Susan Robinson - Biography

By Gary P. Rose

Susan Robinson has had a long and successful dancing career, which has included both ballet and modern dance. Aged 11, she won a scholarship to Elmhurst Ballet School where she gained all RAD Vocational examinations. Subsequently, she was accepted to the Royal Ballet Upper School, where she trained under such distinguished teachers as Dame Ninette de Valois and Barbara Fewster. After graduating. she was engaged by Alan Carter for the Wuppertal Ballet Company and went on a tour of Europe, where she performed in many of the German and Dutch Opera Houses. Teachers and choreographers included Domoni Callaghan, Ivan Serfic, who staged all the Petipa ballets, and Heinz Mansfield. Heinz promoted Susan who created many solo roles in his Ballet Abends.

On returning to England, Susan joined the Jo Cook Dancers with whom she appeared on several television shows, including Thank Your Lucky Stars. On the stage, she appeared with Bruce Forsyth in in Little Me at the Cambridge Theatre in 1966. She continued to perfom on television and in the theatre before deciding to take up teaching. She taught professional dancers at the Dance Centre in London for many years before obtaining the Royal Academy of Dance's Advanced Teaching Diploma. In 1975, she founded the Susan Robinson School of Ballet and, the following year, she was appointed as an Examiner for the Royal Academy of Dance.