Alice Ivy Elliott

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Alice Ivy Elliott at the Greek National Opera 2001

Alice Ivy Elliott (14 October 1950 – 3 February 2015) was a ballet teacher and choreographer of Ghanaian descent.

She was born Sefwi Bekwai into the royal household of the Omanhene of Sefwi Bekwai and given her cultural name Awuraba Ama Samma.

After a brief education in Ghana, she travelled with her father John Banks Elliott who served as Ghana’s first Ambassador to Moscow from 1960 to 1966. In Moscow she entered the Bolshoi Ballet School, graduated as a ballet instructor, and performed several character parts at the Bolshoi Theatre itself.

After moving to the United Kingdom, Elliott worked with a number of dance companies including the Redroofs Theatre School for the Performing Arts in Maidenhead, the Central School of Ballet in London and Pineapple Dance Studios in Covent Garden. She later set up her own ballet school in Maidenhead. While working in London, she was spotted by the artistic director of The Australian Ballet and secured a contract to teach and direct ballet in Melbourne, Australia.

During her 30-year career, working as a répétiteur with opera and ballet companies, and teaching and demonstrating Russian classical ballet, she travelled, among other places, to the United Kingdom, United States of America, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Chile, Greece and Egypt. She worked seasons with companies including Ballet Rambert, The American Ballet Theatre, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, The Goteborg Opera & Ballet, La Scala Theatre Ballet, Hawaii State Ballet,^[1] Alberta Ballet Company, The Cairo Opera Ballet Company, Centro de Danza y Arte de Madrid,^[2] British Columbia Ballet BC.

Her most prominent role was as a teacher at the Zurich Opera House, where she worked with the artistic director and choreographer Uwe Scholz.

She moved to Greece where she staged her favourite ballet, Marius Petipa’s La Bayadère for the Greek National Opera in 2001, under the auspices of the Arts Council of Greece. The scene "The Kingdom of the Shades” was particularly acclaimed. produced much acclamation.^[3]

She enrolled at The University of Ghana, School of Performing Arts with the desire to integrate the Ghanaian dance of "Adowa" with classical ballet, but she couldn't realise this desire.

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