oliphant suffered from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

as a child and her doctor prescribed

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 ...

lessons to help with her breathing. Her mother obtained lessons from a Miss Sheen who had been taught by others trained in Russia. Throughout her career Oliphant was known for following a Russian ballet style in her teaching.Betty Oliphant
29 July 2004, The Telegraph, retrieved 4 August 2016 She studied with

Tamara Karsavina Tamara Platonovna Karsavina (russian: Тамара Платоновна Карсавина; 10 March 1885 – 26 May 1978) was a Russian prima ballerina, renowned for her beauty, who was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and l ...

, Laurent Novikoff and

Marie Rambert Dame Marie Rambert, Mrs Dukes DBE (20 February 188812 June 1982) was a Polish-born English dancer and pedagogue who exerted great influence on British ballet, both as a dancer and teacher. Early years and background Born to a liberal Lithuan ...

. By the age of 17, she had opened her own school having decided that she was too tall to be top dancer herself. She moved to Canada in 1947. In 1951, she became ballet mistress for the

National Ballet of Canada The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca as the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...

at the request of

Celia Franca Celia Franca (25 June 1921 – 19 February 2007) was a co-founder of The National Ballet of Canada (1951) and its artistic director for 24 years. Early life Franca was born Celia Franks in London, England, the daughter of an East End tailo ...

, the company's director. She and Franca founded the National Ballet School of Canada in 1959. Alumni include Frank Augustyn,

Rex Harrington Rex Howard Harrington, (born October 30, 1962 in Peterborough, Ontario) is a Canadian ballet dancer.Karen Kain Karen Alexandria Kain (born March 28, 1951) is a Canadian former ballet dancer, and was the artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada from 2005 - 2021. Early training and childhood Kain's mother enrolled her daughter in ballet training ...

, John Alleyne, James Kudelka and Veronica Tennant. She had been trained in the

Cecchetti method The Cecchetti method is variously defined as a style of ballet and as a ballet training method devised by the Italian ballet master Enrico Cecchetti (1850–1928). The training method seeks to develop essential skills in dancers as well as streng ...

of classical dance. In 1959, she became associate artistic director for the National Ballet of Canada, but resigned in 1975 to devote herself to the school. She retired in 1989. She was known for her strict manner, high standards and insistence on technique. She wrote an auto biography where she recounted her difficult private life consoled by her career success. She was appointed an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

in 1972, and promoted to a Companion of the Order in 1985. In 1988, the National Ballet School of Canada named its new performance space the Betty Oliphant Theatre. In 1996, she published an autobiography ''Miss O: My Life in Dance'' (). She died in St. Catharines, Ontario at the age of 85.Betty Oliphant
at ''

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

References

External links

Betty Oliphant
at ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliphant, Betty 1918 births 2004 deaths Canadian ballerinas Canadian female dancers Companions of the Order of Canada British emigrants to Canada Members of the Order of Ontario Dancers from London Ballet mistresses English ballerinas English female dancers