Sonia Gaskell (14 April 1904 – 9 July 1974) was a Lithuanian-

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, ballet and dance director.

Life and career

Sonia Gaskell was born in

Vilkaviškis Vilkaviškis () is a city in southwestern Lithuania, the administrative center of the Vilkaviškis District Municipality. It is located northwest from Marijampolė, at the confluence of of and rivers. The city got its name from the Vilkau ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

(now located in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

), to Russian Jewish parents. She first studied ballet in

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

. In 1921 she was sent to Palestine to escape Russian

pogroms A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...

against the Jews. She relocated to Paris with her first husband in 1925, where she continued her ballet studies with Lyubov Yegorova and

Léo Staats Léo Staats (1877 - 1952) was a French dancer, choreographer and director. Life and career Léo Staats studied ballet with Francis Merante, a dancer at the Paris Opera, and reportedly made his debut in 1887. In 1908 he became Ballet Master at th ...

, and began dancing in nightclubs and touring cabaret shows during the 1930s. She danced for the

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. ...

from 1927–29 and Les Ballets de Paris where she served as director and choreographer until 1939, when she moved to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

with her Dutch husband. She worked as a dance teacher in Amsterdam, hiding from the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, but still teaching. She established and served as director of companies including Ballet Recital, Ballet Studio '45 and the Netherlands Ballet. She was founder of the Netherlands Ballet Academy in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, and served as artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet from 1961–68. Gaskell retired as director in 1969, and afterward served on the board of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

and worked in TV productions. She died in Paris. Gaskell's students included

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 third-greatest female screen ...

and noted choreographers

Hans van Manen Hans Arthur Gerard van Manen (; born 11 July 1932) is a Dutch ballet dancer, choreographer and photographer. He studied under Sonia Gaskell and Françoise Adret. Van Manen wrote many ballets. He worked for the Dutch National Ballet from 1973 ...

and

Rudi van Dantzig Rudi van Dantzig (4 August 1933 – 19 January 2012) was a Dutch choreographer, company director, and writer. He was a pivotal figure in the rise to world renown of Dutch ballet in the latter half of the twentieth century. Early life and trainin ...

Personal life

Gaskell married twice. About 1922 she married the mathematician Abraham Goldenson in Palestine, but the couple separated in 1939. She then married architect Philipp Heinrich Bauchhenss (1894–1948). She had no children.

Legacy

In 2009 the Jewish Historical Museum and the Netherlands Theatre Institute presented an exhibition based on her life and work. The Sonia Gaskell Prize is awarded for excellence in choreography.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaskell, Sonia 1904 births 1974 deaths Dutch ballerinas Dutch women choreographers Dutch Jews Ballet choreographers Lithuanian female dancers Lithuanian women choreographers Lithuanian Jews People from Vilkaviškis Jewish dancers 20th-century Dutch ballet dancers Lithuanian emigrants to France