<P>Dame Ninette de Valois, founding director of The Royal Ballet School and Company, is 102 years old today! Thanks to Jane Simpson at ballet.co for pointing this out.<P>there is a brief biography written for her 100th birthday at this site: <A HREF="http://balletdance.miningco.com/musicperform/balletdance/library/weekly/aa060898.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://balletdance.miningco.com/musicperform/balletdance/library/weekly/aa060898.htm</A> <P>here is the encarta encyclopedia extract (briefer): <A HREF="http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=040FA000" TARGET=_blank>http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=040FA000</A> <P>

I remember once at Sadler's Wells when Birmingham Royal Ballet were performing, I was sitting in the de Valois cafe and I saw an elderly woman on her own in the reception area waiting for the others to arrive and I realised that it was 'Madam' as people often refer to her. She saw me looking at her and fixed me with as hard a look as I can remember and I looked away hurriedly. Well to achieve what she did from the 30s onwards, you couldn't be a push-over.<P>Deborah Bull recounts that at a special private performance for her a few years ago, sitting in the front row, she was talking quite loudly (par for the course apparently) and asked her escort, 'Who's this?', 'Deborah Bull', came the response. Madam said, 'Oh yes, nice dancer, but she should have taken my advice and changed that dreadful name.'<P>Happy Birthday - if anyone deserves it, you do.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>fixed me with as hard a look as I can<BR>remember<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>that was definitely HER, then!, stuart. her achievements are remarkable, but her manner can leave a lot to be desired. <P>as you say, one can't achieve like that, without strength of character and a strong mind, and we do always allow more latitude in bahviour for the elderly, but from my own experience and observation, in her case that sort of thing wasn't caused by the difficulties of aging...a little personal grace would never have hurt...no matter how much admired a person one is!