orig. Cyvia Rambam
born Feb. 20, 1888, Warsaw, Pol., Russian Empire
died June 12, 1982, London, Eng.
Polish-born English ballet producer and director.
She studied with the musician Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and taught his technique, eurythmics, to the Paris-based Ballets Russes , influencing Vaslav Nijinsky 's avant-garde choreography. At the outbreak of World War I, she moved to London, where she studied ballet with Enrico Cecchetti (18501928); in 1920 she founded a ballet school that used his methods. In 1930 she helped found the Camargo Society and established the Ballet Club (later Ballet Rambert). As director of Ballet Rambert, she favoured experimentation, encouraging young choreographers such as Frederick Ashton and supporting new dancers and stage designers. Her troupe, renamed the Rambert Dance Company in 1987, has continued to perform.