Ballet Career

At twelve she debuted with André Leclair at the Gala Querida in the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, and in 1950 she danced in Florence at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. After a season (1950–1951) in the corps de ballet of the Théâtre de la Monnaie, she became a soloist at the Koninklijke Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp (1951–1957), where early repertoire included Namouna (Suite en blanc), Chout, The Firebird, and appearances in opera productions such as Faust, Carmen, and Prince Igor.

In 1957 she moved to Berlin, joining the Berliner Ballett under Tatjana Gsovsky as first dancer. Highlights there included Hamlet, Orfeo, and Variationen Symphonischen, as well as a notable emergency appearance replacing Yvette Chauviré in La Dame aux camélias. She then danced as first soloist with the Ballet Jean Babilée (1958–1959), performing works like La Boucle, L’Oiseau bleu, and Balance à trois; in 1959 she appeared with the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas in the classical repertoire.

From 1959 to 1964 she alternated between La Monnaie and Maurice Béjart’s Ballet du XXe Siècle as first soloist, creating and touring in major titles including Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Pulcinella, Orphée, Les Quatre Fils Aymon, and Béjart’s jazz-inflected Such a Sweet Thunder. She subsequently joined the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf as danseuse étoile (1964–1966), featured in The Firebird, Petrushka, and Bach Suite. With these companies she undertook multiple international tours.

Returning to Antwerp in 1966, she danced as étoile with the Royal Flemish Opera Ballet through 1970 in André Leclair’s stagings of Cinderella, Concerto de Aranjuez, Pelléas et Mélisande, Orpheus, and more. She closed her stage career with one season at the Ballet van Vlaanderen (1970–1971), including Béjart’s Love Scene.

Beyond the stage she appeared on television and worked for the screen, including choreography for Émile Degelin’s feature À perte de vue (1995) and a 1973 TV adaptation of Rip van Winkle/Winckle.

After performing, she transitioned to teaching and leadership: classical-repertoire teacher at the Antwerp city ballet school (from 1964), ballet mistress and management member at the Royal Ballet of Flanders (from 1970), and Ballettmeisterin at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe (1984–1989), later returning to Antwerp as a repertoire teacher.

Obituaries in the Belgian press marked her as one of Flanders’ defining ballerinas.