Yvonne Cartier facts for kids

Yvonne Cartier (born February 27, 1928 – died May 11, 2014) was a talented dancer, teacher, and mime artist from New Zealand. Her amazing career happened during a time when theatrical dancing in England was being reborn after World War II. She helped shape the world of dance for many years.

Early Life and Ballet Dreams

Yvonne Cartier was born in a place called Saint Heliers in Auckland, New Zealand, on February 27, 1928. She started dancing on stage when she was just four years old, performing in a pantomime show.

As she grew up, Yvonne studied ballet with teachers like Valerie Valeska and Bettina Edwards. When she saw the Borovanski Ballet perform, she knew that dancing was what she wanted to do with her life.

Moving to England for Dance

In 1946, Yvonne followed in the footsteps of another student, Rowena Jackson. She moved all the way to England because she earned a scholarship to the famous Royal Ballet School. There, she continued to learn from great teachers such as Winifred Edwards, George Goncharov, Vera Volkova, and Audrey de Vos.

While in London, Yvonne joined a group called the Saint James' Ballet, led by Alan Carter. She even took part in one of the very first television shows about ballet! It was called Ballet for Beginners on the BBC. She worked with Michel de Lutry, Domini Callaghan, and Sonia Hana on this show. Later, when the Ballet for Beginners Company went on tour, a young man named Ken Russell joined them. He would later become a famous filmmaker.

Yvonne also took on different dancing jobs in London, including in musical shows called revue theatre. She even danced in a show called Sauce Tartare with the famous actress Audrey Hepburn. During her time dancing in cabaret shows, she met Larice Arlen, who was a ballet mistress at the well-known Sadler's Wells Opera.

Dancing at Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden

Larice Arlen encouraged Yvonne to try out again for the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. Yvonne succeeded and joined the company! There, she helped create new ballets for important choreographers like John Cranko, Andrée Howard, Walter Gore, and Ninette de Valois.

Because Ninette de Valois was so impressed, she asked Yvonne to join the main ballet company at Covent Garden. This was a very big deal! At Covent Garden, Yvonne danced in all the classic ballet shows.

A New Path: Mime and Teaching

In 1957, Yvonne had a serious ankle injury that couldn't be fixed with surgery at the time. Because of this, she left England and moved to France. For the next 20 years, she explored a new artistic path: mime.

Yvonne worked as a mime artist with famous groups led by Jacques Lecoq and Marcel Marceau. She also became a choreographer and a specialist in movement for different theatre companies.

Teaching and Mentoring

At the Ecole Charles Dulin, Yvonne taught mime and movement to students. She also worked as an assistant to the director Michael Cacoyannis for a play called Les Troyennes. She later helped stage this play for the Festival d'Avignon. She also assisted Georges Wilson with his staging of another play.

After her time as a mime, Yvonne returned to teaching classical dance. She taught at several Conservatoires (special music and arts schools) in the Paris area, including the Nadia Boulanger Conservatory.

Yvonne Cartier helped train many talented artists, including Muriel Valtat and Betina Marcolin. She was also a consultant for a book called Mime in Ballet by Beryl Morina, which was published in 2000. Yvonne was even the model for photographs in a book called Ballet for Beginners by Felicity Gray, published in 1952. She continued to teach and coach dancers in Paris until she passed away on May 11, 2014.