Donald Britton (1929–1983). British dancer and teacher

Donald Britton was born in London in 1929. He studied dance at the Maddock School in London and with Lilian Godwin in Bristol. He later joined the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School before entering Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet in 1946. After National Service he joined Sadler’s Wells Ballet (as it was now known, before becoming The Royal Ballet Touring Company in 1956) and was made a principal in 1951. He created roles for the leading choreographers of the day, notably in Frederick Ashton’s Valse Noble et sentimentales (1947), in Kenneth MacMillan’s Danses concertantes (1955), Solitaire (1956) and The Burrow (1958), and in John Cranko’s Sweeney Todd (1959). Strong and versatile, Britton was well suited to much of the repertoire. On leaving The Royal Ballet in 1965, and setting Cranko’s Pineapple Poll in Oslo the same year, he went on to teach at The Royal Ballet School and the Arts Educational School, whilst continuing to dance in musicals. He set up his New Dance Studio in Brive, France, in 1978. Donald Britton died in 1983 following a serious illness.