>> by Selma Odom
Ballet dancer and television producer Margaret Dale died January 28th, 2010 at the age of eighty-seven. Revered for her roles as soloist with the Sadler’s Wells Ballet, she joined the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1954 to pursue the new medium’s potential. She made over 100 programs, bringing dance to millions of viewers and recording the artistry of the great dancers of the mid-century. Dale excelled in studio productions of ballets by the Royal, the Bolshoi, the Kirov and other companies, and she pioneered the television feature as a format, documenting the work of John Cranko, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Norman McLaren, Marie Rambert, Gene Kelly and Anna Pavlova, among others.
Grant Strate invited her to give an overview of her work at York University in 1974, and in 1976 she followed him as chair of the Dance Department. She organized an unforgettable public lecture by Dame Ninette de Valois and introduced us to Sir Frederick Ashton and other dance luminaries who came during the National Ballet’s 25th anniversary year. Though she bonded with colleagues and students, she disliked academic administration and soon left. She opted for freelance research, lecturing and writing from her base in England, returning to Canada often over the years. In guest seminars at York, she shared vividly her way of “finding the shape” for each project. In 2007, partially paralyzed after a stroke, she attended screenings of a major retrospective of her work given at the National Film Theatre. “Maggie,” friend and mentor, will be missed by many.
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