Irene Vera Young (1895 – 19 June 1975), born Irene Vera Carter, was an Australian dancer and dance educator.

Early life

Irene Vera Carter was born in

Bowral Bowral () is the largest town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. It is south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It is the main business and entertainment precinct of the Wingecarribee Shire and the Southern Highl ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, the daughter of Arthur Edward Hanslow Carter and Emily Pryor Barton Carter. She attended a convent school in

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

. From 1926 to 1932, she lived in New York City, training in modern dance as a member of the Sara Mildred Strauss Dancers.Irene Vera Young - papers, 1901-1964
State Library of New South Wales.

Career

After she returned to Australia from New York in 1932, Young ran a dance and movement school in Sydney. She gave modern "German dance" performances and lectures as a solo artist, and with her Motion Choir. Her style of dancing was likened to (or sometimes contrasted with) that of

Mary Wigman Mary Wigman (born Karoline Sophie Marie Wiegmann; 13 November 1886 – 18 September 1973) was a German dancer and choreographer who pioneered expressionist dance, dance therapy, and movement training without pointe shoes. She is considered on ...

. "Dance, for Miss Young, is not primarily, or necessarily, a matter of the legs," explained a 1934 reviewer, adding that in one work, "all the dancers stood rooted to the spot with widely-spread green skirts to emphasize their stationary state." In 1934, she danced the title role in

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

's ''

Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

'', in a production created by Raoul Cardamatis, with original music by Ramsay Pennicuick. Young "proved herself to be not only a dancer of genius, which is already well known, but an actress of marked ability," commented the report in the ''

Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known simply as ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Are Media in Sydney and founded in 1933. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before bein ...

''. She danced in a

Doris Fitton Dame Doratea Alice Lucy Walkden Fitton (3 November 18972 April 1985) was an Australian actress and pioneering theatre entrepreneur, and theatrical director and producer who became best known for establishing with 19 other actors The Independent ...

production of

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

's ''

Candida Candida, or Cándida (Spanish), may refer to: Biology and medicine * ''Candida'' (fungus), a genus of yeasts ** Candidiasis, an infection by ''Candida'' organisms * Malvasia Candida, a variety of grape Places * Candida, Campania, a ''comu ...

'' in 1937. Young toured in Japan in 1935. She won a gold medal for her dancing at the International Dance Competition, held in conjunction with the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

in Berlin. In 1941, she and Austrian dancer

Gertrud Bodenwieser Gertrud Bodenwieser (3 February 1890 – 10 November 1959), also known as "Gertrude", was a dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and pioneer of expressionist dance, expressive dance. Early life The daughter of Theodore and Maria Bondi, a wea ...

organized the Australian Association of the Creative Dance. She later published a guide, ''A System of Body Culture for Young and Old''.

Personal life

Irene Vera Carter married solicitor Charles Throsby Young in 1914. Their daughter, Barbara, born in 1915, danced with her mother's Motion Choir in the 1930s. Irene Vera Young died in 1975, aged 80 years. Her papers are in the

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Irene Vera 1895 births 1975 deaths People from Bowral Australian female dancers