Peter Schaufuss (1949–). Danish dancer, director, choreographer and teacher

The son of dancers Mona Vangsaae and Frank Schaufuss, Peter Schaufuss trained at the Royal Danish Ballet School under the teachers Stanley Williams and Hans Brenaa. He joined the Royal Danish Ballet as an apprentice in 1964, and as a full-time dancer the following year. Schaufuss’ virtuoso Bournonville technique quickly saw him in demand from companies around the world, and he performed with National Ballet of Canada from 1967 to 1968 and 1977 to 1983, London Festival Ballet from 1970 to 1974 and New York City Ballet from 1974 to 1977. His repertoire was extensive, including all the Danish and Russian classics, as well as ballets choreographed by Frederick Ashton, Flemming Flindt, Léonide Massine, Mikhail Fokine, Ronald Hynd, George Balanchine, John Neumeier, Glen Tetley, John Cranko, Rudolf Nureyev, Kenneth MacMillan, Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart.

Schaufuss also appeared as a guest artist with the Paris Opéra Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and the Ballets de Marseille. With The Royal Ballet he appeared in Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée and created the title role in MacMillan’s Orpheus. He staged an acclaimed production of La Sylphide on London Festival Ballet in 1979, and Napoli for National Ballet of Canada in 1981. Schaufuss presented the four-part BBC television series, Dancer, in 1984, and the same year became director of London Festival Ballet, for which he was instrumental in re-naming as English National Ballet in 1989. As director, he commissioned new works from choreographer Christopher Bruce, including Swan Song, as well as revivals of ballets by Bournonville, Petit and MacMillan, and especially Ashton’s Romeo and Juliet and Apparitions. Schaufuss left English National Ballet in 1990 and later became director of the Berlin Ballet in Berlin, and then the Royal Danish Ballet before setting up his own company, the Peter Schaufuss Ballet, in Denmark in 1997.