Robert de Warren (1933-). British dancer, choreographer, director

Robert de Warren was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, to British parents in 1933, and his early years were spent there and in Argentina. His dance training started in Uruguay, where he met his wife, Jacqueline, a French ballerina. He then travelled to Britain to study at the Sadler’s Wells (now Royal) School, before joining the National Ballet of Uruguay in 1954. De Warren also danced with the Covent Garden Opera Ballet between 1958 and 1960, Stuttgart Ballet from 1960 to 1962, and Frankfurt Ballet, 1962 to 1964. He was recommended by Ninette de Valois to become ballet master and choreographer of the National Ballet of Iran, where he worked from 1965 until 1970. He later became director of Northern Dance Theatre in 1976.
To highlight the company’s new focus on ballet, De Warren renamed it Northern Ballet Theatre. Now with over 20 dancers, he was able to work on scaled-down versions of full-length classical ballets, rediscovered works and new creations. It was also under his leadership that the company started to build an international reputation, recruiting dancers from China, Japan, Italy and France, and touring Italy and Hong Kong. The rapidly expanding repertoire of shorter ballets, to which de Warren and Andre Prokovsky made significant contributions, included work from choreographers such as August Bournonville, Mikhail Fokine, Walter Gore, John Cranko and Royston Maldoom.

In 1987, after 11 years as artistic director, de Warren accepted a new post at the Ballet of La Scala, Milan. His contribution to the development of Northern Ballet Theatre had been significant; under his direction the company increased in size, Rudolf Nureyev became artistic laureate and danced as a regular guest artist, and Princess Margaret became Royal Patron.