Toni Lander (1931–1985). Danish dancer and teacher

Toni Lander was a Danish dancer who trained at the Royal Danish Ballet School, joining the Royal Danish Ballet in 1948. As the wife of Harald Lander, she accompanied him to Paris in 1950, where he was to be the ballet master of the Paris Opéra Ballet. Whilst there she studied with the famous Russian teachers Lubov Egorova and Olga Preobrajenska. For two years Lander danced with the Original Ballet Russe, before joining London Festival Ballet from 1954 until 1959. In 1961 she joined American Ballet Theatre and remained with them for ten years, whilst also guesting in companies all over the world.

Lander returned to Denmark in 1971, both to dance and to teach for the Royal Danish Ballet. She had married the dancer Bruce Marks in 1966, and when he became artistic director of Ballet West in Salt Lake City she accompanied him and became head of training. She had a long and distinguished career and was an expert on the repertoire of August Bournonville. Toni Lander was to have returned to Denmark in 1983 to direct the Royal Danish Ballet but died in Salt Lake City before she could do so. In 1961 Niels Poulsen named a rose after her.