Margot Ella Florentz Lander (23 August 1910 – 18 July 1961), a prima ballerina with the
Royal Danish Ballet
The Royal Danish Ballet ( Danish: ''Den Kongelige Ballet'') is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world a ...
, was the most important Danish ballerina of the first half of the twentieth century.
Born in Oslo to Ella Florentz (1891-?), an opera singer, and Marx Gerharh (1871–1938), a journalist, Lander began studying at the Royal Danish Ballet School in 1917 and joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 1928. Two years later she married
Harald Lander
Harald Alfred Bernhardt Stevnsborg Lander (25 February 1905 – 14 September 1971) was a Danish dancer, choreographer and artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet.
Lander was born in Copenhagen. He started as a dancer, studying under ballet ...
(1905–1971), a dancer and choreographer who became the ballet-master at the Royal Danish Ballet. They divorced in 1946.
Margot Lander became principal dancer in 1933 and Denmark's first prima ballerina in 1942. She danced key roles in Harald Lander's ballets, in
August Bournonville
August Bournonville (21 August 1805 – 30 November 1879) was a Danish ballet master and choreographer. He was the son of Antoine Bournonville, a dancer and choreographer trained under the French choreographer, Jean Georges Noverre, and the ne ...
's repertoire as well as in
Coppélia
''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Éti ...
and
Swan Lake
''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...
before retiring in 1950. She was also the ballet instructor of former queen of Greece
Anne Marie.
References
Prima ballerinas
Norwegian ballerinas
Danish ballerinas
20th-century Danish ballet dancers
1910 births
1961 deaths
Royal Danish Ballet dancers
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