Reigning
Ballerina Retires
Today, Annette av Paul is
artistic consultant, teacher, and coach of classical ballet. Born, Stockholm,
Sweden, 1944, she studied at Royal Swedish Opera’s Ballet School, before
joining Royal Swedish Ballet, 1962. She was a sensational hit almost immediately
when Bolshoi choreographer, Yuri Grigorovich, visiting Stockholm, 1962,
plucked her out of school to play the lead role of Katerina in The Stone
Flower which was touring Sweden at the time. Two years later, Canadian
Brian Macdonald, at the time choreographer of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet,
entered her life. After they were married, they shared together their artistic
talents, she as a ballerina, he as choreographer, and together, as well
as independently, they have made a major contribution to international
ballet. During her career as a professional dancer, the last 14 years as
reigning ballerina with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Annette performed
with Nureyev, Fonteyn, Bruhn, and Orlando Salgado from Cuba. She danced
in the CBC’s first colour spectacular, Rose La Tulippe, and for Swedish
TV and the BBC. She has done Sugar Plum, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle,
and Romeo and Juliet. She has starred in ballets by George Balanchine,
Jerome Robbins, Anthony Tudor, Kenneth MacMillan, Anton Dolin, Glen Tetley
and José Limon, among others. Retiring, 1984, she became the founding
artistic director, 1986, Ballet British Columbia. Today Annette is the
associate director of the Dance Program, Banff Centre for the Arts. Former
principal ballerina with the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Harkness Ballet
of New York, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens,
Annette av Paul Macdonald, 32 years a ballerina, today lives in Stratford,
Ontario. In this view, Principal Dancer Annette av Paul is performing in
The Hangman’s Reel, choreographed by Brian Macdonald for Les Grands Ballets
Canadiens, Montreal, 1984. [Photo, courtesy of Ron Diamond]