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Stephen Jefferies
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Stephen Jefferies was one of the finest dance-actors ever to emerge from the Royal Ballet. He was the last of the golden generation of the sixties and early seventies, and the hallmark of his performances was the intelligence of his interpretations. A fine comic as well, he danced a huge range of roles - from Captain Belaye to Prince Rudolf - and stamped each one of them with his own individuality. Born in Germany, but brought up near Birmingham, Jefferies took up dancing because he wanted to be another Fred Astaire. He had his first lessons in 1961, when he was 10, and at 16 came to the Royal Ballet School on an RAD scholarship. After dancing Franz in Coppélia and the Don Quixote pas de deux for his graduation performances, he was taken into the touring Royal Ballet, where he had the terrifying experience of being given a performance of the Prince in Sleeping Beauty (partnering Margaret Barbieri) in his very first season. He went on to become the company's principal male dancer, taking the leads in all the classics and creating many different roles. Outstanding memories from that period of his career are of his performances in Prodigal Son and in John Cranko's Card Game - though he himself might think that the most important thing he gained from that time was his wife, fellow-dancer Rashna Homji. In 1976 Jefferies left the Royal Ballet to become a principal with the National Ballet of Canada, but after only a year he was persuaded to return to England to join the Covent Garden Royal Ballet. There he once again danced all the Princes - often with Lesley Collier - and also inherited the leading roles in the big MacMillan ballets: he was second cast to David Wall in Mayerling, and perhaps the best ever Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. In the eighties he took some time out to appear in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance - getting into tap-shoes at last! Later he became one of David Bintley's chosen dancers, creating the Brazilian Woolly Monkey in Penguin Café - which no-one else has ever danced half as well - and finally having the lead in his own full length ballet, Bintley's Cyrano.
In 1993, when the Royal Ballet mounted the full-length Don Quixote for the first time, Jefferies appeared as the comic suitor Gamache rather than as the romantic lead, and soon after that his status in the company was altered to principal character dancer. After a couple of years he decided to call a halt to his dancing career, and moved on to become the Artistic Director of the Hong Kong Ballet. Although he was never a virtuoso technician, some of the roles which he danced will always be associated with him, and we shall be lucky if we see in our time another dancer with his combination of intelligence, charm and acting ability.
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