Remembering Rowena Jackson MBE (1926-2024)
By the Royal Ballet and Opera
Friday 16 August 2024
The Royal Ballet is saddened by the death of former Sadler’s Wells Ballet Principal dancer Rowena Jackson, who died on 15 August 2024 aged 98. The New Zealand-born ballerina was famous for her fast, brilliant fouettés.
Jackson was born in Invercargill, New Zealand, and attended Epsom Girls’ Grammar School in Auckland. In 1941 she won the first Royal Academy of Dancing Scholarship in New Zealand. In 1940 she set a world record for the number of fast turns performed in a row (fouettés en tournant sur place): 121.
Jackson came to England in 1946 to attend Sadler’s Wells Ballet School and in 1947 won the Gold Medal in the Adeline Genée International Ballet Competition. She became a member of Sadler’s Wells Ballet (later The Royal Ballet) the same year. Her roles for the Company included Odette/Odile (Petipa and Ivanov’s Swan Lake), the title role of Perrot, Petipa and Coralli’s Giselle, which she performed with her husband Philip Chatfield as Albrecht in 1958, Blue Bird and Aurora (Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty), The Fairy Autumn (Ashton’s Cinderella), The Queen of Fire (Ashton’s Homage to the Queen), Swanilda and Aurora (Petipa, Cecchetti, Ivanov and Sergeyev’s Coppélia) and Columbine (André Howard’s Veneziana). She also regularly appeared in ballets including Ashton’s Daphnis and Chloë, Sylvia, Scènes de ballet, Les Patineurs and Tiresias, Petit’s Ballabile, Fokine’s Les Sylphides, Massine’s Mam’zelle Angot, Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial and De Valois’ Checkmate. Ashton wrote solos for her in Variations on a Theme of Purcell and Birthday Offering.
Jackson married fellow Royal Ballet Principal Philip Chatfield in 1958. The couple retired from The Royal Ballet in 1959 and returned to New Zealand. There Jackson became the Artistic Director of New Zealand Ballet Company. Later, she and Chatfield were co-directors of the New Zealand School of Dance (formerly the National Ballet School, New Zealand). In 1993 the couple moved to the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, where they taught at Ransley Ballet and Dance Centre. Jackson was made an MBE in 1961.
Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, said ‘We were very saddened to receive the news of Rowena’s passing. She was such an integral part of the blossoming of The Royal Ballet and inspired everyone with her virtuoso technique, energy and agility. We have fond memories of welcoming Rowena and Philip as special guests on tour in Brisbane in 2017, both as vibrant as they were as performers and filled with enthusiasm about the performance they watched. As her dance fans in New Zealand and on the Gold Coast would attest, we were fortunate to have Rowena’s artistry grace our international stages.’
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