Sara Neil (1932-2011). New Zealand-born dancer and teacher

Sara Neil was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1932. In 1949 she won a scholarship to study at the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School in London, and joined the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet in 1951, becoming a principal in 1955. In 1959 she returned to New Zealand as principal dancer of the United Ballet Company and in 1967 became the first director of the New Zealand National School of Ballet. In 1968 she began to teach at The Royal Ballet School, alongside her husband Walter Trevor. They subsequently both taught at The Hammond School in Chester. Sara Neil died in Cumbria in 2011.