Craske, Margaret (1892–1990)

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Craske, Margaret (1892–1990)

English ballet dancer and teacher. Born 1892 in Norfolk, England; died 1990 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Danced with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (1920) before she was forced to leave due to foot injury; returned to England where she served as assistant to Italian ballet master Enrico Cecchetti and became the leading exponent in Britain of his teachings; taught Cecchetti method in London for 7 years (1924–1931); traveled throughout India for 7 years following his death; immigrated to US (1939), where she became ballet master of American Ballet Theater in New York City (1947); taught at Metropolitan Opera School, Juilliard School, and Jacob's Pillow; opened Manhattan School of Dance; trained Antony Tudor, Hugh Laing, and Peggy van Praagh; wrote (with C.W. Beaumont) Theory and Practice of Allegro in Classical Ballet (1930) and (with Derra De Moroda) The Practice of Advanced Allegro (1956).