In 1941 Beryl Grey, who has died aged 95, was known as Britain’s “baby ballerina” when she joined Sadler’s Wells Ballet at the age of 14, becoming a soloist for the company the following year. She toured Britain as a teenager, dancing nine performances a week, and on her 15th birthday danced Odette-Odile in the complete Swan Lake. At 16 she danced the title role of Giselle.
She remained with Sadler’s Wells as a principal dancer until 1957, by which time it had become the Royal Ballet, and she went on to become the first British ballerina to dance with the Bolshoi in Moscow when, in 1957, Grey danced Swan Lake with Yuri Kondratov. She was also the first British ballerina to perform in communist China (1964), dancing in Swan Lake and Les Sylphides, partnered by Wang Shao Pen, in Peking (Beijing) and Shanghai.
