Norman Morrice

Norman Morrice (1931-2008)

Dancer, choreographer and teacher. Born in Agua Dulce, Mexico, at age six he moved to live with his grandfather in Aboyne, Scotland. Until 1951 he worked as a geophysicist. At age 21, he began studying dance on a scholarship at the Rambert School in London. In 1953, he joined Rambert Ballet as a dancer and quickly became a soloist and danced with the company until 1970. In 1958, he also choreographed for the first time, creating Two Brothers (1958) and later also Hazaña (1959) and A Place in the Desert. These works proved highly successful and won him a Ford Foundation scholarship. This enabled him to move to New York and train in choreography with Martha Graham and Antony Tudor. Upon his return to the UK in 1962 he became chief choreographer at Rambert; in 1966 he was appointed co-director alongside Marie Rambert; and in 1970 he became the company’s artistic director.
During those years, he created 18 choreographies, 12 of which for Rambert Ballet, one for the Royal Ballet and five for Batsheva. Morrice created the following dances for Batsheva: Side Show, The Betrothal (1966); 1-2-3, Rehearsal!…(?) (1968); Percussion Concerto (1970).
In 1974, Morrice received the Royal Academy of Dance’s Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award. On that year, he retired from Ballet Rambert and for three years taught and choreographed in the UK, Canada, Australia and Israel. In 1977 he was made the Royal Ballet’s artistic director, the first to hold that position who had not been a member of the troupe. In 1986, he was succeeded by Anthony Dowell and became director of choreographic studies at the Royal Ballet School. In 1993, he quit this position but went on teaching in the school until 2000.

Norma Morrice passed away in 2006.