Joan Lawson
Joan Lawson (30 January 1907 – 18 February 2002) was an English ballet dancer and writer of several books and text on the subject of dance. She performed in revues and opera with the Nemtchinova-Dolin Ballet from approximately 1933 to 1934 and was director of the Royal Academy of Dance's teacher's course between 1947 and 1959 and was the Royal Ballet Society's character and mime teacher from 1963 to 1971. Lawson was a critic for the "Dancing Times" and was vice-chair of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. Biography. Lawson was born in  London, England, on 30 January 1907. She was the daughter of Robb and Edrith Marion Lawson, Usherwood. Lawson went to Moscow State Academy of Choreography, and then attended Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet before completing her education at the Seraphina Astafieva School of Dance. She had studied under Serafina Astafieva and Margaret Morris, and briefly performed in revues and opera with the Nemtchinova-Dolin Ballet from approximately 1933 to 1934. Lawson then decided to focus her attention on writing and teaching and was on the Advisory Council for Education for the armed services as a lecturer during the Second World  War from 1940 and until 1947. She was the director of the teacher's course at the Royal Academy of Dance between 1947 and 1959 and was the Royal Ballet Society's character and mime teacher from 1963 to 1971. Lawson co-founded the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing's National Dance Branch (now called National Dance) to focus on studying folk dance in-depth in 1952. From 1940 to 1954, she was a critic for "Dancing Times" and was the author of multiple books and text on dance. Lawson published "Ballet in the U.S.S.R." in 1945; ""Job," and  The Rake's Progress" in 1949; co-translated with Stephen Garry Valerian Mikhailovich Bogdanov-Berezovsky's Ulanova and the Development of the Soviet Ballet" in 1952; "European Folk Dance: Its National and Musical Characteristics" in 1953; "Mime: The Theory and Practice of Expressive Gesture, With a Description of Its Historical Development" in 1957; "Dressing for the Ballet" with Peter Revitt in 1958; "Classical Ballet: Its Style and Technique" in 1960; "A History of Ballet and its Makers" in 1964; edited and translated Tamara Stepanovna Tkachenko's "Soviet Dances" in 1964 and Tkachenko's "More Soviet Dances" in 1967; "A Third  Set of Soviet Dances" in 1968; "The Teaching of Classical Ballet: Common Faults in Young Dancers and Their Training" in 1973 and "Teaching Young Dancers: Muscular Coordination in Classical Ballet" in 1975. She also authored "The Story of Ballet" in 1976; "Beginning Ballet: A Concentrated Primer for Ballet Students of All Ages" in 1977; "Ballet Stories" in 1978; "The Principles of Classical Dance" and "The Kay Ambrose Ballet Companion" each in 1979; "Ballet Class: Principals and Practice" in 1984; "A Ballet-Maker's Handbook: Sources, Vocabulary, Styles" in 1991; and edited Sophia Golovkina's "Lessons in Classical Dance" in the  same year. Lawson contributed to "Enciclopedia Della Spectaccolo", "Encyclopædia Britannica", "Oxford Junior Encyclopedia" and several dance journals. She was a member of the Critics' Circle, the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing of which she served as vice-chairperson, the International Folk Music Society and the Society for Theatre Research. Lawson received the Imperial Award "for special services to national dance." She died on 18 February 2002. Legacy. The Royal Ballet School Special Collections' Arnold Haskell Dance Library hold a collection of records of Lawson's professional and writing career as well as dance and theatre ephemera. They include her  correspondence, illustrations, manuscripts, notes, photographs, publications and programmes.