Edith Helena von Bonsdorff (née Anderson; 24 April 1890 – 19 April 1968) was a Danish-Finnish ballet dancer and choreographer.

Biography

Edith von Bonsdorff was born Edith Anderson on 24 April 1890 in

Ringsted Ringsted is a city located centrally in the Danish island of Zealand. It is the seat of a municipality of the same name. Ringsted is situated approximately from Copenhagen. History Ringsted was the site of ''Sjællands Landsting'' (lit. ''Z ...

Kingdom of Denmark The Danish Realm, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply Denmark, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united by the Constitution of Denmark, Constitutional Act, which applies to the entire territor ...

. In 1909 she married Per Adolf von Bonsdorff, a professor of dentistry at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

who was a member of the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and

Finnish nobility The Finnish nobility (; ) was historically a privileged Social class, class in Finland, deriving from its period as part of Sweden and the Russian Empire. Noble families and their descendants are still a part of Finnish republican society, but ex ...

. She made her debut as a dancer in Finland in 1919 with Swedish dancer and choreographer

Jean Börlin Jean Börlin was a Swedish dancer and choreographer, who was born in Härnösand on 13 March 1893, and who died in New York on 6 December 1930. He worked with Michel Fokine, who was his teacher in Stockholm. Biography Jean Börlin was held in high ...

. She performed in theatres in Helsinki and went on a performance tour in 1925 with Kaarlo Eros. In the 1920s she danced with 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 Russian Revolution, Revolution ...

. While in Paris, she danced in

Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, writer, filmmaker, magazine publisher, poet, and typography, typographist closely associated with Dada. When consid ...

's libretto-based avant-garde ballet ''Relâche''. In 1926 she was a guest artist with the

Finnish National Ballet Finnish National Ballet (Suomen Kansallisbaletti) is a professional ballet company at the Finnish National Opera, in Helsinki, Finland. The company was founded in 1922 and it currently employs 73 dancers. It is the only Finnish company that regular ...

. She choreographed for the Salome Ballet and the National Ballet in the 1950s. In 1931 she appeared in Yrjö Nyberg's film ''Say it in Finnish''. In 1961 she was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland for her contributions to the arts.

Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonsdorff, Edith von 1890 births 1968 deaths Danish ballerinas Danish women choreographers Finnish ballerinas Finnish choreographers Finnish women choreographers 20th-century Finnish nobility People from Ringsted Pro Finlandia Medals of the Order of the Lion of Finland

Edith Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning ''wiktionary:strife, strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English language, Englis ...

20th-century Finnish women 20th-century Danish ballet dancers