page_title: Laurel Martyn
hierarchical_section_title: Laurel Martyn
caption_attribution_description: Portrait (head) of Laurel Martyn, 1952
context_page_description: Laurel Martyn OBE was an Australian ballerina.
  In 1933, she left Australia for England and studied with Phyllis Bedells. In 1934 she won a choreographic scholarship from the Association of Operatic Dancing for Exile, her first composition. In 1935 she became the second Australian to win the Adeline Genée Gold Medal. Martyn joined the Vic-Wells Ballet in December 1935, the first Australian woman to be accepted into the company. By 1938, she was a soloist. That same year, she returned to Australia and became a dance teacher. She joined Edouard Borovansky's eponymous ballet corps in 1940 and remained until her marriage to Lloyd Lawton in 1945. she then continued dancing and died at the age of 97 in the 2013
context_section_description: Laurel Martyn OBE (née Gill; 23 July 1916 – 16 October 2013) was an Australian ballerina.
  In 1933, she left Australia for England and studied with Phyllis Bedells. In 1934 she won a choreographic scholarship from the Association of Operatic Dancing (later the Royal Academy of Dance) for Exile, her first composition. In 1935 she  became the second Australian to win the Adeline Genée Gold Medal. Martyn joined the Vic-Wells Ballet (later Sadler's Wells) in December 1935, the first Australian woman to be accepted into the company. By 1938, she was a soloist. That same year, she returned to Australia and became a dance teacher. She joined Edouard Borovansky's eponymous ballet corps in 1940 and remained until her marriage to Lloyd Lawton in 1945. she then continued dancing and died at the age of 97 in the 2013
caption: Helmut Newton's 1952 portrait of Laurel Martyn, National Library of Australia
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