Clement Andrew Crisp

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(21 September 1926 – 1 March 2022) was a British dance critic. He served as dance critic for the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...

'' from 1956 to 2020.

Life and career

Crisp was born in

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, in 1926, although for many years he claimed that he was born in 1931. He first became interested in ballet after seeing a performance of ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...

'' as a child."Remembering Clement Crisp (1926-2022)", Royal Opera House
2 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022. After attending

Oxted School Oxted School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in the English town of Oxted, Surrey. It was opened in 1929 as the first mixed grammar school in Surrey and now has over 1900 pupils aged 11–18 (Years 7-13). History ...

, he spent a year in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, before studying at

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, t ...

. For many years he taught French before becoming dance critic for the ''Financial Times'' in 1956. He also served as dance critic of ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'' in the 1960s. His focus was on

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 ...

, having discovered it as a teenager during the

Second World War 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 ...

when his parents took him to the

Sadler's Wells Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

, though he also wrote about other forms of dance and had wide-ranging interests. Crisp was the author or co-author of 17 books on dance and dance history, including ''Ballet: An Illustrated History'', co-written with Mary Clarke and published in 1973. In 2021 a collection of his reviews, entitled ''Six Decades of Dance'', was published. He was also librarian and archivist of the

Royal Academy of Dance "Health and happiness" , predecessor = , successor = , formation = 1920 , extinction = , type = NGO , status = Registered charity , purpose = Examination board – dance education and training , headquarters = 36 Battersea SquareSW11 ...

for many years. Crisp died on 1 March 2022, at the age of 95.

Awards

Crisp was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award in 1992. In the same year he was made a Knight of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...

(

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

). In 2003,

Dance Research Dance research is the study of dance, including dance history, ethnochoreology, dance theory, dance anthropology, and dance science. Dance research as an academic discipline is relatively new. In 1967, the first volume of the ''CORD dance res ...

published a special Golden Jubilee edition of his work. In 2005, he was awarded the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are prese ...

"for services to ballet".

Books

Crisp's works included: *''Ballet: An Illustrated History'' (with M. Clarke, London, 1973, revised edition, 1992) *''Ballet for All'' (with P. Brinson, London, 1970, revised edition, 1980) *''Making a Ballet'' (with Clarke, London, 1974) *''Ballet in Art'' (with Clarke, 1976) *''Design for Ballet'' (with Clarke, London, 1978) *''Introducing Ballet'' (with Clarke, 1978) *''History of Dance'' (with Clarke, London, 1981) *''The Balletgoer's Guide'' (with Clarke, 1981) *''Dancer'' (with Clarke, 1984) *''Ballerina'' (with Clarke, 1987)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crisp, Clement 1926 births 2022 deaths Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Ballet critics Financial Times people Dance in England Librarians from London English archivists English male non-fiction writers Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century British people 21st-century British people