Founder: Leonie Urdang
March 20st 1939 to March 21st 2001
The Urdang Academy, since its foundation in the 1970s, has always had dance at its heart, reflecting the passions of its founder Leonie Urdang. This tradition of dance continues today with the Academy boasting an international reputation for the quality of its dance training.
Leonie Urdang was passionate about ballet as a child and never even thought of a career in any other field. It was only natural that whilst still training at the University of Cape Town she became choreographer and later Artistic Director to The University Ballet Company. After emigrating to England, she opened a ballet school in two rented church halls, with the single-minded dedication to her profession that became her hallmark. It was from these small beginnings that The Urdang Academy was born.
By the mid-seventies the full time school had outgrown its premises in Golders Green and it moved to Covent Garden. With a great deal of hard work, a dance school was created to train exceptional young dancers. Leonie set up events such as Scholarship Galas for the Young Dancers Foundation. Patrons included Svetlana Beriosova, Lynn Seymour CBE, Antoinette Sibley CBE and Violette Verdy and well known professionals donated their performance, including Doctor Wayne Sleep OBE, Vyvyan Lorrayne and Mikhail Messerer, Maina Gielgud, the famous mime artist Adam Darius, as well as Peter Mallek's Vienna Festival Ballet.
Leonie Urdang will always be remembered for her extraordinary generosity and her wonderful sense of humour, as well as her vision for training and nurturing young dancers. After her death, calls and letters came.
