Keith Lester (1904-93). British dancer, choreographer, teacher and director

Keith Lester was born in Guildford in 1904 and educated at St Paul’s School, after which he had an unusually full and varied career in ballet and dance. He trained under Serafina Astafieva, Nicholas Legat and Anton Dolin. His theatrical debut was in the dances Mikhail Fokine arranged for James Elroy Flecker’s play Hassan, after which he joined the Lydia Kyasht Company. Lester then spent three years in Riga as partner to Tamara Karsavina, and then on to Buenos Aires, where he partnered Olga Spessivtseva. In 1932 Lester was back in Britain, working with Léonide Massine, and then on to Paris to dance with Ida Rubinstein and work with Fokine and Kurt Jooss. From 1933 until 1935 he toured in America, and he then joined the Markova-Dolin Ballet. By 1937 Lester was at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park.

In 1939 Lester joined London Ballet, dancing many leading roles. In 1940-1941 he had his own Arts Theatre Ballet company, giving seasons in the West End, and in 1945 he became principal dancer and choreographer for the Windmill Theatre, for whom he went on to choreograph 150 ballets. Lester became the principal teacher at the Royal Academy of Dancing in 1965 and director of its Teacher Training Course. In these roles he was much loved and appreciated. Lester died in London in 1993.