Shirley Rees Edwards

Shirley was born in Torquay. Her mother sent her to a small local dance school where her talent for classical ballet was spotted. At fourteen she left Torquay and trained for eighteen months at the Royal Ballet School. Shirley was not happy at the school and returned home for a short time before she auditioned for Marie Rambert. After three weeks in the Rambert School she was promoted to the Company and began dancing principal roles aged sixteen.

In this interview, Shirley recalls working with Marie Rambert, Angela Ellis and Anna Ivanova and with choreographers such as Walter Gore and David Paltenghi. Shirley also talks about touring and remembers endless hours waiting on Crewe railway station and even having to share a bed with five other dancers when digs were scarce. Throughout the interview, works such as ‘Kaleidoscope’ (1949) by Walter Gore, Paltenghi’s ‘Prismatic Variations’ (1950) and ‘Movimientos’ (1952/1952) by Michael Charnley are remembered and described. Shirley vividly recalls life with Marie Rambert and reflects on the ways in which ‘Mim’, as Marie Rambert was known, has continued to be a source of inspiration throughout her life.

00:03:44 ‘Winter Night’ (Gore, 1948)
00:05:29 Mercury Theatre
00:06:09 Anna Ivanova
00:09:42 Southern Ballet Company
00:11:03 Touring the UK
00:22:50 Walter Gore and Paula Hinton
00:24:47 ‘Prismatic Variations’ (Paltenghi, 1950)
00:46:51 Margaret Hill
00:54:38 ‘Dark Elegies’ (Tudor, 1937)

Interview recorded on 12 December 2016 in Dorset.
Interviewer: Claire Izzard; Filmmaker: Paul Izzard

The Rambert Voices oral history project is part of Rambert at 90, a project marking the company’s 90th anniversary, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.