Desmond Kelly (1942–). Zimbabwean-born British dancer, ballet master and director

Desmond Kelly trained with Elaine Archibald in Zimbabwe before coming to London at the age of 16 to study with Ruth French. He joined London Festival Ballet in 1959, where he became a principal dancer in 1964, and later worked with the Royal New Zealand Ballet and the National Ballet of Washington until he returned to London to join The Royal Ballet in 1970. Noted for his excellent partnering skills, Kelly was much sought after by ballerinas, including Margot Fonteyn, Antoinette Sibley, Lynn Seymour, Galina Samsova and Natalia Makarova. With both The Royal Ballet and Sadler’s Wells (now Birmingham) Royal Ballet Kelly danced an extensive repertoire, including the male leads in Swan Lake, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, La Fille mal gardée, The Two Pigeons, Romeo and Juliet and Manon, as well as in Frederick Ashton’s Enigma Variations, Birthday Offering and Monotones; George Balanchine’s Apollo, The Prodigal Son, The Four Temperaments, Serenade, Ballet Imperial and Agon; Glen Tetley’s Field Figures; Kenneth MacMillan’s Anastasia, Triad, Elite Syncopations, The Invitation and Playground; and David Bintley’s Metamorphosis and Hobson’s Choice.

Kelly became assistant director of Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1990 and was the major driving force, alongside Marion Tait, behind Ballet Changed My Life – Ballet Hoo!, a ground-breaking project between four local authorities, Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Youth At Risk charity that resulted in 80 young people learning to dance from scratch and appearing on stage at Birmingham Hippodrome in a production of MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, which was televised by Channel 4 in 2006. After retiring from Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2008, Kelly became artistic director of Elmhurst Ballet School, a position he held until 2012.