TODAY 84 YEARS AGO, Marcia Haydée was born - a prima ballerina beyond compare, one of the main protagonists of the “Stuttgart Ballet Miracle” and an icon in the world of dance. Born in Rio de Janeiro, she received her first ballet lessons in her home country before completing her training at the Royal Ballet School in London. In 1961, the young director John Cranko engaged her for the Stuttgart Ballet and found his ultimate muse. He created a large number of leading roles for her including Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Tatiana in Onegin and Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew. With her extraordinary expressiveness, Haydée wrote dance history and became one of the greatest ballerinas of her generation. Apart from Cranko, choreographers such as Kenneth MacMillan, Glen Tetley, Maurice Béjart, Mats Ek, Hans van Manen, John Neumeier und William Forsythe were inspired by her special gifts and created roles for her. From 1976 to 1996, she was Artistic Director of the Stuttgart Ballet; from 2003 to 2020 she directed the Ballet of the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile. Until today, she appears regularly with the Stuttgart Ballet in character roles. Her spectacular 1987 production of The Sleeping Beauty is beloved around the world. Dear Marcia, happy birthday!

Photo: Georgette Tsinguirides, Tamas Detrich, Marcia Haydée and Thierry Michel in rehearsals of The Sleeping Beauty, © Roman Novitzky