Glen Tetley (1926–2007). American-born dancer, choreographer and director
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1926, Glen Tetley was studying at medical school when a passion and desire to dance took him to New York in 1946. He studied variously with Hanya Holm, Margaret Craske, Antony Tudor and Martha Graham, but it was Holm who gave him his first big break in her Broadway production of Kiss Me, Kate. From there he joined New York City Opera Ballet, followed by John Butler’s American Dance Theatre, Joffrey Ballet (where he was an original member), American Ballet Theatre and Jerome Robbins’ Ballet:USA. With all this experience of varied dance styles, Tetley formed a fusion between modern and classical approaches to movement and the portrayal of themes dear to his heart.

Tetley burst onto the international scene in 1962 with his ballet Pierrot Lunaire to music by Arnold Schoenberg. There was no looking back. He moved to Europe, first to direct Nederlands Dans Theater and then Stuttgart Ballet. In 1986 he went to National Ballet of Canada for three years. After that he worked around the world creating and revising. His work with Ballet Rambert has remained a vibrant part of the company’s history, and his surviving works are recognised for their extraordinary and respectful synthesis of the modern and the classical.