Theilade, Nini (b. 1915)

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Theilade, Nini (b. 1915)

Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Name variations: Nina Theilade. Born June 15, 1915, in Poerwoherto, Java, Dutch East Indies; dau. of Johanna (Dom) and Hans Theilade; studied ballet in Denmark and in Paris with Lyubov Egorova; was trained in modern dance by Harald Kreutzberg.

Made stage debut as a solo dancer in Amsterdam (1929), then toured with her own dance recitals in principal European cities; was 1st solo dancer and ballet-mistress with Max Reinhardt (1931–33); made London debut in Reinhardt's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1933); toured in America (1933–34), then joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, creating roles in Massine's Seventh Symphony (1938), Nobilissima Visione (1938), and Bacchanale (1939), as well as her own Les Nuages (1940); danced in such plays as Comus, Psyche, Chloridia (title role), and The Laughing Cavalier; choreographed and appeared in such films as A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) and Lotusblomsten; taught in Brazil for many years, before opening a school in Svendborg, Denmark (1970). Decorated by the king of Denmark with royal Gold Medal of the First Class, with Crown (1936).

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