Yvonne Mounsey Dies: Famed NYC Ballet Dancer and Influential Ballerina Teacher Dies at 93

Yvonne Mounsey, the famous and beloved New York City ballet dancer and influential ballerina teacher/founder of a prestigious West Coast dance school, died at her L.A. home on Saturday at the age of 93. Mounsey's daughter Allegra Clegg said she passed away after battling cancer.

Mounsey danced with the New York City Ballet for a decade (1948-1958), rising quickly from soloist to principal dancer. She danced major parts in many popular George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins productions - according to Clegg, playing the Dark Angel in Balanchine's "Serenade" and the Siren in the revived 1950's "Prodigal Son" were two of her most favorite roles.

Mounsey owned the stage as a dancer - standing over six feet tall and eluding an air of pure elegance and tasteful eroticism.

Born on a South African dairy farm, Mounsey began taking ballet lessons at seven with a former member of a Russian ballerina company. She later moved to England to continue studying dance and ballet. Mounsey was a member of the company Original Ballet Russe when Balanchine first took notice of her. She then accepted a role in his 1941 production "Balustrade." When the dance company disbanded in Cuba that year, Mounsey began to make a name for herself as a dancer in many of the popular underground nightclubs. She later on found herself in NY as a member of the City Ballet.

Following her decade-long stint with the City Ballet, Mounsey helped to fund a ballet company in her native South Africa. In 1966 she finally moved to L.A., where she opened the Westside School of Ballet. The prestigious school has trained many influential dancers in the neoclassical Balanchine technique. According to Clegg, her mother never turned away a student passionate for ballet.

"She just had this love and passion for ballet that exuded from her," Clegg said. "She just wanted you to enjoy dancing and enjoy that art form, because 98 per cent of her students would never become professional ballet dancers."

Mounsey married three times and is survived by daughter Clegg as well as two stepsons, a grandson, and a sister.