Stanley Holden (1928-2007). British dancer and teacher

Stanley Holden was born in London and studied at Bush Davies School. In 1944 he joined Sadler’s Wells Ballet and danced the Urchin in Robert Helpmann’s Miracle in the Gorbals. Holden was a member of the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet (SWTB) from 1948 until 1954, and from 1954 to 1957 he taught in South Africa before returning to SWTB. In 1958 Holden was transferred to The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, where he remained until 1969. He then moved to the United States of America to teach and perform. He died in California in 2007.

Stanley Holden was particularly noted for his gift for acting and comedy. In 1960 he was the original Widow Simone in Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée, a role with which he became particularly associated. In 1968 he created Hew David Steuart-Powell in Ashton’s Enigma Variations.