Penelope Spencer (1901–93) Dancer and Choreographer: A Chronicle

Abstract

The career of the English dancer, choreographer, teacher and dance writer, Penelope Spencer (1901–93), primarily spanned the twenty-year period between the First and Second World Wars (1919–39). Spencer's versatile dance training and career encompassed diverse British theatre genres of the period, including ballet, drama, mime, modern dance, musical comedy, opera, pantomime and revue. It was common practice during the inter-war period for English dancers to disguise their British origins by ‘Russianising’ their names. Spencer, however, maintained her English name throughout her career. She practised consecutively both as a freelance artiste and also under the auspices of important cultural institutions, including the British National Opera Company [BNOC], the Camargo Society, the Cremorne Company, the Dancer's Circle Dinners, the Glastonbury Festival, the Imperial Society for Teachers of Dancing [ISTD], the League of Arts, the London Opera Syndicate Limited, the Margaret Morris Movement, the One Hundred Club, the Royal Academy of Dancing [RAD], the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art [RADA], the Royal College of Music [RCM], and the Sunshine Matinées. Spencer's significant contribution to British theatre dance and wider cultural heritage, is largely forgotten. Since no major study of her work has been published, 1 and because not one of her creations survives in performance, the importance of her wide-ranging, and often pioneering achievements, is not fully recognised.